Black Bean Chili

 To some people, chili without meat is sacrilege. This recipe is proof that they're just snobs. No one likes a chili snob, even though there seem to be an awful lot of them around these days.

All snobbery aside, this recipe is a quick chili with lots of flavor that can be thrown together fairly quickly from non-perishable ingredients. And as we'll discuss, if you feel the need to add meat, you certainly can. I find that you don't need it, but if it'll trick that difficult eater into eating beans and vegetables, by all means use whatever weapons are in your arsenal. On the other hand, this chili is vegan if you don't add any dairy, and it's easy enough to make to avoid most allergens if necessary.

You Will Need:

• Black beans
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Oil
• Spices
• Salt and sugar
  

Black beans

Okay, so here's the time to talk about it: beans do have different flavors and aren't all interchangeable. Black beans add an earthy, almost meaty texture to chili, but some people find them too earthy and prefer pinto beans. Either will do here, but I prefer black. Small pink beans will also be fine, though they have less character so you might consider adding something with umami, like a dash of soy sauce or Worcestershire. You may also want more cumin later on. They're just more subtle beans.

Chickpeas are really not what you want. Totally different flavor. White beans could work, but I find they go better with a white chili, rather than a red, so again, if you use navy or white beans, you may find yourself needing a bit more cumin or some umami. Kidney or cannellini beans often have very tough skins, and to get them tender usually takes longer cooking than this chili is designed for.

Whatever you do, use canned. I love dried beans but unless you want to spend a day making a quick chili, use canned. You'll want three cans to make four servings.

Onions

One medium onion, or half a bag of frozen. They're just the base. Use more if you want a bit more sweetness or if you're trying to stretch this into six servings.

Tomatoes

One 14 oz. can of diced. If you've got chili-spiced tomatoes or tomatoes with green chilis, this is a fine time to use them, but you don't have to. If you do, back off on the seasoning a little to compensate. Some people might be tempted to use stewed, and while you can, the whole dish will taste sweeter and you shouldn't cook the tomatoes as long. If you don't like big chunks of tomato (or are feeding picky eaters) crushed are fine too. If you really want to be wild, you can try using enchilada sauce, but that's going to give it quite a kick (not necessarily heat, just intensity of flavor, even mild sauce) so proceed with caution.

Peppers

Do you have to use these? No. I would say that if you're working with very picky people and trying to get them to enjoy something vegetarian, leave the peppers out and add more tomato (maybe use a large can of crushed instead of the small can of diced). If you can't get peppers, leave them out and add another can of diced tomatoes. If you're feeding somewhat picky but willing to deal with peppers people, add the peppers with the onions; they'll cook down and become less obvious in the final dish.

Ideally, you'll use frozen pepper strips. Sometimes you can find diced onion and pepper together, and that can work, just sub for both the onions and peppers. As above, adding the peppers early will mean that they break down more, particularly if they're already in a small dice. If you only get fresh, you want slightly more than a pound, maybe three peppers, to duplicate a pound of frozen pepper strips.

If you're buying fresh peppers, green are nearly always the cheapest, but they're also the most bitter. You'll want to add some sugar to compensate, but just like green chiles, the bitter green flavor can be nice. Ideally you'd want to buy one green, one red, and either another red or an orange or yellow, but you can adjust depending on what you like. 1/3 green pepper gives a nice balance of sweet and bitter. If you go with fresh, you are in the enviable position of being able to chop them yourself, and bite-size dice is better than strips here. Clean, deseed, and dice your peppers, you lucky devil you.

Oil

We're going to be borrowing a bit from India and blooming our spices to make something similar to a masala paste (about which more later), and there's no other fat in this dish, so I recommend using a few tablespoons of vegetable oil. Olive will work too, just be careful not to burn it because its smoke point is much lower.

