Since fall weather is just refusing to show itself in Los Angeles, I decided to bring a little fall to us by making something with pumpkin. Since we do most of our shopping in local farmers markets, there is always a lot of seasonal ingredients, one of the most popular now being pumpkin. I had a few laying around the house, and after some long deliberation, I settled with chili. Chili is just one of those super comforting fall dishes. It is so warm, hearty, spicy, sweet, savory, salty, and really can be infused with a lot of fall flavors.
Lets talk ingredients. Chili’s can sometimes be a little intimidating, because they tend to have quite the list of ingredients. The reason this is, is so that you really get that immense depth of flavor, and so that you can create a very unique flavor profile. For this you’ll need a pie pumpkin, yellow onion, garlic, diced tomatoes in their juices, sweet potato, black beans, kidney beans, tomato puree, tomato paste, gluten free amber ale, vegan worcestershire sauce, vegan butter, tamari, vegetable broth, and an array of spices. It’s really more the spices that are a longer list. The spices you’ll need are oregano, ground sage, ground ginger, ground cinnamon, ground cloves, garlic granules, onion granules, cumin, smoked paprika, chili powder, ground mustard, cayenne pepper, chipotle chili powder, white pepper, black pepper, himalayan pink salt, brown sugar, whole bay leaf, and vegan beef bouillon. I know it sounds like a lot, but together they make the most amazing flavor combination for this chili.
Start buy prepping all of your ingredients. It will make the whole cooking process easier, and a lot more fun for you too. Add a little bit of olive oil and vegan butter into a deep dutch oven. Add your onions, as well as a little salt and sautee until slightly softened. Then add your garlic, as well as some more butter and salt. Cook until you can smell the garlic from where your standing. Then add your tomato paste and all of your spices, excluding the bay leaves. Allow those to cook for about a minute, so that all of the spices can toast together. Make sure you do this over a medium – low heat, and don’t let it burn or it will add a bitter taste to the chili. Then add your beer. This acts just like how wine would when needing to deglaze a pan. Once your beer is in, scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot, and boil for about 4 minutes until it has reduced by about a quarter. Then add your diced tomatoes & juices, sweet potato, pumpkin, bay leaves, tamari, vegan worcestershire, and tomato puree. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Allow to cook for as long as you can. I let mine sit for about 4 hours. You can add vegetable stock as needed to thin out the chili if it gets a little to thick as it cooks. About a half hour before serving, add your rinsed beans and allow them to heat through. Adding these earlier before you cooked it for hours can sometimes turn the beans to mush, so I like adding them at the end instead.
For your cornbread, you’ll need store bought cornbread mix, vegan butter, regular unsweetened almond milk, egg replacer, olive oil, fresh jalapenos, daiya pepperjack style cheese shreds, and frozen sweet corn. We used store bought gluten free cornbread mix because it’s just easier than making your own cornbread, and still tastes amazing. We just replaced the eggs called in the recipe with some egg replacer, as well as the milk for some almond milk with melted butter mixed in. It’s very important that you get regular unsweetened almond milk for this. If you don’t your cornbread will be far to sweet and almost be more of a dessert. I mixed in about 1 tablespoon of melted butter into my almond milk as well just to make more of a “buttermilk” kind of taste. Combine all the ingredients to the packages instructions & add in some cheese, frozen corn, and diced fresh jalapeno. I also always use olive oil as the oil in my cornbread. I think it just gives a great flavor and moistness. Spray a cupcake tin with coconut oil, and then spoon in your batter until just to the top of the tin. Top with some extra cheese and some corn if you’d like, and bake according to the packages instructions.
As far as toppings go, you can really do whatever you’d like. Cheese, corn, chives, sour cream, tortilla chips, avocado, tomatoes… the possibilities are endless. I chose to top mine with cashew sour cream, and fresh sage. To make the sour cream, just blend up some soaked cashews, water (not the water you soaked the cashews in), a small splash of apple cider vinegar, and a small pinch of pink himalayan salt together until you get a consistency similar to sour cream. Then simply top your chili, and you’re ready to serve! We hope you enjoyed this comforting fall recipe, and that this autumn season is treating you all well!
INGREDIENTS
Chili:
- 1 small pie pumpkin
- 1 yellow onion
- 4 cloves of garlic
- 1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes & their juices
- 1 14 oz. can of tomato puree
- 2 tbs tomato paste
- 2 small sweet potatoes
- 2 14 oz. cans of kidney beans
- 1 14 oz. can of black beans
- 1 12 oz. bottle of gluten free amber ale
- 3 tbs vegan worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbs tamari
- 1 vegan beef boullion cube
- 1 tbs garlic granules
- 1 tbs onion granules
- 1 1/2 tbs ground mustard
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tbs ground ginger
- 1 tbs ground sage
- 3 tbs cumin
- 3 tbs chili powder
- 3 tbs paprika
- 1 tsp ground cayenne *more or less based on preference
- 1 1/2 tbs chipotle chili powder
- 2 tbs dried oregano
- 1/2 tbs white pepper
- 1 tbs black pepper
- 1-2 tbs pink himalayan salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 4 tbs brown sugar
- vegetable broth
- vegan sour cream *recipe above
- fresh sage leaves
Cornbread:
- 1 box of gluten free cornbread mix (we used Bob’s Red Mill)
- 2 fresh jalapenos
- Daiya pepperjack style cheese shreds
- 1 cup frozen sweet corn
- Regular unsweetened almond milk
- 1 tbs vegan butter
- Olive oil
- Egg replacer
DIRECTIONS
- Prep all of your ingredients.
- Sautee your onions and garlic in olive oil & butter with a pinch of salt until soft.
- Add your spices (excluding bay leaf), and tomato paste. Stir over medium – low heat until slightly toasted and fragrant.
- Add your beer and deglaze your pan. Boil for about 4 minutes, or until the mixture has reduced by a quarter.
- Add your diced tomatoes, sweet potato, pumpkin, tamari, worcestershire, tomato puree, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover with a lid. Cook for as long as you’d like, we recommend 4 hours. Add vegetable broth as needed to thin out the chili if it gets to thick while cooking down.
- About a half hour before serving, add in your rinsed and drained beans so that they heat through.
- Prepare your cornbread according to the package instructions, but add your diced jalapeno, cheese, and frozen corn to the batter and mix well before baking.
- Top your chili with vegan sour cream, and a fresh sage leaf. And top your corn bread with some local honey, and fresh chives.
