Really good chili

 Hello all!

My culinary child is my chili. I have experimented with different combinations and recipes, finally narrowing some of it down. I would like to share it with all of you. I have been on this trend of eating healthier lately, and I would like to keep it that way. Some dishes are just too much, so some times substitutes may be made. Substitutes are not always a bad thing. Sure, I wouldn’t be jumping for joy at the thought of tofu hot dogs replacing the real thing, but there are some very good alternatives if done right. I have found myself in the kitchen a lot lately with different ideas and attempts. Some good, some not so good.

I have had a big issue lately with what the mass-produced foods are containing now. There are very few things on the shelf at the store that don’t contain added sugar or high fructose corn syrup, with the exception of the produce. I’m not a conspiracy theorist, nor am I one of those “crazy health nuts” that won’t eat anything that’s not organic, nor do i oppose them. I just notice that with the increase of sugar, the quicker you reach your maximum calories for the day. Some breakfast cereals out there will max out your carbs and sugar for the day with one bowl. That’s not a very good start to your day, nor is it a good start to the lives of our children. Fresh ingredients are always preferred in our house. It doesn’t take all that much more time to chop up some vegetables for your meals.

Now that we’ve gotten properly off track, let’s get back to the chili. Most chili that you can get at the store or a restaurant, not to mention countless recipes on the internet, contain either sugar or brown sugar as a predominant ingredient. I have found that the less sugar I eat and drink, the less I like it. I am of the train of thought that a pot of chili should have a deep and savory flavor, not a sugary sweet bowl of beans and meat. Some things just don’t mix, meat and sugar being two that shouldn’t.

I have been trying different recipes and I have been finding some common ground. Obviously ground beef is the meat portion, lots of beans, tomato paste, and a lot of spices. Those are the bases for the extreme majority of what I found. I found some variations here and there, usually more sugary things. Brown sugar, canned baked beans, regular sugar, molasses, honey. You get the point. More sugar. I did find some good ideas that I incorporated into my own. I have been working on this one for quite some time, relying heavily on a few recipes I found, adding and taking away as I saw fit. I should end this rant now and share with you my adventure and recipe, so without further ado, I present to you, my chili recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 pounds frozen ground turkey. (Don’t thaw it unless you really want to, I’ll explain.)
• 4 medium roma tomatoes
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 8 medium cloves of garlic
• 1 large yellow onion
• 3 bay leaves (For those of you increasing or decreasing the recipe, it is 1 leaf per pound of turkey.)
• 45 ounces of canned black beans
• 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes. (5 or 6 real tomatoes if you’re dicing them yourself.)
• 14.5 ounce can of stewed tomatoes (5 or 6 real ones again if you want to use fresh.)
• 4.5 ounce can of green chiles (I have used Rotel in the past, but for some reason it turns out different with the separate can. Roughly 6 to 7 green chiles if you’re using fresh.)
• 1 dried arbol pepper finely diced
• 1 Tablespoon Coconut Oil
• 2 Tsp seasoned salt
• 1 Tsp Ground cumin
• 1/2 Tsp Paprika
• 1/2 Tsp Chili Powder
• 1 1/2 cups of water
• 1 cup of water (They need to be separate.)

Utensils:

• Cutting board
• Kitchen Knife
• Small containers
• Large pot
• Large spoon

Now we have our ingredient list, let’s get cooking!

The way I do it, is I have to gather everything and section them all first. Then I begin.

I begin by dicing all of the vegetables and putting them in separate containers.

Add the Tbsp of coconut oil to the pot.

Turn the oven on to high for 30 seconds to melt the oil, then turn oven to lowest setting.

Open the turkey and add them to the pot. If logs, lay them next to each other.

 Add 1 1/2 cups of water and raise to medium high heat. The water will help thaw and cook all sides of the turkey, also making it easier to stir. (If thawing the turkey before putting it in, only add 3/4 cups of water.) As turkey cooks, stir an scrape off browning meat from the raw part.

Once the meat is 3/4 brown, add garlic and bay leaves and stir. 

Stir occasionally while breaking up the largest pieces of turkey with the spoon. As the pieces get smaller, keep cutting the biggest ones. It will get quite fragrant at this point, just thought I should warn you. My husband said the living room smelled like sauerkraut, not sure where he got that from.

One of the other reasons we added so much water is because most recipes call for a bay leaf near the end. This way, it has the entire time to enrich the chili. At this stage I keep an eye out for the bay leaves because they will stick to the sides if not supervised.

Keep pushing the bay leaves down below so they can really change the flavor of the turkey. It might seem like you’re spending an awful amount of time standing over the pot with this, but this chili is worth it.

When there is more turkey than water, start opening the cans. Don’t drain any of them because we need the water. Once you can stir the meat and not see any water on top, we are ready. We want this turkey dry, but not burning or sticking to the sides of the pot.

Add the onions and reduce the pot to medium-low. Stir in the onions and cook for 5 minutes, stirring once every 30-45 seconds.

Next we add the can of stewed tomatoes. Before stirring them in, cut each one in half with the spoon.

Once they are stirred in completely, add the can of diced tomatoes along with the arbol pepper and stir them in.

Raise to medium-high for 10 minutes, stirring once every minute.

Add the green chiles and stir in. Stir 7 times counterclockwise, adding a clockwise stir.

Add the roma tomatoes and stir them in, reducing to medium-low.

Mix the spices into a container and add them together, stirring them in.

The water should be getting pretty dark by now. At this point your nose should have experienced a wide spectrum of smells. It’s hard to tell what the chili is going to be like yet, you’ll be pleasantly surprised at the end. we’re almost done with all of the work now.

Add the beans and stir them in.

Add the potatoes and stir them in.

Add 1 cup of water and stir in. (If you don’t want very watery chili, add 1/2 cup.)

Now we put the lid on the pot and set the timer for 20 minutes. Stir every 2 minutes to keep everything from sticking to the bottom.

Those potatoes like to stick so keep an eye on them. After the 20 minutes, try a potato. If it’s soft enough for you, then you are done!

Congratulations on your chili! After much experimenting, I have found my favorite hot sauce to compliment this is the Louisiana hot sauce type. I have the Louisiana brand, and the generic Wal-Mart brand. This pot is surprisingly not spicy for what we’ve added, but it’s a good base if you want to make it spicier. This is a good pot for a whole family. If you want it spicier, I found 1 1/2 teaspoons of ground red chili helps, and double the chili powder. For extra spiciness from there, add more arbol peppers, but be careful with them.