But I get that some people are watching their fats, and this dish can be quite low fat, so cooking spray to sauté the onions will work. You may want to add a teaspoon or two of water to the spices when you bloom them, to keep them from scorching. I'm not going to lie; there are oil-soluble compounds in spices which won't come out to play in the same way without oil. If you can spare even a teaspoon, it'll make a difference. An extra-long spritz of cooking spray? Anything? If not, you may need to add a bit more seasoning to get the same flavor.

Spices

You will need cumin and garlic. There is no negotiation with this. Garlic powder is fine here; it's all going to be cooked together anyway. Use plenty of both.

You will want some sort of chile. Chili powder is fine, but it usually contains both cumin and garlic, so adjust how much of those you add. You will want more, but adjust. Please, don't skimp on cumin or garlic. Chili powder also usually contains salt, so dial back on them.

Better is to make your own chili powder using dried chiles. Guajillo, New Mexico, or a similar mild chile is best. I used two or three dried Guajillos, which I deseeded and tore up, then roasted in a dry pan over medium-low heat until they became fragrant. I also took the opportunity to roast a tablespoon cumin seeds. I ground all that up in a coffee grinder I use as a spice grinder, then added more cumin powder (fresh and roasted add depth of flavor you don't get from just one), garlic powder, some sweet paprika to fill out the mix, and a little heat in the form of chipotle powder and cayenne. I wound up with about four tablespoons of the mixture, give or take.

However, I am a wacky spice cook guy who does things like that. Please, feel free to get some dried chiles and roast them and grind up without all the other stuff I did. Or use chili powder. Or, and this is pushing it but I'll allow it because I like you, use paprika and a little spicy red pepper (cayenne for example, or red chile flakes), or failing that a little hot sauce for heat. If all you can put in is cumin, garlic, and paprika, no shame, we've all been there, two tablespoons of paprika and as much cumin and garlic as you can stand (remember, it'll cook down and become much more subtle) will get you to a place which is perfectly edible.

I also used some oregano and a little coriander, just to round things out. If you've got them, a dash of each. And I have chili lime salt and adobo, which I used in place of some of the salt. Again, anything south of the border, chuck a little in. Some people might even enjoy a little cocoa powder or cinnamon. Every time you make it, tweak it a little until you find your own chili spice blend, and then you'll have a family recipe to pass down (or jealously hoard like Smaug; don't be like Smaug, share the love).

Salt and Sugar

If you're using something that has salt in it as a spice, maybe wait until the end to taste for seasoning before you add any additional salt unless you've got a pretty good handle on it (in which case, spice early, spice often).

The sugar, like chili without meat, is something of a black sheep, but I promise, particularly if you use green pepper, a little sweetness will liven everything right up. Just a pinch. You don't have to tell anyone. Of course, if you're avoiding extra sugar, maybe a pinch of artificial sweetener, or just leave it out. It's not vital to this recipe, particularly if you use the right peppers.

You Will Also Need:

A pot

6 quarts or more. This makes a nice amount of chili. It should have a lid, or something you can cover it with to keep it more or less airtight. No shame, for years I cooked with a pot whose lid was a cheap frying pan. I usually just had to add a bit of water to keep things from drying out.

A spoon

Should I have to tell you this? Well, you really don't need much else in the way of cooking equipment for this one, unless you're being intense like me and making your own chili powder, in which case you need something to dry-roast your chiles in and a spice grinder of some sort. Don't use the coffee grinder you use to make your morning cup, because this will forever consign it to spice land and your Joe will taste more of José.

Lets put on our chili boots!

After all that discussion, the process is pretty simple. Sauté your onions over medium until they're golden (a little salt will help with this, even if you add no other salt to the recipe), then turn down to medium low and add your spices. Stir them to keep them from sticking and toast them for about 30 seconds or so. Yes, if you made your own chili powder, you already roasted some of these spices, but you're not roasting, you're blooming. If smoke starts to happen, immediately remove the pan from the heat and drizzle in a little water. No smoke. Smoke is bad. It shouldn't happen though as long as you use a nice medium low heat and keep stirring.

