Vegetarian Chili

November 23, 2016

So good on those chilly days; comforting, delicious and if you follow these instructions…
less of that gas you associate with eating it!  

One of the best features: healthy fat and protein alternative ‘meat mixture’ made from roasted walnuts and French green lentils.

To make this great, it is the kind of thing you plan to make.  For those that work all day, it may be best to make the ‘meat mixture’ the day before you want to make the chili or to make it on the weekend.

I wanted to have a chili that wouldn’t be too gassy which was accomplished with this method and is important to stick to the minimum soaking and boiling time of the lentils and beans. If you want to make it all in one night, it will still be delicious, you just may not avoid the gas.

As much of the ingredients I can get organic, I use. Currently I haven’t found organic Worcestershire Sauce, and sometimes I’ll use non organic walnuts.

What you need:

Green French lentil and Walnut ground “meat” mixture

  • 1 cup of green French lentils (soaked overnight – 24 hours)
  • 1.5 cups of walnuts (toasted)
  • Cooking Oil (Grapeseed or Olive Oil)
  • Turmeric
  • Chilli Powder
  • Pepper
  • Water

Chilli

  • 1.5 cups of chopped leeks
  • 2 cloves of garlic (minced)
  • Cooking Oil (Grapeseed or Olive Oil)
  • 1 tablespoon of Chili flakes
  • 1 tablespoon of chili powder
  • 2 large cans of organic stewed tomatoes (If you can find ones with Italian herbs, use that, but not necessary)
  • 1 bottle of spicy red pepper pasta sauce
  • 3 peppers chopped (for color I use one red, yellow and green)
  • 1 zucchini
  • 4 tomatoes (I use Roma)
  • 1 cup of red kidney beans (soaked for 2 days, rinsed and boiled)
  • 1 tsp Basil (fresh if you can)
  • 1tsp Oregeno
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Worcestershire Sauce

What to do:

Green French lentil and Walnut ground “meat” mixture

  1. Preheat the oven to 300⁰F.
  2. Place the walnuts on a baking sheet and place in the oven for about 15 minutes.  The walnuts will start to turn a golden brown.  Take out and let cool.
  3. Take the French green lentils you have soaked overnight and rinse them under water in a strainer.  img_2565Place them in a pot with fresh water, bring to boil and let simmer for about 20 minutes, check on them, you want them to break easily with your finger nail or a fork, but not be mushy.
  4. Once cooked, drain water and rinse in a strainer. Set aside.
  5. Using a food processor or blender, blend the walnuts a little, then add the lentils and continue to blend.  you can add some oil if needed for this process.
  6. Transfer the mixture to a frying pan. It is optional to add leeks for the chili at this stage. Add oil and spices and fry, breaking apart chucks until it starts to look like ground beef fried up.  For the spice amounts, I lightly coat the mixture with turmeric and chili powder (start with about half a tablespoon of each) then some and pepper to taste. Set aside.  Picture is meat mixture fried with leeks for chili.

 

 

Chilliimg_2566

  1. Rinse red kidney beans in a strainer and then place in a pot with water.  Bring to boil and let boil for about 15 minutes. Drain and rinse kidney beans in strainer.
  2. Chop all the veggies.
  3. Add all ingredients.
  4. Add alternative ‘meat mixture’.
  5. Simmer for 2 to 3 hours.  After one hour add salt, pepper, chili powder and flakes again to taste.

 

Let me know what you think!img_3083