a big red pot of awesome

i’m not trying to jinx myself, but i have a feeling today was the last day of my cold. and i made sure of it by making a huge pot of vegan chili for dinner (with plenty of leftovers for tomorrow and perhaps the next day and the next…). so much spicy goodness in this dish – my sinuses thanked me!

spicy vegan chili

this recipe has been printed and saved in my notebook o’ recipes for months now, but i’ve only just cooked it for the first time tonight. i found it on door sixteen ages ago. we made only the teeniest, tiniest alterations. it’s hearty, spicy, and filling. the ingredients serve 6-8 people, so make sure you have a pot big enough. i used a big red le creuset pot which you can see in the background. the photo below is of phil’s portion (most of the photos on this blog are, since he is the photographer!) complete with a couple of slices of soda bread.

the particulars:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 3 medium carrots, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, diced
• 2 large bell peppers, chopped (i used one red and one green)
• 1 extra large red chili, chopped (or lots of little ones, depending how hot you like it)
• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes with basil
• 1 can black beans
• 1 can kidney beans
• 1 cup corn kernels (got an ear at the farmer’s market and sliced these bad boys right off)
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup bulgar wheat
• 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

head over to anna’s original post for the instructions. i don’t want to take away from her description of how best to cook it!

lessons learned: by accident, we used 1 can of chopped tomatoes, when we should have used two. we also used 3/4 cup of bulgar wheat instead of 1/2 cup. this gave us a nice burnt layer at the bottom of the pot, although the balsamic vinegar got rid of that right at the end. still, i would highly recommend stirring and checking on it frequently, and not using extra bulgar wheat.

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