Vegetarian (or not) Chili

This recipe is for my friend, Neha.

I'm sure there are some other wonderful chefs out there who have rich, savory vegetarian chilis to offer, but when Neha came to me asking if I had a good vegetarian chili recipe, I saw that as a challenge for myself. She told me how the recipes she tried were too heavy-handed on the tomato, tasting more akin to a tomato stew than a real chili. She said she tried some with and without the faux meat crumbles, but texture was never the issue. The issue was flavor, or lack thereof.

Here, we have lots of flavor and much of it comes in the form of spice. For some, perhaps too much. If I made this for my other vegetarian friend, Emily, for example, I might leave out the serrano pepper and take half the seeds out of the jalepeño. But spicy is just one element here. There is beer, adding rich, malty flavors. A heavy hand of chili powder—which is as effective with a jar of fresh, grocery-brand chili powder as it is the fancy jar that's three times the price—adds earthy, savory qualities. I use smoked paprika to amp up that smoky, meaty flavor because our house of meat eaters misses that, but if you're a lifelong vegetarian like Neha, you could get away with sweet paprika.

This chili was not written for meat-eaters. It was born of love for my vegetarians, which I feel emboldened to say because as I write this, I realize I am truly surrounded by vegetarians. With that said, I also happen to love a meat-eater and he lives in my house, so I tried this chili with ground beef as well, and perhaps unsurprisingly, it's delicious. So maybe this chili is for Neha and all of my vegetarian friends and also everyone else. This is everyone's chili!

Thank you to Neha for the inspiration. I hope you all are warm and healthy and if you have the time, make yourself some chili this weekend. Love to you <3

NEHA’S (or everyone's!) CHILI

1 pound veggie meat substitute (or beef!)

1 yellow onion, small diced

1 bell pepper (I used red), minced

1 jalapeno pepper, minced

1 serrano pepper, minced

4 garlic cloves, minced

3 tablespoons chili powder

1 ½ teaspoons cumin powder

1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano

2 teaspoons smoked paprika

1 tablespoon tomato paste

12 oz beer (Modelo or Pacifico or another lager works well)

12 oz can fire-roasted tomatoes (crushed or diced)

2 cans beans, drained & rinsed (I like kidney and black)

1 ½ cups water or veggie or beef broth

2 tablespoons soy sauce

Garnishes: 

1 lime

1 cup yogurt

Monteray jack (or whatever) shredded cheese

Heat a large pot or dutch oven over medium-high heat with a few tablespoons of oil (you’ll need more oil if you’re using faux meat than if you’re using an 80/20 beef mix). 

Add your meat or meat sub and start to crumble it in your very warm pan with about a teaspoon of salt. Let this take its time and brown to a pretty caramel color. Once brown, remove the crumbles from the pan and lower the heat to low. 

Add the onion and peppers and a generous pinch of salt and cook on low until the veggies are soft and almost melty, about 10 minutes. They should pick up a little color from having cooked the meat already, but not too much. Add the garlic and all of the spices, stirring to toast these evenly for just about a minute. Add the tomato paste and stir, cooking about another minute, until the paste is coating the whole mixture and it’s a deep burgundy color. 

Add the beer and increase the heat to medium-high. Let this simmer and reduce until it's about ⅓ of the volume it was when you added it (this takes about five minutes). Now add the meat back in, add the tomatoes, water or broth, and soy sauce. Simmer the mixture for roughly an hour, covered. The liquid will only slightly reduce, but the cooking will concentrate the flavors. 

While the chili cooks, zest and juice your lime into your yogurt. Add about ¼ teaspoon of salt and mix. Set aside as a garnish for serving. 

After an hour, stir in the beans and let it simmer uncovered for another fifteen-ish minutes. Taste it at this point for seasoning. If you used broth, it may be salty enough, but with water it may need another pinch. 

Serve bowls full or Frito bags full of chili with a handful of cheese and a dollop of lime yogurt on top. The chili is even better the next day, but you probably already knew that.