wjsullivan.net
Overloading the Machine
Black Bean Chili
by John Sullivan
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 Vidalia onions, diced
- 2 tbsp chili powder
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 2 15 oz cans black beans, drained and rinsed (or 3 cups cooked beans)
- 1 15 oz can corn
- 1 6 oz can tomato paste
- 2 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 cups water
- 2 tbsp Bragg's liquid aminos, or soy sauce
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 tsp tabasco, or other hot sauce
- 1 package Yves The Good Ground Veggie Mexican ground "beef" (2 cups)
Sauté the onions in the olive oil with the chili pepper and the cinnamon until the onions turn translucent and soften. This takes around 10 minutes.
Add the remaining ingredients. I prefer to add the ingredients in the order listed, stirring thoroughly after the diced tomatoes are added, to give the beans, corn and tomatoes a chance to mingle directly with the chili powder.
Heat until hot throughout. Simmering slowly seems to help the flavor some, but I haven't worked out the optimal time for that yet. I've been letting it simmer for about 15 minutes, based on the recommendation of another chili recipe, and that seems to work. Make sure to stir often to avoid burning.
If it were just me eating this, I'd go up to 1 tbsp of tabasco.
As you might guess, this recipe makes a whole lot of chili. For the two of us, it's enough for a couple dinners and a couple lunches each. That would put it in the neighborhood of 12-16 servings.
Cornbread goes well with this. I'll post that recipe soon.
You see, I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty
attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose. A fool
takes in all the lumber of every sort he comes across, so that the knowledge
which might be useful to him gets crowded out, or at best is jumbled up with
a lot of other things, so that he has difficulty in laying his hands upon it.
Now the skilful workman is very careful indeed as to what he takes into his
brain-attic. He will have nothing but the tools which may help him in doing
his work, but of these he has a large assortment, and all in the most perfect
order. It is a mistake to think that that little room has elastic walls and
can distend to any extent. Depend upon it there comes a time when for every
addition of knowledge you forget something that you knew before. It is of
the highest importance, therefore, not to have useless facts elbowing out
the useful ones.
-- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, "A Study in Scarlet"
This page was last modified on 2011 December 20.