Wonderbag Southern Late Summer Chili {ecoTrain Simple Vegan Cooking on a Budget Month}
Hello friends! Happy Monday. As usual, it is another Meatless Monday here in the P2P household. Though the boyfriend had to make my farmers market visit for me this past weekend, so I am lacking my usual gratuitous fruits and veggies photos with my haul. He has much more restraint than I do when shopping at the market. Actually it turned out to be a good week to send him so I could use up a few odds and ends from the refrigerator and freezer before they went bad. No better way to stay on a food budget than using up things you already have on hand! Plus we hate to let anything go to waste.
One of the cheapest and easiest meals I like to make is a big pot of soup or chili because you can make it different every time depending upon what you have on hand at the moment or what is in season. I had been craving chili for quite a few weeks now, so I jumped on the opportunity yesterday to put together yet another winning combination of peppers, beans and tomatoes. It is also a perfect dish to make use of my Wonderbag that I am enjoying experimenting with so much. I’ve written about it a few times now, but for those just hearing about it definitely check out the linked site and all the wonderful things they do.
The Wonderbag is fantastic to save on energy as it uses the heat from the pot to slow cook your meal. You just start your dish on the stove top and once it is to temperature you place in the insulated bag to finish cooking while you go about your day. People have been using similar methods for thousands of years using blankets, hay or anything else to insulate their pots. I’m sure I could have created a similar tool on my own, but I love all the work that the Wonderbag company does supporting women in Africa to help make their lives easier by donating bags and providing education on how to use them. We take a lot of things for granted here in the US, so using my own bag is a good reminder to be thankful for all that I have access to.
For the chili ingredients, as I said a lot of the items I already had on hand which made it super easy to pull together. A half a red onion here, the last of the tomato paste there, collard greens and the final bag of frozen butternut squash from last season’s garden… Funny, too, that chili is something post people think about making when the weather is cool, but now is the season when all the peppers and tomatoes are still growing locally. You can easily used packaged tomatoes and beans, but I opted for a medley of tomatoes from our garden and a few left from my market visit last week. I also used fresh pinkeye purple hull beans from the farmers market, but to make it easy and accessible you could swap out for any medley of canned or dried beans cooked ahead of time. I like to think of this type of recipe as more of an inspiration to make your own version at home!
Cooking Tip: Gather your ingredients ahead of time to make it easier to pop right in the pan as you start cooking (mise en place). For this recipe I chopped the onions and peppers to put in one bowl, had the spices ready in a small dish, the tomato paste and chipotle chiles in another, the tomatoes and garlic together, the beans in yet another, and the frozen squash and collards in the last. It might make for a few more dishes to wash, but definitely helps the cooking process go much more smoothly!
Southern Late Summer Chili
Makes 8 servings
- 1/2 red onion, peeled & chopped
- 2 medium bell peppers, seeded & chopped
- 3-4 hot peppers, seeded & minced (I used 2 Serrano, 1 Jalepeno & 1 Fresno)
- Spice Mixture: 1 tablespoon chili powder, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, 1 teaspoon ground turmeric, 1 teaspoon dried oregano, 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 tablespoon chipotle chiles in adobo sauce
- 3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes or 1 (28-ounce) can
- 4 cloves minced garlic
- 5 cups mixed beans (I used 2 cups cooked black beans and 3 cups freshly cooked pinkeye beans–a Southern classic!)
- 2 cups roughly chopped collard greens (kale or chard would also work)
- 2 cups peeled & cubed butternut squash (optional)
Heat a large stockpot over medium heat. Add in the onions, bell and hot peppers. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding a bit of water as needed to prevent sticking. Once the onions and peppers are starting to soften, add the spice mixture and cook for an additional minute to let them bloom before adding in the tomato paste and chipotles. Cook for another minute then mix in the tomatoes and fresh garlic to the mixture in the pot.
Continue cooking for 5 more minutes to start releasing the liquid from the tomatoes before adding the beans, greens and squash. Stir then cover and let the mixture come to a simmer to ensure all the ingredients are to temperature. It should take about 10 minutes. Turn off the burner and take the covered pot to place in the Wonderbag.*
Close the Wonderbag tightly and let sit for at least 4 hours, but up to 6-8 should be fine as it really is tough to overcook anything in this wonderful tool! *Alternately, you can also finish the chili on the stove top, just reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for about an hour to let all of the flavors meld together and the vegetables to soften nicely.
Some other tips for the Wonderbag:
- Make sure to cook your beans or legumes ahead of time when cooking a dish with tomatoes. The acid will hinder the cooking process so if they are not cooked already they will never get soft in the bag.
- Use a pot with short handles otherwise it won’t seal properly if you use a pan with a long handle that pokes out of the bag.
- Since the cooking pot is covered and won’t release any moisture, use less liquid then you would normally as none of it will evaporate.
- Make sure you bring your dish to a full simmer as the bag will not heat up the contents any more than they are when they come off the stove.
- Experiment and have fun!
This meal came out soooo delicious! The heat in the chili was just perfect–not too spicy, but just enough kick to wake up your tongue. I love the texture of the pinkeyes in with the black beans. They have become a favorite of mine during the summer months when they are in season! Of course the perfect side dish was the whole wheat tortillas I made from my pal @fionasfavourites recipe collection. She had suggested trying them when I told her I was making chili for dinner. I didn’t have any all-purpose flour on hand, but the whole wheat worked just fine!
They were a big hit with the boyfriend. So easy to make using her recipe, as well. I am glad for the nudge as I have a feeling they will be a regular on the rotation from here on out. Though we did realize the rolling pin needs a little oil as it made this awful sound with ever turn as I was rolling these out!
This post has been on my mind for quite a while to join in on the @ecotrain initiative for August “Simple Vegan Cooking on a Budget“. I thought this was the epitome of all three descriptors–easy, totally vegan, and budget-friendly. It is always amusing when people say eating plant-based is expensive as beans are usually one of the cheapest ingredients to work with, especially if you buy them dried in bulk. Vegetables and fruits can also be inexpensive if you buy what is local and in season, or even better grow your own! Plus, a big pot of goodness can be just the thing to use up slightly wilted or otherwise battered ingredients that you might otherwise discard or can often get on sale at the store or the local farmers market.
The best thing about this meal–it will get better each day for leftovers! Though I’m not banking on it lasting long…
Have a great week everyone!
