This recipe will make mild, medium, or hot chili, depending on your preference. To make it milder, leave out the cayenne pepper and use less chili powder. This recipe makes 8 - 12 servings of chili.
Ingredients:
| 1 - 3 Tbsp. | oil or butter | 15 - 45 ml
|
| 1 - 3 | garlic cloves |
|
| 1 | large onion |
|
| 1 | red or green pepper |
|
| 1 tsp | ground cumin | 5 ml
|
| 1 - 2 Tbsp. | chili powder | 15 - 30 ml
|
| a 14 oz. can | crushed or diced tomatoes | 400 ml
|
| 2 (16 oz.) cans | kidney beans or pinto beans | 500 ml
|
| 1 - 2 cups | frozen corn | 250 - 500 ml
|
| | salt | to taste
|
Optional:
| 1 - 2 tsp. | paprika | 5 - 10 ml
|
| ¼ - ½ tsp | cayenne pepper or black pepper | 1 - 2 ml
|
| 1 - 2 Tbsp. | oregano | 15 - 30 ml
|
Notes and Substitutions:
- Garlic cloves: you can substitute ¼ - 1 teaspoon of garlic powder.
- Crushed tomatoes: instead of canned tomatoes, you can chop up fresh tomatoes (preferable Roma tomatoes). For fresh tomatoes you need about one pound (around 500 grams).
You can also use a small (6 oz. = 180 ml) can of tomato paste or one can of condensed tomato soup, but you will need to add 1 cup (250 ml) of water.
Finally, you could use 1 cup ketchup (except that the sugar in the ketchup will make for a sweeter chili).
- Beans: if you have the time, use dried beans instead: take about 1 cup of dried red kidney beans or pinto beans, soak overnight, then cook for about 30 minutes, and drain. This is even cheaper than buying canned beans.
- Frozen corn: you can, of course, use fresh corn, scraped off the cob. You could also use canned corn &mdash but not creamed canned corn &mdash just regular canned corn.
If, for some reason, you don't like the idea of adding corn to the chili, leave out the corn, but eat the chili with corn bread. It tastes great, and, along with the beans, provides you with a complete protein &mdash no meat required.
Directions:
- Peel and chop onion and garlic cloves.
- Place a large pot on the stove and turn heat to low.
- Add cooking oil or butter, chopped onion, and garlic.
- Cook on low or medium-low heat until onion is transparent (about 10 - 15 minutes).
- Now add chili powder, cumin and (if you want, paprika and cayenne pepper). Stir it around for a minute or two.
- Add all the rest of the ingredients, and cover pot.
- Cook on medium-low or low heat for about 40 - 60 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Disclaimer: while these hints are the result of years of experience and/or lots of research, in the end they are just my personal opinion. If you try something I suggest and it doesn't work, please don't sue me &mdash I guarantee nothing. Best of luck!
Page created and maintained by A. Steinbergs
Last modified: September 24, 2008