You can add your peppers with the onions that the beginning, which will mean they basically disappear in the final dish, or you can add them after the spices, which will break them down a lot but maybe not completely, or you can wait. I'd wait, but I like peppers.

Add your canned tomatoes and stir until everything is nicely combined. Cook for a minute or so, until things are bubbling again, maybe turning the heat up a little if you're not getting any action by then. Depending on your pan, you may have to be careful here to keep things from sticking because there's not that much liquid yet.

If you have decent canned beans, you can drain and rinse 2 cans of them and add them, then add the third can whole, liquor and all (the liquor is the liquid the beans were cooked in, not alcohol, if you're worried that I've made this inaccessible to Muslims or Mormons). If, when you open the cans of beans, you don't like the smell, or if you don't want things to be too earthy, just drain and rinse all three and add them. The liquor adds richness and fullness to the chili, plus it keeps things from getting too soupy, but it's not strictly necessary and some beans are better than others.

Add 1 can-full of water. Use this opportunity to rinse out the last bits of liquor from the 1 can you didn't rinse, or just use the can as a useful measure. Depending on how tight the lid of your pot is, you may, as I said above, need to add water throughout to keep things from sticking, but your chili should be just a tad soupy right now. Don't worry, the beans will soak up that liquid.

Cover and cook over medium low. It should not be a rolling boil. You want a nice simmer, bubbles happening, a little action in the pot, but not spitting steam all over. Right now, what's happening is that your beans, even though they're already cooked, are soaking up flavor and becoming a bit more tender. They may break down a little. Let them. That's the secret to bean chili that doesn't taste like water and beans. The starches will go out and thicken things up, the salt and spices will penetrate the beans, and everything will meld together.

At the same time, you're also cooking the tomatoes. They probably won't break down if they're diced because they add a chemical to diced tomatoes to keep them firmer (it's similar to what they use to keep pickles crisp, I believe) but they'll no longer taste like canned tomatoes.

If your pot has a thin bottom, you'll want to check every five or ten minutes, just to make sure nothing's sticking. I have a pot which is very susceptible to this, and ten or so minutes is about all I can go, at medium low. Just give it a stir, check to see that things haven't dried out completely, add a little water if needed. You want to wind up at chili consistency, so as things proceed, rather than adding water toward the end, you may want to turn the heat down a little.

How long? You'll know it's done two ways: taste, and texture. Texture is up to you. If you like a thinner chili (or are cooking for a crowd with limited means; no shame, add a little more salt and it'll be fine) then you can adjust at the end or throughout. It's always easier to add more water than to get rid of it.

Taste is easier. Taste a bean. It should be tender and no longer taste canned. If it tastes like a canned bean with chili sauce on it, it's not done. Then taste a tomato. Ditto. You want a nuanced whole, not chili gravy over uncooked beans and vegetables.

If you find yourself in a good place, taste-wise, but texturally too thin, it might be because you didn't use the bean liquor, but don't fret. Just cook with the lid off for a few minutes until you get reduction. This chili will reduce, and you won't overcook it in the process, promise. If things have gone really wrong, you can still save it; we'll meet in the no-shame corner below to talk options.

Now, if you haven't added the peppers yet, this is the time. You, like me, want the full pepper experience. Stir them in, and if they were the frozen kind you might want to turn up the heat a whisker. Cook them until you hit the desired doneness, which, if you're adding them now, should be, "just cooked." If you didn't want it like that you can cook them more, but remember for next time and add them earlier to save yourself time.

The whole cooking process shouldn't take more than an hour; that's the beauty of the canned beans. You may find it takes much less than that, if your beans are already pretty tender in the can, but I've never met a canned bean which couldn't do with a little cooking with its sauce so they can get to know each other better.

And that's it! You can garnish with whatever you'd like, from cheese and sour cream to diced onion, lime, and cilantro. Avocado, queso fresco... there's no stopping you now.

