Food Tuesday: Vegan Chili

#FoodTuesday #RecipeSortOf #writingprompt

Now, I’m going to show you a picture of the vegan chili I made, and I’m asking you to not be judgey. Everybody does their own chili, and I do mine differently every time I make it, but this one is this time.

Yes, it has spaghetti in it. I ASKED you to not be judgey. That’s how we do it in the midwest.

I started by heating some oil, then frying half an onion and a banana pepper with its evil guts ripped out. Then I added this:

All the things

Smoked paprika, sweet paprika, Penzeys Tsar Dust, chili powder, Jane’s Crazy Mixed Up Salt, chipotle powder, cumin, a whole clove of garlic which dissolved during cooking, and a tablespoon of cocoa powder. Oh, and a dash of Penzeys Mural of Flavor, because it has citrus in it. I wish now I’d used a squeeze of fresh lime juice, but I didn’t.

When that was nice and toasty, I broke up a pound of Beyond Beef meat substitute and browned it. It acts, looks, and tastes so much like real ground beef, it makes my truly vegan daughter (#2 Daughter) gag. Finally, I added a can of cannellini beans and a can of diced tomatoes, neither drained. No, I tell a lie: finally, I added some Kitchen Bouquet browning sauce, about two tablespoons of tomato paste, and a bay leaf.

I cooked the spaghetti separately, so you can untwist your knickers.

I covered the pot and cooked it low and slow for several hours.

Sara and I ate this for two meals, and there was still just a tad bit left, so this happened:

Vegan chili dog

That’s an Impossible spicy sausage, cooked and split, with the leftover chili spooned in and vegan cheddar on top.

A WRITING PROMPT FROM ME TO YOU: A chili cook-off.

MA

About

I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but now live in the woods in southern Indiana. Though I only write fiction, I love to read non-fiction. The more I learn about this world, the more fantastic I see it is.

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One thought on “Food Tuesday: Vegan Chili

  1. John Hric

    November 22, 2023 at 9:36am

    It is your chili for your dinner. Make it the way you enjoy it. The Tsar Dust sounds interesting. I had never heard of it before. From salt, garlic, cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg and marjoram. I will have to look into those ingredients. I would not have thought to include cinnamon and nutmeg is a ‘meat’ dish. Then again I did not used to think of adding a small handful of raisins either. They give a slight taste of sweetness to the chili. Thanks Marian !

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    • Author

      Marian Allen

      November 22, 2023 at 10:11am

      Cinnamon and nutmeg aren’t naturally sweet, we just think they are because they’re used in so many sweet dishes. I’m not sure I’m white enough to put raisins in my chili. I mean, I’m white, but I don’t think I’m THAT white. Still, I may give it a try, if you say it’s good. I wouldn’t take just anybody’s word for it, but I’ll take your word for it. I do like korma, and that’s a savory dish with raisins in it.

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      • John Hric

        November 22, 2023 at 2:04pm

        For a small batch it just might be a table spoon or so. I learned measuring from my grandmother at a young age. And it consisted of hand and judgement. None of those new fangled measuring devices.

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  2. Dan Antion

    November 21, 2023 at 7:31am

    Both meals look great. My brother recently told me that he gets a container of chili from a local (Midwest) deli and adds it to some other stuff and spaghetti – so no judging here.

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