PP Ultimate Rich Chili

Chef:  Jeff Tritten
Makes:  4 servings
Prep Time:  20 min
Cook Time:  1 hr
Total Time:  1 hr 20 min

INGREDIENTS

• 1 medium red onion, diced
• 4 medium garlic cloves minced or pressed
• 1 average jalapeño finely diced
• 1 lg red bell pepper
• 2 15 oz cans diced tomatoes, including liquid contents, don’t drain
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• 1 15 oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15 oz can black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 15 oz can garbanzo beans drained and rinsed (or large white beans)
• 2 T chili powder
• 2 t ground cumin
• 1 t oregano
• ½ t salt
• ½ t black pepper
• ½ t paprika
• ½ t smoked paprika
• 1/3 c strongly brewed coffee
• ½ c pureed frozen black cherries (or strawberries)
• ½ c frozen or canned corn, OPTIONAL (not my personal preference)
• ¼ t cayenne pepper, OPTIONAL (if you prefer spicy chili)
• 1 T brown rice syrup, OPTIONAL (if you prefer a sweeter chili; alternately you can use agave syrup, date sugar or brown sugar-brown rice syrup is very non-descript)
• 1 c water (more as needed)
• Splash red wine or strawberry champagne vinegar to deglaze pan 

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large pot, sauté onion, garlic, jalapeno pepper and red bell pepper with water or vegetable broth, until onions become slightly translucent.
2. Deglaze pan with a splash red wine or strawberry champagne vinegar to deglaze pan.  (note in picture I am also using yellow peppers because I did not have enough reds on hand)
3. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, all spices, coffee and pureed cherries and stir together.  Bring it to a light boil and simmer for 20 minutes
4. Add drained beans (and corn if desired).  
5. Simmer all until chili is to desired thickness, approximately 30 minutes.  If you want to speed up the process and make a very thick chili, add a little mesa flour.

TIPS

1. When using canned beans, I prefer to add the beans later in the recipe so they don’t become mushy.
2. Chili is always best the next day if you cool it and allow the beans to absorb all of the seasoning.
3. If you prefer to cook your own beans, they tend to be a little firmer and the cooked beans can be added at the same time as the tomatoes and would require a bit more salt.  Canned beans already have salt added.
4. Deglazing is a fancy and intimidating word that means to pour some cold liquid into a very hot pan to get up all the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.  Those brown bits are where all the flavors are, and it is called “fond’.

Jeff Tritten is a respectful plant-based advocate.   He owns 'Respectful Living', a blog located at ARespectfulLife.com, and spends his time creating recipes, writing plant based nutritional information articles, being a small group leader for PBNSG.org, bringing plant based nutritional information to his local community at their farmers market and senior center, and creating a healthy vegan snack line.  Also find him on https://www.facebook.com/ARespectfulLife/, https://www.instagram.com/respectfulliving1/, 
https://twitter.com/respectfullivin, https://www.pinterest.com/MindfulLife1/, https://www.linkedin.com/in/respectful-living-74871b13a/.