Ingredients:
- 2 Tbs vegetable oil
- 2 onions chopped
- 4 cloves of garlic finely chopped
- 2 peppers – any color – chopped
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 1 Tbs butter
- 2 Tbs cumin
- 1 Tbs coriander
- 1/4 tsp cayenne
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp basil
- 1/2 tsp dill
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 2 tsp salt (can use less if cashews are salted)
- 36 oz canned beans black, kidney, whatever
- 32 oz canned tomatoes
- 1/2 C cashews
- 2 tsp red wine vinegar
Temp:
Various Stove Top Temps
Time:
Can be done in less than an hour, but best on day two or three.
Directions:
1. In a soup pot, heat oil, add onions and garlic then saute for 2 minutes. Add peppers and celery and cook until tender but crisp, about 8 minutes.
2. Melt in butter. Add spices and herbs including salt and pepper. Cook about 2 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes with juice and all. Crush is the tomatoes aren’t diced. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4. If cashews aren’t already toasted, put them in a toaster oven or however you want to brown them lightly – they burn FAST so keep an eye out on these. Add them to the chili.
5. Rinse the beans out of the can. Add some water equal to the amount of liquid poured out and then add all this to the chili. (Washed beans cut down on farts – Beans beans the magical fruit, the more you eat the more you toot. The more you toot the better you feel so eat beans at every meal!)
6. Add vinegar and simmer.
7. Serve over brown rice with melted cheese on top and/or with cornbread. I actually like Jiffy cornbread.
Comments:
From my favorite cookbook of all time, Cabbagetown Cookbook. It is also good with meat thrown in, but people generally like the novelty of vegetarian chili with nuts in it. My neighbor Bill called it Beth’s Yankee Cashew Chili.
I kind of like that name. The original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups uncooked kidney beans and soaking the beans overnight. Then cooking them forever with some bay leaves. I found that really annoying. So I made some adjustments. But the original version was the first meal I ever made for a dinner party. There were about six people and it was near my 19th birthday. A big memory for me. These days I generally double the recipe every time I make it because it is fun to share. I’ve never tried making it with fresh herbs, but I’m going to eventually because that will be yummy too.