Monday, January 10, 2011

Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

YUM.

A friend made this for me last winter. I hate myself for what I'm about to type, but seriously: love at first bite. Cast-iron cornbread on the side and everything is right with the world.

The fact that the chili and cornbread go from ingredients to dinner in about half an hour only improves an already exciting weeknight. Obviously, this is chili - so add, subtract, substitute away.

Need
  • 2 oranges
  • 2 T olive oil
  • 2 c chopped onions
  • 4 cloves garlic, pressed/minced
  • 4 t chili powder
  • 4 t ground cumin
  • 2 t ground cinnamon
  • 3 15.5 oz cans seasoned black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 14.5 oz cans diced tomatoes in juice, not drained
  • Hot sauce, sour cream/yogurt, cilantro
  • Cornbread (Seriously. I don't mean to sound like something bad will happen if you don't have this with cornbread, but do you really want to take that chance?)

Do

Zest the oranges, then juice them.

Heat oil in heavy pan, then add the onions. Saute, don't brown, til soft, about 5 min.

Add spices, stir around to bloom and get the onions coated. Add the garlic, stir till fragrant.

Add the beans, tomatoes, and half the orange juice. Stir to combine.

Bring to a simmer and stir occasionally, for about 15 minutes.

Add additional orange juice, zest, hot sauce, salt, pepper.

Serve, topping with yogurt and cilantro. Cornbread goes on the side.

mmmmmm....

5 comments:

Kate said...

Yum! Thanks for the recipe!! What 'seasoning' do the canned black beans have?

Kate said...

oh, and I completely agree that you should never eat chili without cornbread. I'm pretty sure that's the 11th commandment or something.

Anonymous said...

Hi Kate!

You know, I have no idea. The recipe calls for "seasoned" black beans, but I just buy any old canned black beans and it seems to work. Frankly, given the volume of spices relative to the volume of chili involved here, I don't see additional seasoning as necessary.

Do you have a fave cornbread topping? I'm a HUGE fan of homemade marmalade and farm honey, but my stash of both is running a bit low so I've been making do with store bought lately. However, blood orange season is upon us, so it's probably about time to haul out the canning equipment and get started on this year's batch!

Anonymous said...

Despite being given this recipe over a year ago, I regretfully have yet to make it, but had some input on "seasoned black beans". While on a farm visit late last fall, Gma made a black bean soup, it was recipe Phil had called her attention to, he had found it on the back of a can of beans purchased from, where else, Dot Foods! It was good, reminded me of a soup version of a black bean salsa. anyways, it was on a can of "Ranch Style Black Beans". So, when I tried to make it at home, none of those to be found in P'ton, and w/ plain beans, it was a little bland.So, I added a little ketchup, mustard,brown sugar, black pepper, cumin and chili powder. Pretty good. Next time I'm in a real town, I'm going to see what varieties of seasoned bl beans are carried, and what the seasonings are. Aunt Jane, or Mom Jane

Kate said...

We made this tonight over at my parents' and it was really good! Thanks for the recipe! Will found 'seasoned black beans' at our grocery store and that's just exactly what they were called! I can't remember now what they said they had added to them and the empty can is at my mom's.

As far as toppings for cornbread... I like cornbread muffins the best and when eating them with chili I actually like them plain and partly crumbled in chunks into the chili. But the leftovers I like broiled with butter (salted butter) and then drizzled with honey - yum!