Vegetarian Chili

In the culture and cuisine of the Southwest, chili is serious business. The key to great chili is knowing how to harness the fiery flavor of a wide rage of available chile peppers to make the dish exciting yet palatable. Red New Mexican chile peppers are tied in strings called ristras or are available as ground powder, and chipotles are ripe (red) jalapenos that have been dried and smoked. If you are using whole chiles, you may want to remove that white tissue if you don’t want your chili too hot. I expect most of the chilis are available in D in speciality stores.

7 1/2 cups cooked beans, like pintos, anasazi, adzuki or kidney (roughly four 15-ounce cans or 1 pound dried beans, cooked).
2 ts extra-virgin olive oil
2 large onions, diced
1 dried or canned chipotle pepper
1 ts mild red New Mexican chile pepper, or to taste
1 ts dried whole oregano
1 ts ground cumin
1/2 ts allspice
1 large can (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes, undrained
5 gloves garlic, mashed
salt and pepper, to taste

Garnishes
Chopped raw onion
chopped tomato
shredded lettuce
tortillas

Cooking
1.drain beans in colander
2.heat oil in a large Dutch oven or saucepan. Add the onions and saute over medium heat until they are soft and golden
3. Crush the chipotle pepper if using dried, or mince if using canned
4. Add the chipotle pepper, red chile powder, oregano, cumin and allspice to the onions. Cook for 2 min
5. Add the tomatoes and beans. Simmer for 45 min, adding liquid if the mixture gets to dry
6. Add salt and extra pepper to taste, and more chile if you want a hotter dish
7. Serve in bowls with warm tortillas. Garnish with chopped raw onion, chopped tomato and shredded lettuce

In a variant of the recipe you can add meat (chicken, pork or beef). Bon appetit!!