Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

Are you up for a challenge?

Chili is on the menu plan - vegetarian because I can't afford to buy meat this month. :blush DH is the type who feels that "real" chili is meat with no beans. :rolleyes I need to find a totally awesome recipe that tastes/feels like chili, not just tomato-bean soup, iykwim, to convince DH that vegetarian chili isn't all bad.

Who's up for it?

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

:cup

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

Huh. MY DH won't believe it's chili until there are beans of substance in there. :giggle That and the Frito's that get soggy at the bottom of the bowl under all that chili. :scratch :hunh

Anyway, does he accept lentils as a meat substitute? Because everything else is seasoning, IMO.

My current chili recipe uses a large can of tomato paste (15 oz) and 2 cans of water, sea salt, oil, pepper, chili powder, onion, garlic, cumin, and whatever other seasoning in my cupboard that smells right for what I'm going for. :shifty Honey or some other sweetener helps mellow the tomato acid, too. I put in beans and ground meat, too. But I suppose that those can be interchangeable/optional. :yes

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

I love my vegetarian chili recipe. It's hearty and tasty, but it has a lot of vegetables in it that aren't necessarily traditional: butternut squash, zucchini, corn and peas (along with kidney beans). So not sure if that would work for you. :shrug3 The butternut squash is what makes it awesome IMO. :yum

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

I mix up the beans for my chili recipe. All kidney beans is :yuck. I usually use black beans, navy beans and red beans. My recipe is based on a Betty Crocker recipe...as far as seasonings go, a hint of cocoa powder, some cumin and chili powder give the flavour. I'll copy the recipe if you think it is something you might like.

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

We've done the lentil chili thing before. DH is just :shrug about it. :-/

Lentils are on the menu for another meal this week (what can I say - gotta stretch the budget!), so I was thinking a 2-3 bean chili. I have pinto beans, black beans, maybe some navy beans or great northerns or something else. We have some zucchini - DH will usually go for that. He's the season-er in our family. He's awesome at tasting something and saying, "oh, it just needs a little coriander" (or whatever). Maybe I'll hunt up a recipe with cocoa powder in it - that would change it up for him. :think

I'm not opposed to using some chicken broth in there... :shifty I've got that, just no actual ground meat.

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

An old hippie gave me this recipe:

http://sideofbeef.wordpress.com/2010...-basic-recipe/

If you click to the next entry you'll see how I made it with dry beans instead of canned and used up all my CSA veggies too :rockon

http://sideofbeef.wordpress.com/2010...oes-csa-chili/


There's no meat substitute in it though so that might be tricky for your dh... and it doesn't look/smell like chili until the very end when everything starts really coming together, but it's truly amazing once it does! It's great with chips and sour cream and topped with cheese and if you want to try it sometime when you do have meat, you can make the ground beef on the side and let people add as much or little as they like. I do that so the chili lasts in the fridge for a good week without going bad. If the meat was in it, it wouldn't last as long!

ETA - and most of the time we just eat it vegetarian (it'd be vegan but we do put cheese on it most of the time because we love cheese).

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

This one rocks! Omit the cheese for a vegan recipe!

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 large white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
black pepper to taste
2 cups vegetable broth
3.5 ounce diced green chilies, mild (1 can)
30 ounce black beans (2 cans)
8 ounce sweet corn cream style (1 can), no salt added
8 ounce diced tomatoes (1/2 can)

Cheese to serve with (smoked gouda or white cheddar)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat.

Sauté onion and garlic for 4 minutes.

Season onion and garlic with chili powder, cumin, and black pepper and cook for 1 minute.

Stir in vegetable broth, diced chilies, 1 can of beans, and corn. Bring to a boil.

In a food processor or blender, process remaining 1 cans of beans and tomatoes until smooth. Stir into boiling soup mixture, reduce heat to medium, and simmer for 15 minutes

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

Okay, best veggie chili recipe ever (in our house, at least - makes the die-hard meat eaters go back for seconds ;))...is currently at home in a cookbook :shifty

Subbing so that I'll remember to come back and post it when I get home :)

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

I have not tried this, but I want to. Just saw this today:

http://delicioustv.com /2007/05/pumpkin-and-bulgur-chili/ (broken link)

It looked really yummy. sugar pumpkins should be easy to find this time of year and inexpensive, but I'm also guessing plain pumpkin puree would work.

I'd substitute the bulgur with rice or barley because I don't use bulgur but if you do and have it on hand...sound good.

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

DH HATES pumpkin - I think I'll skip that recipe, since it's him I'm trying to impress. ;)

Keep those recipes coming, ladies! I think we'll do the chili on Thursday.

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

Okay, here 'tis. The spices totally make this dish :yum

2 Tbsp. oil (we use olive)
2 c. chopped onions
1 c. chopped green pepper
6 cloves minced garlic
1/4 c. chili powder
1 Tbsp. paprika
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. dried oregano
4 c. chopped tomatoes
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt, or to taste
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/8 tsp. red pepper (optional)
1/2 Tbsp. liquid smoke (optional, but SO WORTH IT)
3 c. kidney beans (either cooked from dry, or canned & drained)

In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add onions, peppers and garlic, stirring until softened, about 2 minutes. Stir in the chili powder, paprika, cumin and oregano until absorbed.

Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, salt, black pepper and red pepper; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add the beans and liquid smoke; simmer, covered, 15 to 20 minutes longer or until chili is slightly thick, stirring occasionally.

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

Not the cheapest, but definitely easy.

In a crockpot combine:
2-3 cups of pinto beans
1-2 cans diced tomatoes (depending how many beans you used)
1 can diced green chilis
1/2 large or 1 medium onion, chopped
1 package of chili seasoning (you would probably need to make your own b/c of the corn thing)

Fill it up with water, turn it on and let it go. About 6 hours on high maybe. It's the easiest meal ever, but like I said, not cheapest, because of all the cans and packets. And it doesn't freeze well at all. But its pretty healthy.

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

Just thought I'd update - I used Emily's recipe, more or less, since that worked the best with what I had on hand. Since DH had a busy afternoon and I had to work in the afternoon, I put the food in the crock pot in the morning, and all he had to do was adjust the seasonings when he got home. He did add a can of tomato paste to thicken it up a little to the "proper" consistency.

DH liked it! :) He went back for a second bowl, and didn't reach for the peanut butter after dinner like he usually does after a vegetarian meal. :rockon Not only that, but we sent DS off to play at Grandma's house for a little while and managed to have a candlelight dinner alone at home. Yay!

Re: Need to find the most awesome vegan chili recipe EV-uh
 

:rockon