Vegetarian Chilli with Black Beans & Hominy

Tags

black beans, C, Christmas Eve party, cooking with cocoa, family traditions, food blogging, green tomatoes, hominy, pozole, Texas chilli, veggie chilli

“Hominy beans ya want?” “Hominy math problems ya got left ta do?”  “Hominy” has been one of our favorite words around here since I made the Chicken and Green Tomato Pozole.  I needed a large can of hominy to finish the stew since pozole traditionally contains hominy,  so my husband stopped on his way home from work for me one day to pick some up.  He was very helpful and brought home two large cans since I hadn’t specified the amount I needed.  So there sat another can.  When I decided to make a large pot of vegetarian chilli I knew the hominy would be just the thing to bulk it up and keep everyone from missing the meat.

I make “real” chilli for Christmas Eve dinner with stuffed mushrooms and Red Velvet Cake along with other goodies.  This was the menu I grew up enjoying for our family Christmas Eve get together.  It’s not Christmas to me without those key dishes.  The problem is that chilli any other time of year tastes like Christmas.  I rarely make it.  When I first married and moved away from home, however, I  made a lot of vegetarian chilli.  It was always lacking in flavor and texture.  Our Texan friends were horrified to learn that we frequently enjoyed meatless chilli.  They insisted that chilli should be made with Grade A prime steak and nothing else.  I didn’t disclose the fact that when I did make it with meat I used ground beef.  I didn’t figure they could use a second shock.

This was definitely the best pot of vegetarian chilli I have ever made.  There’s something about blogging and “showing your work” that drives you to put extra care and attention into everything you cook.  Some things flop and never make it off the drawing board, others are so close to what I imagined that I try again if it wasn’t “perfect” the first time, others effortlessly come together and are beautiful in the end.  My favorite part of blogging is that now I have a record of everything I make that’s of any importance to refer to when I want to make the dish again.  We are ending up with some family favorites for that reason and my kids love to go to the blog to find their favorite blog foods so I can make them.  Cinnabiscuits and Black Gold Fudge are what they usually ask for, but seriously, those dishes are heart attacks waiting to happen so they can’t be recreated very often.  I used to worry a lot that if I was blogging, my food had to be fabulous.  When my son told me the other day that when he grows up he wants to cook from my blog and that he is glad he will have all of our recipes written down, I realized the plus side to all of my hard work.  I am elated when readers comment and praise my recipes; delirious when someone says they used one of my ideas.  I think, “Really?!!”  But that is nothing compared to the idea of my children wanting to cook from their mom’s recipes in their own homes.  I love traditions and starting them is something that makes parenting even more fun.  And, heaven forbid, I don’t have the opportunity to live to a ripe old age, my kids will still have a bit of me in my blogging.

Ingredients:

3 cloves of garlic, minced

3 c. yellow onions, large dice

1 1/2 c. leeks, sliced

2 c. celery sliced

2 1/2 c. roasted corn, cut from the cob

1/2 c. red bell pepper, medium dice

1 c. yellow bell pepper, medium dice

1 c. green bell pepper, medium dice

3 T extra virgin olive oil

4 c. tomato puree

3 c. water

2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. black pepper

2 T chilli powder

1 T cumin

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 T dark cocoa

2 jalapeno peppers, seeds and ribs removed and minced

32 oz. hominy, canned

4 cups cooked black beans

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat the oil in the bottom of a large stock pot.  Saute the garlic until translucent.  Add the onions, leeks, celery, peppers, and corn.

Saute until tender.  Add the tomato puree and water.

Bring to a simmer.  Add 2 tsp. salt, pepper, chilli powder, cumin, cinnamon, cocoa, and jalapeno peppers.

 

Cook on a low simmer for 3 to 5 hours.  The longer the better for the flavors to meld.

Add the black beans and hominy.  Season with salt and pepper to taste. Heat through and serve.

Note: This is pretty mild chilli.

 

 

 

Black Bean Polenta Squares

Tags

black bean burgers, black beans, cilantro, cumin, polenta, Tex-Mex, vegetarian meals, whole wheat tortillas

We eat a lot of polenta in our house.  There is always a container of individually frozen squares in our freezer and more often than not, I pull them out and broil them while they are still frozen.  It’s easier than trying to saute or grill them which, for me, sometimes ends up a sticky mess.

I prefer black beans to others so when I cook them I make an entire bag.  Usually I use them to make Black Bean Soup and then strain them for making vegetarian burgers.  This last batch left me with enough for Mango Black Bean Salsa and these polenta squares with even more in the freezer for those nights when I need to pull something out in a hurry.  Having a slow cooker as one of my newest kitchen gadgets makes cooking them a no-brainer.

Time is of the essence these days while I finish up gardening, continue prepping for our homeschool year, and work on projects outside trying to get things squared away before the cold weather hits.  Fast, easy meals have been key which is how this idea developed.  It was a quick vegetarian meal at the end of a busy Monday inspired by several recipes I had seen for black bean polenta cakes.  I just used my basic polenta recipe, omitted the cheese, and added black beans and Tex-Mex flavors with cumin and cilantro.   Easy as making grits in the morning if the beans are pre-cooked.

Ingredients:

3 c. water or stock

1 c. polenta

1/2 tsp. ground cumin

1 1/2 tsp. salt

Black pepper

1 c. cooked black beans

2 T cilantro leaves

Method:

Pour water into a medium sauce pan.  Add salt, pepper, and cumin.  Bring to a boil.  Stir in polenta and reduce heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook until thickened, stirring often for 5 to 7 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Be careful when the lid is off.  If the heat is too high the polenta will pop and splatter.  Mix in the beans and cilantro.

Spread into a small baking pan and chill.

When it’s firm cut it into squares.  Saute, grill, or broil the squares until crispy on the outside and warm and soft on the inside.

Note: The amount of beans in the dish was not enough to make a complete protein when combined with the corn for a vegetarian meal so I served them with Whole Wheat Tortillas and a little grated cheddar on top.  Salsa was a must.  My family said it tasted like bean burritos in corn tortillas so I guess that means my Tex-Mex meatless meal was a success. 

Mango Black Bean Salsa

Tags

black beans, Chef Kusuma Cooray, Honolulu chefs, Julia Child, mango salsa, mangos

I walked into the office of one of my chef instructors in my second semester of culinary school and there was a picture on her desk of herself with Julia Child.  I looked at her and asked, “You KNOW Julia Child?!!”  With her awesome Sri Lankan accent she replied, sounding a bit offended that I should have to ask, “But of course!  She’s my good friend!”  I felt like curtsying or asking for her autograph.  This little woman whom I had been working alongside in awe of for her obvious culinary abilities had suddenly jumped to near celebrity status in the eyes of one of her young students.  And being one of only three mainland students that I knew in the entire culinary program, I had no idea that she did, in fact, hold a celebrity status with the local students and community.

She was the genius behind the interesting combination of mango and black beans as a salsa that won my heart all those years ago along with her kind and patient instruction.  I was happy to discover, recently, that she has her own line of spice mixes for sale.  If they are anything like the woman who creates them, they have to be simply amazing!

Check them out at CoorayProducts.com

Ingredients:

1 c. mango, medium dice

1/4 c. yellow onion,  diced

1 c. cooked black beans

1/4 c. poblano peppers, minced

1/4 tsp. salt

2 T lime juice

1/4 tsp. cumin

Combine all ingredients.

This was a mild version.  Perfect with our Fish Tacos.   I think it would have been prettier with some red bell pepper and fresh cilantro, not to mention tastier.  Next time…