I will happily chat about this Heartwarming Summer Chili that I made using our garden tomatoes, green peppers, and jalapenos.
It was cool out this morning. So, I decided to make something heartwarming. We still have a gazillion tomatoes left in the garden and just as many green peppers to match.
The fresh tomatoes tasted a lot different from canned tomatoes. Much less salty and acidic. I did have to add a lot of spice to the chili to flavor the tomatoes, so it would probably turn out different if I tried to insert canned tomatoes instead.
I blanched off the skins of my tomatoes. After peeling and seeding the tomatoes, I crushed them with a potato masher.
I set the tomatoes aside and did a lot of chopping: red onion, green peppers, jalapenos, ancho chile pepper, and garlic. I browned ground beef in a large sauce pot and then added the chopped vegetables. Tomato paste came next, beans, along with chopped chipotles in adobo sauce. I poured in the tomatoes and began slowly simmering the Heartwarming Summer Chili. The chili thickened a lot as it cooked.
At this point, I added all kinds of spices and a secret ingredient (chocolate!). The hint of chocolate just helped balance out the spice, and it definitely didn’t taste chocolate-y. You can serve my Heartwarming Summer Chili with any side of choice, such as, corn, Monterey jack cheese, scallions, and Mexican crema mixed with extra adobo sauce
Heartwarming Summer Chili
Ingredients
1 large red onion - chopped
2 medium green pepper (green capsicum) - chopped
2 medium jalapenos - finely chopped
6 cloves garlic - finely chopped- 2 medium dried ancho chiles - rehydrated in hot water, and chopped
- 3 cans chipotles in adobo sauce - found in the Mexican aisle in the grocery store, chopped, plus extra adobo sauce
2 cans tomato paste - 6-ounce
1 can red kidney beans - 15-ounce, drained
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 pound ground beef (minced beef)
2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon cilantro (coriander)
2 teaspoons chili powder (chilli powder in British English)
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 pinch red pepper flakes
1 pinch ground cinnamon- 1- ounce bittersweet chocolate - grated
1 dash hot sauce
¼ teaspoon salt - to taste
¼ teaspoon ground black pepper - to taste
½ cup corn - to serve
Instructions
- Rinse and core the tomatoes. Cut an X in the bottom with a paring knife and blanch in boiling water to remove skins. Once the skins begin peeling back, remove the tomatoes with a slotted spoon and place them in a bowl of ice water. Peel the skins of the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Place in a large bowl and crush with a potato masher. Set aside.
- Meanwhile, chop the onion, red or green peppers, jalapenos, and garlic.
- Place the ancho chiles in a small saucepan with simmering water to rehydrate. Remove from the water when soft and chop finely, along with seeds. Set aside.
- Finely chop 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce and reserve some adobo sauce.
- Brown the meat in a large sauce pot with canola oil. Add in the onions, red or green pepper, and jalapenos. Cook until soft and add in the garlic, stirring for about one minute.
- Stir in the tomato paste and chipotle peppers, along with about 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce from the can and the chopped ancho chiles.
- Mix in the crushed tomatoes, beans, as well as the cumin, coriander, chili powder, cayenne, red pepper flakes, cinnamon, hot sauce, and plenty of salt to taste. Simmer on low heat for about an hour and a half until the flavors are melded.
- Grate in the chocolate and taste to check the seasoning. Feel free to add more spice if necessary at this point.
