Recipe Chicken Chili

[The Late Night Gourmet]

I’m so glad I didn’t decide to make this as a white chicken chili. To do that, I would have had to leave out two of my favorite things in a chili: chilies (duh) and tomatoes. Besides being ridiculously healthy, it’s also pretty and very tasty.

By the way, that’s tzatziki sauce. I could just as well have used yogurt, but the tzatziki sauce worked very well.

I ground my own chicken from breast meat, leaving in the little bit of fat that came with them. It's really negligible...something on the order of a 97%/3% mix, but I think it helps with the sizzle.

I also decided to try a quick prep of the dried mayocoba beans. Typically, they're soaked overnight, then boiled for a long time to soften. I found that I can achieve the same results in 30 minutes using a pressure cooker and enough stock to cover the beans, plus a few inches. The beans weren't totally soft, which is what I wanted: the cooking process in the chili would finish the job.

Also, in my recent penchant for shortcuts, I decided not to devote much time to the tomatoes, and instead went with the canned variety.

This is not a very spicy soup...it's intended for normal people who don't want their faces burned off by the heat.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon canola oil
1 medium red onion, chopped
3 jalapeno peppers, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon oregano powder
1 pound ground chicken
2 cups cooked mayocoba beans (or similar)
28 ounce can diced tomatoes
3 cups chicken stock
1 tablespoon salt, adjusted to taste

Directions

1. Heat canola oil in a large pot on medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and peppers and saute for about 10 minutes. Add garlic and saute while stirring continuously for 1 minute. Fold in spices and allow to cook for 1 more minute.

2. Add ground chicken to the pot and stir in thoroughly. Continue stirring and breaking up large pieces until all sides are partly browned, a few minutes.

3. Add tomatoes, scraping the bottom of the pot to loosen up bits of the chicken as needed.

4. Add stock. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low. Cook with cover off for 30 minutes or until reduced to desired consistency. Add salt as needed to taste.

5. Serve with sour cream or yogurt.

 

[Morning Glory]

I'd not come across mayacoba beans before and had to look them up. I don't think we get them in the UK.

Chicken chilli I've never made - I suppose it never occurred to me! But maybe I will give it a go.

I do make lots of vegan chillis using soya protein which makes them very low fat and low cal. There is a great brand of soy mince on sale here from a Dutch company. I can fool people into believing this is meat...

 

[The Late Night Gourmet]

There is a great brand of soy mince on sale here from a Dutch company. I can fool people into believing this is meat...

I can easily see that working: most of the flavor comes from the vegetables and spices; I only chose chicken breast because it was so lean...we all know there's not much flavor there. This could easily be a vegan recipe by using this + vegetable stock.

And, the beans could be replaced by just about any bean. I picked them initially because of the light color - initially thinking White Chicken Chili before I scrapped that - but I will use pintos or maybe a multi-bean mix next time to provide more color.

 

[Morning Glory]

And, the beans could be replaced by just about any bean. I picked them initially because of the light color - initially thinking White Chicken Chili before I scrapped that - but I will use pintos or maybe a multi-bean mix next time to provide more color.

My favourite with chilli is black beans - they have a lovely slightly smoky flavour and dramatic colour. In fact, I rather like a straight bean chilli with no meat or meat substitute at all! Maybe I will post a recipe...