My Mom's Vegetarian Chili

Veggie chili can be pretty blah.. I think that it is often over-served by omnivores to vegetarians because it is relatively easy to make, and is often a food that’s accepted even by meat eaters.

My mom has a vegetarian chili recipe that I remember from my childhood. I hadn’t made it in years, but remembered it fondly and decided that it would be (one of…) my soups for the week. I made a half batch only in case my memory was off, I didn’t want to be stuck with a giant pot of something that I didn’t like.

Since I have no idea where she got the recipe, I’m going to post it here (ordinarily I’m not posting recipes, only linking to recipes if available, as I don’t want to violate copywrite and stiff the rightful author of a potential cookbook sale…):

Ingredients:

2 Tbl. olive oil

1 ½ cups chopped celery

1 ½ cups chopped green pepper

1 cup chopped onion

3 cloves garlic

2 (20 oz) cans of diced tomatoes

3 (16 oz) cans of red kidney beans- rinsed and drained

½ cup raisins

¼ cup red wine vinegar

1 Tbl. Chili powder

1 Tbl. minced parsley

2 tsp. salt

1 ½ tsp. dried basil

1 ½ tsp. dried oregano

1 ½ tsp. ground cumin

1 tsp. allspice

¼ tsp. pepper

1 bay leaf

1 (12 oz) can/bottle of beer (or water)

¾ cup peanuts

Directions: Heat oil in a large pot. Add green pepper, onion, garlic, and celery and cook until tender. Stir in undrained tomatoes, beans, raisins, vinegar, and all spices, including bay leaf. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 1 ½ hours. Stir in beer or water and peanuts. Return to boiling. Simmer another ½ hour, uncovered. Remove bay leaf and serve.

My only change (besides cutting the recipe in half) was to sub a red bell pepper for the green (I can’t stand the flavor or texture of cooked green pepper.. yet red and yellow are okay, strange). I also used 1 can of kidney beans, and then ½ can of chick peas. Since I was halving the recipe I didn’t want a half can of leftover kidneys, but figured I could easily make good use of leftover chick peas. Lastly, I don’t know when this recipe was written, but I’m pretty sure that 20 oz. cans of tomatoes are no longer sold. I used 1 (15) oz. can of diced tomatoes and then about 4 oz. of leftover tomato sauce from another recipe.

The verdict? I like this. I don’t love it, but like it more than other veggie chili recipes. The peanuts, raisins, and vinegar make it more interesting than just beans, tomatoes, and spices. I also think that I like it because it definitely is familiar from childhood. Something about peanuts and raisins together- in any dish/combination- reminds me of my mom (probably related to her care and concern for ensuring that I was getting enough protein and feeding me tons of peanuts… this was before the ubiquitous peanut allergy of course)!

Mike had a bowl too, so I’m down to just 2 servings left for the rest of the week, which means that I’ll be making another soup this week too….