Archive for December 16th, 2008

On cold winter days, nothing warms you up like a good bowl of Texas Chili

So I went to walk the dog last night, and the temperature was about 30 degrees. I had my hat, scarf, gloves, and perhaps most important, I’d had chili for dinner to keep me warm. The dog and I made it a full mile. Beating the winter like that makes you feel strong, proud, and effective. And it’s possible using using just a pound of dried beans, a pound of ground beef, and a crock pot. With a little bit of embellishment.

I developed my recipe by gathering other local’s women’s advice: my friend from Plano, Texas, my friend Lupe who was born in Zacatecas, Mexico, and I referred to the Cook’s Magazine chili version. I studied it all and made a crock pot recipe, because I like to forget about cooking dinner if I can.

The night before, soak 2 cups dried frijoles, also known as pinto beans, in the bowl of the crock pot. This is roughly equivalent to a one pound sack you get at the grocery store, though I buy a lot more than that and keep them in a cannister in the pantry. If you forget to soak them overnight, pour boiling water over them and let sit for an hour. 

First thing in the morning, pour the “used” water out and rinse beans, return them to crock. Fry up the pound of ground beef and put in the pot on top the beans. Cut up one onion, 6 garlic cloves and one red pepper. Put them into the crock pot.  Add 1/4 cup chili powder, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 2 teaspoon ground coriander, 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes, and 1 teaspoon dried oregano. If desired (I don’t do this, but it has to do with how spicy you like your chili) you can add 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper.  Now add one cup of chicken, beef or vegetable stock. We make ours at home, after roasting a chicken or turkey, we simmer the carcass with onions and celery, strain the stock and freeze it in one cup portions (maybe I’ll write about that another day) but you can use canned stock or a boullion cube and a cup of tap water (my mother’s method). Turn the crock pot on and test it to make sure there’s heat coming out. Nothing is worse than thinking your dinner is cooked when actually it’s sitting cold because you didn’t turn the pot on.

Add enough water to almost cover the mixture. Turn the pot on “low” and forget about it. Come back in 8 to 10 hours. Add 1 tsp of salt — we do that at the end because if you add it earlier the beans will be tough – and there’s your dinner. You can garnish it with cheddar cheese, avocados, red oinion, cilantro, or sour cream.  We tend to serve it with corn bread, soda bread, or any bread we can find.

Try it, and laugh at the cold.