Vegan Chili

Ingredients:

• Three 12oz cans of beans, drained. Your choice, but a mix is nice. I prefer black, red kidney, and cannellini.
• One 24oz can of crushed tomatoes. Fire-roasted crushed tomatoes are also good.
• Two cups of vegetable broth. Imagine brand's No-Chicken Broth is an example.
• One 4oz can Hatch chiles, hot or mild to your preference. Can also sub one jalapeno, diced.
• One half of a yellow onion, diced.
• Two or three garlic cloves, minced.
• One tablespoon of red miso paste.
• One tablespoon of tomato paste. Optional, I rarely have some on hand, so only sometimes use this.
• One-half package Gardein frozen Be'f crumbles, or one package Impossible or Beyond Meat meat substitute.
• One to two teaspoons Bragg's liquid aminos. Can substitute soy sauce or tamari.
• The spice mixture, adjust to your taste (measurements below are approximate, I tend to just do it by eye):
  • One tablespoon of ancho chili powder.
  • One-half tablespoon smoked paprika.
  • One teaspoon of cumin.
  • One-half teaspoon cayenne pepper.
• Olive oil.

Procedure:

1. Heat olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Sauteé onion until soft, add garlic and cook for a minute.
2. Add spice mixture, and cook for about a minute until fragrant.
3. Add Hatch chiles, and tomato paste if using. Stir and cook briefly.
4. Add the crushed tomatoes, miso paste, vegetable broth, beans, and liquid aminos. Mix everything thoroughly.
5. If using Impossible or Beyond Meat, brown separately in a pan.
6. Bring to a boil, then simmer gently, covered, for 15-20 minutes.
7. Add meat substitute. If using Gardein, simmer for 5 minutes until heated through.
8. Salt if needed and serve. A sprinkle of nutritional yeast is a good topping or some shredded vegan cheese.

This chili has been one of my go-to recipes for the week. I usually prefer using Gardein frozen Be'f crumbles instead of a more "meat-like" meat substitute, because I like the chewier texture of Gardein, and it has much less saturated fat and is significantly cheaper than Impossible or Beyond Meat. Something even simpler, like textured vegetable protein crumbles, will work very well too. I've tried substituting lentils for a meat substitute, because, well, you sometimes wonder why meat substitutes, but it's not the same. You could leave out a meat substitute entirely, and just have a nice, spicy bean soup.