Vegan Thai Chili

Chili is a fantastic dish. It can be made with just about any ingredients, in just about any flavor. I’ve seen sweet chili recipes. I’ve seen savory chilies. I’ve even seen recipes for chili (an American staple) with Asian or African twists. That’s why I decided to try and make my own Thai chili. I’ve based this off of Linda McCartney’s Chili Non-Carne recipe and then ran with it.  As far as the ingredients go, you can use fresh or canned veggies. Personally, I pick canned for a few reasons. 1. It saves time. I hate cooking beans and this recipe calls for THREE different types of beans. I don’t want to think about how long it would take to soak 3 different kinds of beans. 2. Canned tomatoes come with their own juice, eliminating the need for vegetable broth. 3. I don’t have as much clean up This one is pretty self-explanatory so that’s good. I use canned tomatoes because they come with juice already built in. Plus, using canned beans, tomatoes, and pumpkin will help you make multiple portions. In fact, I make a huge batch of chili by pouring a 16 ounce can of tomatoes into a pot with a 16 ounce can of pumpkin puree, and 3 cans of beans, and I get 8 to 10 meals from that. But one meal for me is about half a serving for most people. So I quartered my recipe and posted it here. If you are using fresh ingredients you will definitely need the vegetable broth. More chili recipes to follow soon.

Ingredients:

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp basil

1 tsp lime juice

1 tbsp red chili paste

1 tbsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic

¼ cup garbanzo beans

¼ cup black beans

¼ cup kidney beans

¼ cup diced tomatoes

¼ cup vegetable broth (optional)

½ cup pumpkin puree

Directions:

Cook the seitan and in the oil using a pasta pot. You can replace olive oil with avocado, flax seed, or sesame, or peanut oil. I haven’t tried those myself so let me know how it comes out, if you experiment. You want to heat over a low flame until the seitan gets nice and golden brown. Depending on your stove and seitan, this process can take anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes. When the seitan starts to darken, chop up your garlic and toss it into the pan. Add your tomatoes, chili paste, lime juice, and spices. Stir, cover the pot, and simmer over a low flame for thirty minutes. Make sure you lift the lid every 5 to 10 minutes to stir again. Next, add the beans. Stir once again, cover and heat for an additional 15 minutes. Remove from the heat source, and stir. Let the pot sit, covered, for another ten minutes so the flavors can develop more.