Anyway, today I tried this recipe for a meatless chili. I'm sure I could easily add meat to it if I wanted, but for now I did not.
6 servings, about 1 1/3 cups each
Active Time: Total Time:
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 3 medium onions, chopped
- 1 carrot, chopped
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped jalapeño pepper
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1-2 tablespoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 28-ounce can plus one 14-ounce can whole tomatoes, chopped, with juices
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 15-ounce cans red kidney beans, rinsed
- 1/3 cup bulgur (see Note)
- 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt for garnish
- 1/3 cup chopped scallions for garnish
- 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro for garnish
Preparation
- Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, carrot, jalapeño, garlic, chili powder to taste and cumin. Cook, stirring often, until the onions and carrot are soft, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add tomatoes with their juices, sugar and salt; cook for 5 minutes over high heat. Reduce heat to low; stir in beans and bulgur. Simmer until the chili is thickened, about 15 minutes.
- Garnish with yogurt, scallions and cilantro, if desired.
Tips & Notes
- Note: Bulgur is made by parboiling, drying and coarsely grinding or cracking wheat berries. Don’t confuse bulgur with cracked wheat, which is simply that—cracked wheat. Since the parboiling step is skipped, cracked wheat must be cooked for up to an hour whereas bulgur simply needs a quick soak in hot water for most uses. Look for it in the natural-foods section of large supermarkets, near other grains, or online at kalustyans.com, buylebanese.com.
Nutrition
Per serving: 217 calories; 3 g fat ( 0 g sat , 2 g mono ); 0 mg cholesterol; 40 g carbohydrates; 1 g added sugars; 10 g protein; 13 g fiber; 697 mg sodium; 854 mg potassium.Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin A (49% daily value), Vitamin C (43% dv), Potassium (25% dv), Folate & Iron (24% dv), Magnesium (20% dv).
Carbohydrate Servings: 2
Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 lean meat
I used dried beans, rather than canned, so it wasn't really half-hour chili for me, but that's okay -- husband was off work today to help wrangle our 3-year-old, and it's been a grey, drizzly day, nice for staying in and cooking all day. I googled for information on how many dried beans to use to equal 2 cans, and found this very helpful site.
So, 1 cup of dry beans it is! I used the technique I'd read about in my old copy of "How to Cook Everything" (which I've had for years but barely looked at until the last year or two): brought them to a boil, boiled them for 2 minutes, then removed them from heat and just let them soak a while. I think I gave them a couple of hours, while I did other stuff, then I really cooked them before putting them aside in a bowl and starting on the rest of the chili.
Once the beans were done the rest of it was indeed super-quick. I did not have a jalapeno pepper, and since I don't like my food very spicy, I just left that step out. I figured husband could add his own heat some other way if he wanted. I used my old standbys of dehydrated chopped onion (soaked in a bit of water for a few minutes before cooking), and jarred pre-minced garlic in water. I wanted to use up some bagged "baby" carrots I still had, so I estimated on how many looked like 1 whole carrot. I also threw in 2 sticks of celery, chopped, that I wanted to use up. Rather than go to the trouble of chopping whole canned tomatoes, I bought canned diced no-salt-added tomatoes. I used all 2 tablespoons of chili powder, and some extra cumin, 'cause I like cumin. :) Also, I did not have fresh cilantro, and rather than use it as garnish, I threw 4 teaspoons (if I remember correctly) of dried cilantro into the mix while cooking. I did not try the yogurt yet; perhaps on my next bowl. Did not have canola oil on hand, so I used grapeseed oil.
I thought it was all pretty tasty, but husband said he didn't really like it much. When he tried to pinpoint a reason, it wasn't flavor, but rather something about the texture didn't sit right with him. I don't know what I can do about that, so I guess this recipe will be just for me (and our little boy, if he'll try it) in the future.