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A vegetarian chile,
named for its ability to upset chile purists on no fewer than three
separate counts; there may be more. |
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Chile aficionados are well known for their
individuality. Fights are reported to have broken out over
the precise ingredients to use and the concept of a vegetarian chile
would be unthinkable to many chile-heads.
The three main areas of contention in this recipe would be (1)
there is no meat, (2) there are beans and (3) the recipe uses a
"ready-made" chilli-con-carne spice mix. However, this
recipe is not the calamity that the ingredients might suggest and the
offending items merit further explanation.
 | Meat - my recipe uses soya but you could (if you must) use
meat. |
| Beans - see above re soya |
| A proprietary chilli-con-carne mix will contain up
to a dozen herbs and spices in varying proportions. This will
include, for example, cumin, oregano, celery salt and nutmeg but
almost no chile. This means that the mix gives constant proportions
of herbs and spices on every occasion and helps with the re-creation
of the same chile; no mean feat. All that is needed is a little time
spent reading the labels on the different brands and experimenting
until a personally acceptable blend is found. |
The choice of chiles is the last bastion of human
self-expression and I've simply included my own personal preferences. |
½ large onion, sliced
½ large onion, pureed with ½ cup water and 2 cloves of garlic
1 chipotle chile
1 habanero chile
1 tablespoon proprietary "chilli-con-carne" powder mix
2 table spoons paprika
½ cup oil
small can tomato puree
1lb soya chunks, frozen are best
1 teaspoon tamarind paste (optional - from Asian stores) |
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Serves 2 as a single dish or 4 with a side dish.
Preparation time 10 minutes, cooking time 20 minutes.
Rehydrate the dried, whole chiles in hot water and add to the ½ onion
and garlic. Puree in a blender but ensure that some texture is left.
Roast the molido powder in a low oven for 2 minutes but take care not to
burn.
Fry the sliced onion until golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and set
aside. Fry the molido powder and other spices for 2-3 minutes in a
medium saucepan, ensuring that they do not burn.
Add the pureed onion and garlic and continue to
fry until all the water has evaporated and the oil separates. This is
like the bhoona stage in an Indian curry. Do not shortcut this
stage as it take the raw edge off the ingredients.
Add the tomato puree and fry for 2 minutes. Add all the remaining
ingredients, including the sliced onion and 1½ times the
recommended amount of water needed to rehydrate dried soya. Use the
water from soaking the dried chiles for extra heat and flavour.
Cook over a low heat until the soya is ready. |
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