Chili Today, Hot Tamale

That's been an apt description for spring in Wyoming. Scorching days followed with frigid nights--sometimes, you just need a big bowl of something warm for dinner.

Plus, the Farmer's Market is still in limited produce mode, but there are local dried beans for sale, and onions have made an appearance. I decided to whip up a vegetarian chili, to use up some beans from the market (and with a lot of help from the produce department at Safeway).

Vegetarian Chili

What You'll Need:

1 cup dried pinto beans (or kidney beans or black beans or whatever)
4 cups water
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 big onion (or a 1 lb. bunch of small spring onions--I got some Egyptian Walking Onions at the Farmer's Market)
4 cloves garlic
4-5 carrots
1 big sweet potato or yam
2 tomatoes
8 cups vegetable stock
1 1/2 teaspoons adobo
1/4 cup chili powder
1 lb. kale
2 cups broccoli

What To Do To Make Food:

Start prepping your beans--give them a rinse in cold water, and sort through them--you may find a rock or two. Then dump them in a saucepan, and cover them with water. It takes approximately 4 cups, but you'll need to cover the beans with about 3 inches of water. Bring them to a boil, then let them simmer until tender--fresh beans take about an hour, but can take longer. Meanwhile, grab a big stockpot. Pour about a tablespoon of olive oil in the bottom of the pan, and heat it up. (If you want more flavor, add a tablespoon of butter in with the oil.) While the oil is heating, dice up your onions (or slice them if they're spring-like onions) and mince your garlic. Throw it into the pan. Peel and slice your carrots, and add them to the pan. Same with the sweet potato/yam--peel it and dice it up, then into the pan to make happy nice-nice with everything else. Let your veggies cook for about 10 minutes to start to soften up and to get some flavor. Meanwhile, dice up your tomatoes--this is a really good way to use those tomatoes that you bought with intentions to use on your tacos, but then forgot existed. Add them to the pan, along with your veggie stock. (I use Better Than Bouillon stock base and water, because I'm lazy.) Add the spices into the pan, too. You can add your beans now, water and all, if they're tender; if not, add them when a little later. Let your chili simmer and cook until the veggies are soft--it'll take about 45 minutes, but this can simmer for a while and be okay. When you're getting hungry and ready to eat, chop your kale--start by removing the leaf from the big vein, then shred the leaves with your knife. Add this to the chili and let it wilt down. Add in your broccoli--I had some steamed broccoli leftover from steak night, so I just let it heat through, but you can add fresh broccoli to cook for a few minutes, or add in a bag of frozen. If you haven't added your beans, do that now. Serve hot, topped with salsa, sour cream, and fresh cilantro.

This is a pretty flexible, easy dish to make, and you can use whatever veggies you like and/or have on hand. Root veggies can handle a long simmering, but more delicate veggies--fresh spinach, bell peppers, broccoli, peas, green beans--need to be added at the end. Fresh or frozen veggies will work just fine, so use what you have.