Standardizing my chili

Sometimes you look in the fridge, and you're like, goddamn, there is nothing in here. It's nice to have something stashed away in the pantry and freezer for those days, y'know? Or just for when the craving hits.

Chili is like that, for me. It's very easy to keep canned beans and tomatoes on hand at all times. I used to make it with ground beef, but then my husband requested that we not eat ground beef at every meal, so I decided to try substituting. (He exaggerated. We did not have ground beef for every meal.) Over the years, I tried ground turkey (gross), ground chicken (OK), steak chunks (very good, but not something I keep on hand), leftover roast chicken (ditto), and finally, when I started feeding The Little Dude real food, just beans.

Bean chili was OK. What I liked best about it was that I didn't have to spend any time browning meat; I could just throw everything in the pot as-is. I also liked that The Little Dude was a big, big fan; that every ingredient was the right size for him to eat easily; and that I could freeze leftovers in little portions for him.

I still had some nostalgia for the ground beef, so I tried it again recently. Ugh. The texture is just nowhere near as nice as black beans, or garbanzos, or black-eyed peas. (I do not like kidney beans, though. The skins creep me out.) The ground beef didn't add any significant flavor, and I had to spend all that time browning it and washing the pan. W T F. So not worth it; never again.

The major problem with my recipe these days is that I've never measured anything. So if I go too long without making it, I find myself wondering how many cans of beans go in. It's difficult to give the recipe out upon request, because I "measure" the spices in fractions of the chili's surface area, as I sprinkle them. And I'm always forgetting the onions or something.

So today, I pulled out some measuring spoons for the spices, and I'm writing it down. This is a version that we're very happy with, that I would be using as the bones of any further chili experimentation (like substituting various chile peppers, or adding new and intriguing vegetables or spices - I hear good things about cocoa in chili, for example):

2 (14 oz.) cans beans, drained and rinsed (Black beans, garbanzos, or black-eyed peas are good.)
1 (14 oz.) can diced tomatoes
1 (14 oz.) can tomato sauce
1.5 bell peppers, red/orange/yellow, diced (this just happens to be the portion size I stuck in the freezer after chopping up the six peppers sitting idle in the veggie drawer - it could as easily be 1 or 2)
1 cup frozen corn
1.5 tsp. ground cinnamon
1.5 tsp. ground cloves
3 tsp. ground cumin
1/4 tsp. ground chipotle chili pepper (I am no expert, but it seems to me this is spicier than the other chili powders I've tried, so this measurement may not be the same for other varieties)
1 fat onion, or 2 small onions
1 tbsp. minced garlic

It tastes about like I expect it to taste, spice-wise. (I did have to taste-test and add more to get it that way - the number recorded is the final total.) It may actually be more like 2 tsp./4 tsp. instead of 1.5 tsp./3 tsp., but I'm running low on cumin, and this is pretty close. I do know it's two parts cumin to one each of cinnamon and cloves.

It's a little saucy; I think it could support some more chunky ingredients, like meat, more corn or peppers, some additional veggie, or possibly another can of beans. (Though I tried three cans of beans once, and it wasn't saucy enough anymore. But I wasn't measuring on that attempt either, so for all I know, I changed something else, too.)

It's about the right amount of chili pepper for us, as far as the heat goes. I think it could be spicier and I'd still like it, but The Little Dude would not agree. He makes this spectacular jaw-dropped expression when food is too spicy, like he's trying to air his whole mouth out; he sticks his fingers in his mouth like he wants to wipe the capsaicin off his tongue.

I'm a little sad about this, because although I am not a particular fan of spicy, I do like the chipotle flavor, and there's not enough of that. I haven't figured out how to get the one without the other, though. For all I know, it may not be possible. I had been thinking I'd try to get an actual chipotle pepper and seed it or something, but I see now that I look at Wikipedia that it's actually a smoked-dried jalapeno. That would explain why I never see it in the produce aisle.

We top the chili with shredded cheese just before serving, if we have it. (Which we usually do.) Sometimes, if I remember about it when I'm already chopping the first onion(s), I also chop up another onion very finely, and set it aside to sprinkle on top with the cheese later.

I cooked tonight's chili on the stove, for about an hour. I've done it as short as just twenty minutes or whatever it was to heat everything up - the veggies were still a little crunchy, which was interesting, and not bad - and I've done it all day on low in the crock-pot. It seems pretty forgiving.

The Little Dude, upon discovering that chili was in the works, was super mad that he had to wait for it. "Mine! My din! MINE!" He went so far as to shake the bars of the baby gate in rage as he yelled. That was what determined how long the chili cooked. Whatever benefits there may be to letting it stew longer, they do not outweigh the demands of a hungry toddler.