Rebecca’s Chile
We got this delicious and easy recipe from our friend Rebecca and now Charlie and I make it quite often. We’ve modified the recipe a little (reflected below), but not much. Rebecca’s original recipe is vegetarian but we often make it with pork or turkey.
Servings 8
Ingredients
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 4 large cloves garlic, minced
- cooking oil as needed
- 4.5 cups chopped fresh tomatoes or two 14 oz. cans canned diced tomatoes, including the juice
- 1 T. Worcestershire sauce
- 3 cans cooked pinto and/or black beans and/or kidney beans, drained and rinsed (or make them yourself, see link below for pinto bean recipe)
- 14 oz. broth or stock
- 14 oz. Gimme Lean or ground pork or ground turkey, thawed if frozen (Gimme Lean is vegetarian)
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- 1 or 2 tsp chile powder (adjust to taste and according to the hotness of the chile, be careful not to start with too much; we use chipotle chile powder, available at La Montanita Coop)
- 1/4 tsp. or more cayenne (but, use only if the chile powder isn't hot enough)
- 1/4 to 1/2 t. salt (but, important, don't add salt if broth is already salty)
- grated cheese (optional, to put on top when serving)
- sour cream (optional, to put on top when serving)
Instructions
- Saute onions and garlic in oil.
- Use a hand blender or other blender to chop up the tomatoes a little. Don’t overdo it. They should still be a little bit chunky. (Tomato chunks in photo are way too big.)
- Mix onions, garlic, tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, beans, and broth in very large pot. Start heating on medium high heat.
- Heat some oil in a skillet and then crumble in the Gimme Lean or ground pork or turkey. Cook till it is done but not too crispy. (Gimme Lean should have texture of ground meat.)
- Stir the cumin, chile, and cayenne into the meat and cook another minute or two.
- Stir the meat into the pot with the other ingredients.
- Salt to taste.
- Bring everything to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 5 or 10 minutes — or longer if you like. Add more broth if you want it soupier.
- It is good served with cornbread or tortilla chips or tortillas. And some like to put a little grated cheese or sour cream on top.
Notes
You can cook the pinto beans yourself instead of using canned beans. Use this recipe.