Vegetarian Chili

By Joe Berk

We’ve had a string of cool days here in California (cool for us, anyway, with temperatures in the high 40s and low 50s) and when it gets cold, I really enjoy a bowl of chili.  I suppose the easy thing to do would be to head over to a restaurant and order up a bowl, but with restaurant prices verging on the ridiculous lately, I only visit restaurants when I’m traveling.  Sue and I usually prefer to cook at home.  The cost is way less and the food is better.

One of my buddies mentioned a good pot of chili he ginned up and I asked for his recipe.  A few days later when I was in Trader Joe’s, I saw the shaved beef my friend told me he used in his chili.  I was about to put it in my cart when I thought I really didn’t want to put that in my body.  Then an idea hit me:  Vegetarian chili.  I’ve had some good ones but I had never made vegetarian chili before.   I quickly Googled vegetarian chili recipes on my cell phone, mentally merged the ingredients that appealed to me, and I picked those up instead.

I do a lot of my cooking in a crock pot.  I like the idea of getting all the work out of the way in the morning and letting the brew simmer all day long.  The aromas are always great, and my vegetarian chili was no exception.  crock pots are cheap, too.  They are an easy way to prepare a great meal.

Here’s my recipe for what turned out to be a great vegetarian chili:

• • 1 chopped medium yellow onion
  • 1 chopped red bell pepper
  • 1 cup of shredded carrots
  • 3 cloves of minced garlic
  • 1 15.5 ounce can of can pinto beans
  • 1 15.5 ounce can of black beans
  • 1 15.5 ounce can of kidney beans
  • 1 28 ounce can of fire roasted tomatoes
  • 3 cups of low-sodium vegetable broth
  • 2 tablespoons of chili powder
  • 1 tablespoon of ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
  • 1 tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil

I drain and rinse three different kinds of beans before adding them to the pot.  After everything is in the pot, I mix it up a bit with a big wooden spoon and then put the pot on the low heat setting.   Eight hours later, it’s ready.

The bottom line?  It was delicious.

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Pro tips:

• • I always use the San Marzano brand for any recipe calling for canned tomatoes (they have the best flavor).
  • All the vegetarian chili recipes called for adding salt.  I don’t.  There’s enough salt in the canned beans and fire roasted tomatoes.
  • When serving our chili, we add a scoop of sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese.
  • Most chili recipes call for a jalapeno pepper or red chili flakes.  You might want to consider that if you like your chili spicy.  The recipe included here makes a tasty dish and the flavors don’t compete with the heat from a jalapeno or red chili.  The two tablespoons of chili seasoning alone are just about perfect for a modest amount of spiciness.
  • What I’ve found with any crock pot recipe is that the time doesn’t have to be exact, and 8 hours is a minimum time.  If it goes another couple of hours, it’s no big deal.

The sizes on the ingredients listed above make for a full pot; Sue and I will get four or five meals (each) out of this recipe.  I’ve found that chili makes for a good omelet, too.

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Our recipe for crock pot Italian meat sauce and lasagne is here.

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