What's Cooking: Chili

I have been meaning to write up this recipe a long time ago.  Finally...

Ingredients:

• olive or vegetable oil for sautéing
• 2 onions, coarsely chopped (about 3 cups)
• 3 carrots, finely chopped
• 2-3 sticks of celery, finely chopped
• 2 large yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 4 tsp minced canned chipotle chilies in adobo sauce (or to taste), minced
• 1 15-oz can black beans, well drained
• 1 15 oz can kidney beans, well drained
• 1 15 oz can pinto beans, well drained
• 28 oz can of diced or chopped tomatoes, preferably fire roasted
• 15 oz can of tomato sauce
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced (optional)
• 1 green pepper, chopped, (optional)
• 2 Tbsp chili powder (or to taste)
• 1 1/5 - 2 tsp cumin powder (or to taste)
• fresh cilantro, chopped, for serving (optional)

Method

1. Heat oil in a heavy large (humongous) pot, add onions, carrots and celery, and cook for a few minutes, until the vegetables are just starting to get soft.

2.  Add chopped peppers, and cook for another 7-10 minutes, until the peppers start getting soft.

3.  Add. garlic, spices, and chipotle chilies, and cook for about a minute, stirring well.

4.  Add beans, tomatoes and tomato sauces, bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer for at least 30 minutes. 

Serve with cornbread, Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese, or sour cream.   

Notes:

• Any combination of beans would work--the original recipe calls for all black beans.  The above combination works well for us.  Cook the beans yourself, avoiding cans, if you would like to reduce sodium.
• On chipotle chilis
• If possible, use a food processor to "mince" (or turn into paste) the chipotle chilis (with the sauce).  I usually process the whole can, and store the remains in a glass jar in the fridge.  It lasts for a very long time.  Also good with eggs, fajitas, etc.
• I used 4 teaspoons before we started feeding the chili to Nat.  I have been using 2 teaspoons ever since we started sharing our food with Nat, and mashing a little cornbread into Nat's plate of chili.  These maneuvers seem like a nice compromise in spiciness between him and us, the adults.
• Simmer the chili covered if you would like to retain more liquid.  Leave the lid off if you would like the chili to thicken
• I like my chili fairly thick, so I have never added more than ~1/4 cup of water.  You can add water or vegetable broth to add more liquid to the chili.
• Options to increase the amount of chili cooked
• I would not necessarily double the recipe... but if you try, please let me know how it works out
• Add another 2-4 cups of beans (I would recommend black)
• Add another 28 oz of fire roasted chopped tomatoes
• Add another pepper--yellow, green, or poblano (esp. if you like things spicy)
• Add another onion
• Do not forget to up the spices just a tiny bit if you are increasing the beans or tomatoes.  Plus you can never have too much cumin (IMPO).
• The chili freezes well

Recipes I referenced:

• Black Bean, Yellow Pepper and Cumin Chili
• Deb's Three-Bean Chili (you have to scroll down a bit to get to the recipe)

What's Cooking: Borsch

This is a vegetarian version of borsch, but it can easily be cooked with a little bit of beef for a more smooth meaty flavor. (See notes below).

Cabbage just added to the borsch

Ingredients:

• 5-6 medium red beets (more if the beets are tiny)
• 1 large onion chopped
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced or pushed through the garlic press
• 1-2 carrots chopped
• 1 fresh tomato, or 1-2 tomatoes from a can (optional)
• fresh dill
• 4 medium potatoes
• cabbage (I end up using less than one head, so pick a small one)
• black pepper
• bay leaf

"Magic ingredients":

• Some acidic liquid, e.g.
• Vinegar or
• brine from dill pickles or really anything pickled, e.g. banana peppers
• tomato juice
• Stems from fresh parsley, and/or dill, cilantro

1. Peel the beets. Put them in a large pot with water and bring to boil. (You can cut them into large cubes for faster cooking.)  While the water is heating up, add 1-2 table spoons of your "acidic liquid" of choice. Add 3-5 black peppers, 1 bay leaf and the stems from the fresh herbs if using. (These are just for flavor--you can fish all of them out before serving.) When the liquid boils, lower the heat and let it simmer, until the beets are almost cooked. 
2. This step can be done either while the beets are cooking or in advance (e.g. 1-2 days ahead). Chop onions. Peel and shred (or thinly chop) carrots. Saute onions and carrots. (It is really yummy in butter, but for health reasons sauteing in vegetable oil works just as well). When sauteing is almost done, add tomatoes and cook for a couple of more minutes. Set aside.
3. Peel potatoes and cut them into large cubes.
4. Chop the cabbage
5. When the beets are cooked, fish them out of the beet broth.
6. Add sauted onions and carrots, and potatoes to the broth and continue simmering. (Depending on whether your like your cabbage crispy or well boiled, you can add it to the beet broth now, or later when the potatoes are almost done).
7. Shred the beets and add them back into the broth.
8. Continue simmering until potatoes are fully cooked.
9. Serve with sour cream and fresh dill

Notes:

• I usually make it in a 6 quart pot, but by no means do I fill up the pot with water. (Although I do often end up with borsch that does have more stuff than liquid in it:). But you can always add more liquid later, as you go.
• If you want to make a beef based borsch, just throw in a beef bone, or some stew kind of beef at the same time as you start cooking the beets.