Tempeh Chili

I thought I’d make a chili today, which is overcast and cold with snow predicted late this afternoon: a good day for chili. Shown above is the IKEA view — i.e., prior to assembly. Here’s what I’m doing. 

The first step is to cut up the garlic so that it can rest for 10-15 minutes before it goes into a hot skillet In the photo above, the six cloves of Russian red garlic can be seen in front of the bowl of red kidney beans. At the right are the peeled cloves, next to the mandoline that will reduce them to thin slices. 

At the left is a photo of the same cloves, now sliced. It took about one minute, which is why I like my garlic mandoline so much. Allowing the garlic to rest means that a heat-sensitive enzyme, necessary to produce the nutrient we want from garlic, has time to complete the reaction before it is destroyed by the heat of the skillet.

Once the garlic has rested, the process begins. First step was to drizzle about a tablespoon of extra-virgin olive oil into the 12″ MSMK nonstick skillet. In hindsight, a better choice would have been the 4-qt All-Clad Stainless sauté pan — the skillet got very full, and finally I had to transfer the batch to the sauté pan. 

I added to the skillet:

• 1 large red onion, chopped
• 1 bunch scallions, chopped
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 10.6 oz lentil-&-wheat tempeh, slabs halved to make thinner slabs, then diced
• 1″ piece of ginger root, minced (in the photo, it’s in front of the ancho chili powder)

As I have said, my recipes are descriptive rather than prescriptive. I’m not saying to use 10.6 oz of tempeh, just that the amount I used turned out to be 10.6 oz.

I turned the heat to medium and cooked that, stirring frequently, until the onion started to get transparent. At that point I added:

• the sliced garlic

I cooked that for a few minutes, stirring to separate the garlic. Then I added:

• 1 small can tomato paste

I cooked that, stirring frequently, until the tomato paste darkened. This improves the taste. Then I add:

• 1 540ml (19-fl oz) can Aylmer® Accents® Chili Seasonings Diced Stewed Tomatoes
• 1 10-oz can Ro•Tel Original Diced Tomatoes and Green Chiles
• 1 small can diced green chiles

I sure thought that can of green chiles was a can of chipotles in adobo, which I was going to blend and add. So it goes. So while those came to heat and began to simmer, I collected the herbs and spices in a little bowl and included some crushed red pepper and some ground chipotle in lieu of the chipotles in adobo. I put into the bowl:

• about 3 Tbsp Mexican oregano
• about 1.5 Tbsp ground cumin
• about 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• about 2 Tbsp dried marjoram (very high in antioxidants)
• about 1 Tbsp ground ancho
• about 2 tsp ground chipotle (not shown)
• about 2 tsp crushed red pepper (not shown)
• about 1 Tbsp Spanish smoked paprika (I store it in the Club House)
• about 1.5 teaspoons MSG (it’s okay)

I added those to the pan, along with;

• 1/3 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (see this post)
• cooked red kidney beans (1 cup, measured before cooking)
• 2 Tbsp Gemai miso
• 5 domestic white mushrooms, halved then cut into thick slices
• 2 squares Baker’s unsweetened baking chocolate
• about 1 Tbsp Wright’s liquid smoke
• about 1.5 Tbsp Georgia Gold turmeric purée 
• about 1.5 Tbsp ground black pepper
• good splash of Bragg’s apple-cider vinegar
• about 3/4 cup water

I stirred to mix, covered the pan, and simmered it for about 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. I’m having a bowl now, topped with about 1 Tbsp of Bragg’s nutritional yeast. Tasty, but a little spicier than I like — too much crushed red pepper is my guess. But I’ve noticed that after I refrigerate something spicy overnight, it seems noticeably less spicy the next day. We’ll see. In the meantime, it’s certainly good.

Update: The second bowl doesn’t seem so spicy as the first.