Easy Vegan Chili

      Fast, easy, nutritious, and cruelty free – you can’t beat this quintessential cold weather comfort food.  Who said cooking from scratch and home cooking had to be a major chore?  This vegan chili is a two step, one dish recipe (not counting veggie chopping).  It is a pressure cooker recipe, but you could easily use a slow cooker.  Just slow cook the dried beans overnight and slow cook the rest of the chili for at least an hour (all day is better) before serving.

      This recipe made enough for one dinner for our family of four (with Punky taking three big helpings and a tiny third), with enough leftovers for at least 3 lunches.  Also perfect for canning or freezing to have on hand for a quick meal instead of canned soup or something processed from a box.

Ingredients:
The ingredients for chili are quite flexible, which is one of the beauties of this recipe.  Feel free to experiment!

– 2 cups dried beans (This time I used a mixture of dark kidney beans, black beans, and colored butter beans)
– 2 small onions (or one large) – or more!
– 3 bell peppers of various colors (at least one green)
– 28oz can (big can) organic diced tomatoes (or 2 – 3 cups fresh diced toms!)
– 2 cups diced mushrooms (I used a combo of shiitake, oyster, and button)
– 2 tbsp chili powder
– 1 tbsp cumin
– 2 tsp paprika
– 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced (or the equivalent of garlic powder)
– 2 tsp black pepper
– 1 or 2 bay leaves, whole (remove before serving)
– 1/4 cup organic ketchup (it is important to use organic, no high fructose corn syrup, low sugar ketchup)
– 2 tbsp yellow mustard (use less if using mustard powder)
– minced jalapeno peppers or cayenne powder to taste.

      Throw in any other veggies you have or want!  Zucchini and summer squash are great in chili, along with all kinds of peppers, celery, carrots, even broccoli and cauliflower!  Corn is always a great touch to chili.  Adding greens can really kick up the nutritional value.  For a sweeter chili with a really unique touch, add either mashed or cubed sweet potato, acorn or butternut squash.  I even threw in some leftover spaghetti sauce that we had (chili is a great “dumping ground” for leftovers and odds and ends).

You can also add some vegan crumbles like those from Gardien (MorningStar Farms are NOT cruelty free), but I try to avoid it because the crumbles, while WAY better than animal flesh, are still processed.  And honestly, this chili doesn’t need it. 

Directions:

BEANS
Individual pressure cookers may vary, so check your manual. 

1.  Rinse your beans.
2.  Put in pressure cooker with 3X as much water (2 cups of beans and 6 cups of water, roughly) – or whatever your pressure cooker manual calls for.
3.  My pressure cooker recommends adding a tablespoon of oil to prevent over-foaming.  I used a tbsp of chili pepper infused extra virgin olive oil that we made when our pepper plants went NUTS last year.
4.  Cook on high pressure for 8 minutes (or according to your machine’s directions).
5.  Drain your beans, leaving them in or returning them to the pressure cooker, and start throwing in your veggie ingredients:

CHILI
1.  While the beans are cooking, dice your onion and mince your garlic first and set aside to rest.  Allowing these to rest increases their nutrient value.
2.  Chop up the rest of your ingredients.
3.  Once the beans are ready, throw in all the rest of your ingredients, including the juice from the tomatoes.  Don’t add any extra water.

4.  Cook on high pressure for 4 minutes.
5.  Serve and enjoy!

There is an optional thickening step, depending on how you like your chili.  My batch was just a little more watery than I like it, probably because of the leftover spaghetti sauce I added, so I made a roux by mixing 1 – 2 tablespoons of Teff flour with just enough water to make it pourable, like a batter. (you can use any flour or cornstarch; I just love Teff because it is SO much more nutritious than even whole wheat flour – it is also gluten free).  Slowly stir the roux, a little at a time,  into the chili as soon as you’re able to open the pressure cooker.  Mix thoroughly.  The teff did a beautiful job of making my chili the perfect texture I was after.

As always, let me know if you try it!  Small steps make a huge difference!