Variations

As mentioned above, the simplest variation is to add meat. Ground beef for this one would be traditional, but if you're avoiding red meat, ground turkey or chicken will work, though you may want to add something with a little umami to compensate for the lack of beef richness. If you can, don't use lean ground turkey. Brown the meat with the onions at the beginning of the dish.

Chicken thighs would also work well in this chili. You can stew them with the beans and tomatoes, and by the time they're shreddable, the beans should probably be done.

In a more out-there variation, you can leave the tomatoes out and use chicken to make more of a white chili. You can use black beans to make a hybrid, or use white beans, even cannellini, and go for a true white chili. Since you're eliminating almost a can's worth of liquid, you should add more water when you add the beans. You'll probably also need a little more salt at the end, but you should always taste before you serve for salt and sweetness.

Now, you can continue to use the chili-powder-cumin-garlic combo, or switch it up with more coriander, some jalapeños for heat, and nothing but green peppers if you've got them. Still lots of garlic. Add chopped fresh cilantro at the end (if you aren't feeding someone who can't eat cilantro) and maybe a dollop of sour cream. In fact, you can make this white chili without meat too, and I'm sure there are vegan options to replace sour cream.

Beyond that, we've really graduated into the various ways of making chili, so don't be afraid to take this recipe as your starting point and then change nearly everything about it. The ratios and spices will steer you toward the changes you can make and those which are maybe less of a good idea (though never be afraid to try something, just maybe don't try all the things at the same time so you don't know what went wrong if something does).

The No-Shame Corner

Okay, so you added too much liquid. It might be my fault for assuming that all beans are roughly alike, or maybe it thickened up and started to stick and you got nervous and added a bit too much water and now you've got floating beans, not chili.

It's ok. You don't want to spend an hour constantly tending this pot while you reduce, and I completely understand that. This is supposed to be quick chili, not flavorless mush. Let's walk through some solutions.

First off, depending on how thin your chili is, you can thicken it. Don't reach for the cornstarch or flour though. Do you have corn chips in the house? Chuck a few in the food processor until you get a coarse flour texture, not pebbly but not as fine as standard AP flour. Stir that in until things start to thicken, bit by bit. You may want to add a little more seasoning, but taste first because the chips probably had salt on them.

Failing that, do you have masa harina? That's the corn flour that is used to make corn tortillas. If you don't, you can put stone-ground cornmeal in a food processor or blender until it's much finer. Add that bit by bit. You'll definitely want to taste for seasoning.

Both of those options are also good for folks who, and remember, still the No-Shame Corner, are feeding a lot with a little. You can use any corn chip, including Doritos or Fritos, and masa is often very cheap, plus it has plenty of other uses. This will stretch your food dollar. Some time soon we'll have to discuss polenta.

But if you don't have any of these things, or if you've got a situation which thickening can't solve (maybe not in this dish, but it can definitely happen easily with others) you need to remove liquid. Ordinarily this isn't recommended because the liquid has the flavor, but this is last-resort-to-get-food-on-the-table territory.

So start spooning out liquid and only liquid. A strainer can help catch any stray bits you want to keep in the chili. Once you're on dry land again, you can use thickener, or reduce, or you can do what I would do which is temper some spices.

Take some cumin, chili powder (or whatever you used before), and garlic powder and add them to enough oil to make a paste. You can then put them in the microwave and heat at 15 second invervals until things start to sizzle a little, then add it, a bit at a time, with salt and sugar, to your chili until it tastes more presentable. The key is to cook the spices a little in the oil so they don't taste grainy and rough.

If you've got time but don't want to reduce your chili to mush, once you take the liquid out, you can put it in another pot, preferably wider than it is tall, and reduce just that liquid. It might take less time than you think. Then add it back to your chili, taste for seasoning, and you've saved dinner.

But above all, don't worry. This is really simple to make, and you likely won't have to save it at all because it will turn out just fine. I'm mentioning these techniques because they're useful in other circumstances as well. But you've got this. This is cookable.