Chilli
Tonight on "Cooking With plonq":
I made chilli with cornbread for dinner this afternoon.
On a side note, I did something a bit different with the cornbread this time; I didn't burn it for a change. We both agreed that this tweak to the process was an improvement.
For the chilli, I found a recipe for chipotle pepper chilli as a base and worked from there. It called for onion, garlic and red or green pepper (I used orange), but I also added a couple stalks of diced celery. The latter goes good in chilli, and we had some in the fridge that needed to be used.
Another change I made to the recipe was to drop the meat and add a package each of Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger. The last time I made a chilli with a meat substitute, one package of Beyond wasn't enough and I supplemented it with some texturized vegetable protein. This time, I just added both of the fake meats we had in the freezer and let them fight it out for dominance in the pot.
When I went to add chilli powder and ground cumin, I discovered that we didn't have enough of either for the recipe (I should have checked before we went shopping on Thursday). To compensate, I added the whole can of chipotle chillies instead of the half-can I'd been planning. I also added some powdered cocoa just because.
The recipe would have been vegan, but I was too lazy to go down to the freezer for frozen vegetable stock, and just added some reconstituted beef stock instead. To tell the truth, I think I made the right choice as it added some richness and salt that it would have been lacking.
Other than the usual spices and herbs, it also used some tomato paste, a big can of chopped tomatoes, and some quantity each of canned pinto beans and red kidney beans. The final change I made to the original was to add some cornmeal to thicken it up. I usually do that when I make chilli because I prefer a slightly less soupy base.
It was good - with just enough of a bite from the chipotle peppers to make it interesting. I really liked what those brought to it, and I will definitely be adding them to my next chilli.
I made chilli with cornbread for dinner this afternoon.
On a side note, I did something a bit different with the cornbread this time; I didn't burn it for a change. We both agreed that this tweak to the process was an improvement.
For the chilli, I found a recipe for chipotle pepper chilli as a base and worked from there. It called for onion, garlic and red or green pepper (I used orange), but I also added a couple stalks of diced celery. The latter goes good in chilli, and we had some in the fridge that needed to be used.
Another change I made to the recipe was to drop the meat and add a package each of Beyond Meat and Impossible Burger. The last time I made a chilli with a meat substitute, one package of Beyond wasn't enough and I supplemented it with some texturized vegetable protein. This time, I just added both of the fake meats we had in the freezer and let them fight it out for dominance in the pot.
When I went to add chilli powder and ground cumin, I discovered that we didn't have enough of either for the recipe (I should have checked before we went shopping on Thursday). To compensate, I added the whole can of chipotle chillies instead of the half-can I'd been planning. I also added some powdered cocoa just because.
The recipe would have been vegan, but I was too lazy to go down to the freezer for frozen vegetable stock, and just added some reconstituted beef stock instead. To tell the truth, I think I made the right choice as it added some richness and salt that it would have been lacking.
Other than the usual spices and herbs, it also used some tomato paste, a big can of chopped tomatoes, and some quantity each of canned pinto beans and red kidney beans. The final change I made to the original was to add some cornmeal to thicken it up. I usually do that when I make chilli because I prefer a slightly less soupy base.
It was good - with just enough of a bite from the chipotle peppers to make it interesting. I really liked what those brought to it, and I will definitely be adding them to my next chilli.