Chilli does not inherently mean chilli con carne, I know most people jump to that conclusion and instantly ask me 'chilli how do you make that vegan?' but chilli actually refers to the plant! if you make a meat stew with tomatoes it is just a meat stew until you add the chilli. So the question becomes what makes a good chilli?
Mostly it is this mass of stuff.
The 'sausage' on the right is a vegan soy and wheat based medium for flavor and spices and usually I dont use products that most refer to as 'meat substitutes' (really they are nothing like meat and calling them a meat substitute generates a false conception of what you are eating) because I like to avoid processed foods but I got it as a gift and dense protein like that goes a good distance for bulking up a chilli.
Chilli Con Vegetables:
The key to the chilli I make is having a strong vegetable base, using vegetables that caramelize or release sugar at the same time the supply earthy undertones. This of course means onions(1/2 diced) and garlic (5-500 cloves minced) but also includes potato (didn't use it this time), Corn(didnt use) carrot(3 average), zucchini(2 small) and beet(1 average). I particularly like using red beets because it makes the color of the chilli POP and adds a sweetness that is balanced by the spicy. Of course if you go too heavy on the beet you end up with something that looks other worldly in the vibrancy of its reds.
The root vegetable base is shredded so it will cook down fall apart and turn into a sauce. This means the chilli should be started early because it takes over an hour of simmering vegetables in oil to get them to start to fall apart. I usually simmer the onions a bit before that and add the bell pepper and garlic a bit later, though the bell pepper does not fall apart quite the same way leaving a few chunks for diversity in texture.
(side note: while the vegetables simmer you can pressure cook the beans which also take about an hour)
The mush never looks that good but oh it smells mouthwatering and now it is time to turn the mush into sauce. The main part of this is adding fresh tomatoes (or some tomato sauce) and to my luck the sun golds were ripe early this year so they made an awesome chilli! Wash them and cut them in half to facilitate the 'saucing' and add in some extra olive oil (2-4 Table spoons).
By now the beans are hopefully ready. What beans you ask? well as I do I usually use a base of pinto beans(2 C dry) add in some kidney beans (1 C dry) some black beans (.5C dry) and Garbanzo beans (.5C dry). Keep in mind those amounts will make A LOT of chilli but if you make it right it will not last that long. Pressure cook the beans with 10C water (reduce the amounts of beans if your pressure cooker is smaller).
Once the beans go in (they can be a bit under cooked since they are going to simmer) the chilli is essentially ready. It is not really ready until it simmers for at least an hour. In all honesty it would be even better if it could simmer for three hours (and even better if you let it cool and sit over night before reheating and serving).
Zucchini Corn Bread:
I pretty much made up this recipe on the spot combining my friends zucchini bread recipe (dont know where she got it) with my favorite corn bread recipe (came out of vegan with a vengeance or how it all vegan or from another friend but ti has been in my recipe box long enough that I dont know anymore)
Mix the dry ingredients (white flour, corn flour, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar, salt), fold in the wet ingredients (oil, water, vanilla, zucchini) until it makes a nice heavy batter. This stuff is dense so try not to over mix it, press it into a pan and bake it at 350 for 45 minutes (you can make it while the beans and vegetables are cooking)
I served it with a Spanish rice, a strawberry smoothie and a few slices of melon.
It is a great meal to celebrate 11 years of being vegan :)
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