Teresa's Wintery Vegan Chili

I had this sudden urge to eat Chili the other day, maybe it was because it was feeling very cold up here in the Adelaide hills and a nice warm chunky bowl of goodness was just what the doctor ordered. I personally love Chili as a choice for our family because beans provide a good source of protein. Bodhi is a strict vegan, he declared it after seeing dead fish at Whole Foods, so we have all followed suit and thinks it’s pretty sweet how passionate he is about animals. 


This is also a great recipe to get the kids involved. A couple of jobs I had Bodhi do were; draining and rinsing the beans, stirring (very carefully), chopping celery with a blunted knife, putting ingredients in to the pan. He also helped me today up afterwards. He is a keen vacuumer whenever food gets on the wood floors!

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We used all organic ingredients, however, I didn’t realize that we had used up all our veggie stock on the pumpkin soup (Hyper link) last week, so I decided to make veggie stock from scratch. 

HOMEMADE VEGGIE STOCK

  • Chop & peel 1 carrot

  • Chop 2 sticks of celery 

  • Chop 1/3 of a (massive!) white onion.

  • Chop 3 cloves of garlic

  • Throw everything in a small saucepan with 1.5 cups of water.

  • Add 1 teaspoon of oregano

  • Add 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs (or whatever spices you have handy)

  • *bay leaf is a nice addition I just didn’t have one handy*

  • Set it to boil throughout chilli prep (boil for about 30/40 mins)

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On to the Chili!



INGREDIENTS

  • Olive oil 

  • 3 sticks of celery

  • 1 white onion (or half if you’re dealing with the massive one I was!) 

  • 1 can adzuki beans 

  • 1 can kidney beans

  • 1/2 cup of chopped garlic

  • 1 cup of vegetable broth

  • 1 can of peeled tomatoes 

  • 1 small package of tomato paste (or just under half a cup)

  • 1 teaspoon of Himalayan sea salt 

  • 1/2 a teaspoon of Pepper

  • 1.5 teaspoons of Oregano

  • 1/2 teaspoon Cayenne pepper 

  • 1 teaspoon Cumin

  • Corn chips for serving 

  • Vegan sour cream (or regular if you’re just looking for the veggie option) 

  • Scoop of guacamole- just as a topper, (LOVE this addition but didn’t use it this time round- not gonna tell you how to make guac...)

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Directions

*I like to prep everything in advance first before starting the cooking process*

1. Finely chop the celery

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2. Chop the onion

3. Smash the garlic (I used a large knife and press my palms on the flat side of it to squash the garlic before chopping) chop the garlic finely.

4. Drain the beans and rinse them. They can be mixed up. (I just threw them all in a strainer together and ran water over them.)

5. Open the tomato paste and canned tomatoes, set aside. 

6. Oil a fry pan with the olive oil.

7. Sauté onions and garlic until opaque, a few minutes should do it on medium heat.

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8. Throw in the chopped celery and stir. Cook until the celery is softening up and starting to look translucent, about 6 minutes or so.

9. Add the tomato paste and canned tomatoes. 

10. Strain the vegetable stock and pour only the liquid in to your dish (you can use the cooked veggies for next days school lunch!) or add in a cup of your store bought veggie stock. Stir. Add the beans, mix it all around.

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11. Add the spices, these can be of your choosing but I did 1 teaspoon of cumin and sea salt, 1.5 teaspoons of oregano and 1/2 a teaspoon of cayenne and pepper (kid friendly!)

12. I then turned the dish down to low heat and let the chili simmer while I cleaned up and set the table. It lets the juices and flavours really marinate and thicken over the course of 10 minutes or so. 

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13. Serve with corn chips, a scoop of sour cream (and next time I’ll also add a scoop of guacamole!) 

Bon Appetite!

xo,

Tez

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