One night after work, when I was trying to come up with something for dinner, I was realizing our cupboards were getting a bit bare. I looked around at what little we did have and thought I could probably make chili. This involved cleaning out the “crisper” which in our house we call the “rotter” (because let’s be honest - that is what’s going on in there). When I first began putting this chili together I thought to myself, either this will be passable or it will be disgusting. The benefit: it helped me clean out the rotter and I always feel like I beat “The Man” when I don’t have to throw anything out for having gone bad.
This ended up being some of the best chili - vegan or otherwise - Mike and I have ever had. I didn’t write any of this down as I was making this though, because I really had low expectations. As a result, the amounts listed here are approximate and you should probably just experiment yourself and make this “to taste” all the way around.
Olive oil
1 red bell pepper diced
half a large sweet onion diced
1 tblsp of tomato paste
2 tblsp chili powder
cayenne pepper to taste
about 1/4 to 1/2 of a cup of water
2 vegan veggie burgers diced (we like Trader Joe’s Tofu Veggie Burger which is gluten free and can be found in the refrigerator section)*
1 box of Pomi chopped tomatoes with their liquid (about 2 cups)
2 tblsp Braggs amino acids
1 rounded tsp oregano
1 bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste
1 tblsp of cider vinegar
1 package (or can) of cooked beans (we like the bean medley from Trader Joe’s which can be found in the refrigerator section)**
Heat olive oil in the bottom of a heavy-bottom stew pot (or Dutch oven if you have one). Add the bell pepper and onion and sauté until soft. Add the tomato paste, chili powder and cayenne pepper. Sauté to incorporate and take the rawness out of the tomato paste - stirring constantly and being careful not to burn it. Quickly add water to deglaze. Add the chopped veggie burgers and cook through (about 5 minutes on medium-high). Add the rest of the ingredients - except the beans - and simmer until all the ingredients have cooked through, the flavors have melded together, and it has thickened a little bit (10-15 minutes or so uncovered). Add the beans and simmer 1-2 minutes until they are heated through.
No one was more surprised than I was at how delicious this was.
Notes:
* It is so very difficult to find a veggie burger without gluten and without garlic. The Trader Joe's Tofu Veggie burger doesn’t have gluten, but it does have a small amount of garlic in it. We took a chance and tried it and it didn’t seem to bother Mike. We have found that in small amounts dried garlic doesn’t seem to be having too bad of an effect on him so we occasionally risk it. (This might be the inspiration I need though, to learn how to make my own tofu veggie burger.) My apologies for putting in a product that does have a small amount of garlic in it. In lieu of not being able to use this product, I suggest adding diced tofu, shredded carrots, and very finely diced celery to the chili in place of them and cooking a little bit longer until the carrots and celery are soft – and you may want to increase the amount of Braggs amino acid as well.
**I know I should like lentils more, but honestly they do nothing for me. I have cooked them (ex. I roasted parsnips and onion then added cooked black lentils to them along with some herbs de Provence, salt and pepper, and Mike loved them), but they end up feeling like filler to me instead of something tasty and wonderful. That being said, you can of course substitute cooked lentils for the beans in this recipe.
