Award winning vegetarian chili

Once upon a time I was asked to be one of six judges for a fund-raising chili competition. It was a fund raiser for an aquaponics project to be implemented in Haiti. The event was called the "Haiti Hoe Down."

Not content with cleansing my palate with water between servings, I brought a couple of mini bottles of scotch, which greatly amused my pastor, one of the other judges. I poured a mini bottle into a glass of water, and swished dutifully before and after each small tasting I was served. I then filled out my ballot, which had numerous categories (spiciness, balance of flavors, texture, &c.).

The thing is, Dr. SWMBO was not supposed to have entered anything. She had made a batch of vegetarian chili for her own self, knowing that if she didn't provide a veggie entree, no one would. But someone noticed her crock pot in a corner, unlabeled, and entered it into the competition.

It won first place.

And there were lots of great entries.

So here is her recipe, stolen from her blog post:

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Chili Recipe

So, I’m finishing up responding to a few friends' blogs and, in doing so, had to reveal the heretofore secret identify. Figured I’d better get around to adding some old draft posts to the blog. In doing so, I’ve also been re-reading those drafts.

Anyhow, in one recent post I mentioned my internationally famous (eaten and appreciated by folks from the US, the Netherlands & Haiti), Prize-winning (1st prize in the 2001 Haiti Hoedown Chili Cookoff, 2nd place in 2002) Vegetarian Chili recipe.

Here’s the recipe, as I sent it out after the 1st cookoff. (If I can ever make the picture upload feature work, Iʻll post a "Before" picture of the ingredients.)
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Subject: Haiti Hoe-Down Chili recipe, as best as I can reconstruct it
Date: Sat, 22 Sep 2001 22:12:29 -0400

I’m sending this recipe to [Izzy] to pass along to folks who might be interested. I will say that I am floored at having won a chili cook-off without using meat!-- but my strategy of bribing the judges must have been successful.

All measurements are incredibly inaccurate and approximate. I was in a bit of a hurry and mostly dumped in spices and ingredients until things looked right. Just like you cannot step into the same river twice, you can probably never make the same pot of chili twice--there will never be the same combination of left-overs and ingredients in the kitchen. [Note: this might look a bit green owing to the broccoli and the colors imparted by the curries and turmeric.]
“Vegetable”-tarian chili
Sauté together in 2 Tbsp. Extra-virgin Olive Oil until onions are tender:

• 1/3 cup minced garlic
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• Sprinkle over these 3-4 Tbsp. Boston Kitchen brand Cajun Seasoning

Pour into crock pot:

• 28 oz can Progresso tomato puree
• ~1/2 cup mild salsa (Taco Bell brand, left-over from Taco Bell taco-kit.)
• 2 15 oz. cans El Ebro Frijoles Negros (Black beans, available from Mexican stores)

Heat at medium setting.

Cook in large pan or Dutch oven in 1-2 Tbsp. Olive oil until well-heated:

• 3/4 cup finely shredded carrots (or any amount left-over in freezer)
• 16 oz. package frozen chopped broccoli (make sure to chop it small if all you have are just broccoli "pieces". You want the broccoli nearly unrecognizable.)
• 6 thawed and crumbled Garden Burgers (***I’ve now tried the meatless crumbles. Tasty, but they don’t soak up the liquid as well.)

Put all vegetables into tomatoes and bean mixture in crockpot. Add spices, 2-3 vigorous shakes at a time, stirring and tasting until blend seems right. It helps if you misplace the chili powder and then compensate by adding curry and other spices to get the flavor right before you finally locate the chili, and then go ahead and add the chili powder after all. Spice measurements were extrapolated from looking at what was left in the jars. Tbsp. does mean tablespoon; it’s not a typo.

• 3 Tbsp. Mild Indian Curry Powder
• ~4 Tbsp. Hot Madras Curry Powder
• 1-2 Tbsp. Ground Turmeric
• 2 Tbsp. oregano
• 2-3 Tbsp. Valle del Sol (Whole Foods brand) Chile Powder (***Chipotle powder wasn't readily available when I made my first batches of this. It’s an OK substitute, but far less is needed for "general audiences".)
• 1/3 cup raw minced garlic-added at the last minute (***just before serving or driving to the chili cookoff) to minimize the time the garlic gets cooked.

Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup water since the Garden Burgers soak up lots of liquid. Heat chili to hot in crockpot, and then simmer at medium setting until ready to serve.
(Note from bitter experience: If you make it ahead of time, don’t leave chili cooking in the Crockpot over 6 hours--it can get a burnt taste.
***2010 Update: It’s OK to leave in a large crockpot, especially one with a "warm" setting, versus an older, smaller pot with only High and Medium settings.)

Serves 5 judges (1 Dixie cup each) and a line-full of Haiti Hoe-Downers. I don’t know if it freezes well, since there weren’t any left-overs.

Enjoy.

Recipe (c) House of Chez Casa, Durham, NC, 2001.