3 X 3 Rip Your Face Off Chili

Okay, so- this recipe is somewhat of a miracle in and of itself. Mostly just because I have never made the same pot of chili more than once in my life, and also because I've never written down a chili recipe either. My general idea behind it is beans + tomatoes + chili powder + whatever the hell else I have on hand and feel like eating at the moment = pot of chili.

This chili though, is somehow different. The last time I made chili was a few weeks ago for Friday lunch at my office. I was nervous about feeding my co-workers such a vegan meal- but people were not only going back for seconds (and thirds), but also still talking about it a week later. Success in my book.

This is not that chili. Sorry kittens. This chili is that chili, plus everything else that I wanted to do to that pot, but couldn't with 4 hours and a slow cooker. I need tools, bizzles!

I'm calling it "3 X 3 Rip Your Face Off Chili" mostly because I like really tacky recipe names, but also because I used three kinds of beans, as well as three kinds of chillies. Thus it pretty much rips your face off.

Also- I'm really sorry about the weird quality of my photos. My camera is old and it seems to be struggling with artificial light these days. So, someone should probably buy me a new camera. Yeah???



What you need:

1 red onion- diced
1 red bell pepper- diced
6 cloves of fresh garlic- minced
1 Serrano chili pepper- minced
4 small sweet potatoes (or 1 large)
3 chipotle chillies from a small can + 2 tbsp liquid from the can
1 can of salsa casera (or 1/2 cup of any other salsa)
4 15oz cans of beans (I used 2 black beans, 1 cannellini, and 1 kidney)
2 28oz cans of diced tomatoes
1/2 cup corn (frozen is fine, fresh is better, and I will seriously judge you if you use canned)
2 limes
3 tbsp chili powder
1 scant tbsp dried cumin
1 tbsp oregano
2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1/2 cup fresh cilantro



What to do:

Very first thing- stab your sweet potatoes with a fork a few times- then turn your oven to 450 and throw them in. You'll leave them there while you prep everything else (do all of your chopping and prepping now).

Once you've got everything chopped and ready, pull the sweet potatoes out of the oven (use an oven mitt, foolio). Let them cool for a hot second, then peel them (I do this by cutting off the ends and then scraping with a knife), and cut into bite sized cubes. Dice your chipotles and let them hang out with the sweet potato for a few.



Using a giant pot (seriously)- heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium/high heat. Once hot- add onion, garlic, red pepper, and Serrano chili. Saute for about 5 minutes, until onion becomes translucent.



Add sweet potatoes and chipotle and saute for a bit longer.

While this is all going on- DUMP ALL FOUR CANS OF BEANS INTO A STRAINER AND RINSE UNTIL ALL OF THE GOO FROM THE CAN IS GONE. I didn't know until recently that people didn't do this automatically. That goo is what makes you have fart attacks, and this is a very easy solution to that. SO DO IT, PLEASE.



Add both cans of tomatoes, salsa casera, liquid from the canned chipotles, corn, and beans to the pot and stir until combined. Leave heat on medium/high until chili starts to boil. Meanwhile:

Add chili powder, oregano, cumin, salt, red wine vinegar, and the juice from both of your limes and reduce heat to low. Cover and let cook for 2 hours- stirring occasionally. Add cilantro before serving.

I just eat it the way it is- one thing that I have yet to find is the right vegan sub for sour cream, and this is the kind of recipe that could use it. It needs that cold/creamy balance to it. I'm going to mess around with coconut cream later tonight to see if I can find a solution to that- but for now this is what you get. If you aren't vegan feel free to go crazy with sour cream and cheese. If you are- then please tell me what you use and then please also make it for me.





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I'm going to try to find the motivation to post my applesauce recipe (if you can call it that) as well as the recipe for vegan chocolate chip mint ice cream that I made last week that turned out insanely delicious sometime this week. Either that or I'm just going to sleep a lot.