Spicy Slow-Cooked Vegan Chili

Fall is here and you know what that means: IT’S CHILI TIME!! Living in Atlanta, chili is a pretty big deal here. Every year we have the Chomp & Stomp Chili Cook-off Festival in Cabbagetown. It’s an awesome day of music and chill time. While most vendors dont have vegetarian/vegan options, its cool to see people experiment with different flavors and recipes. There's just something about sitting with warm cup of chili on a crisp fall day in your coziest outfit.

Chili is truly one of those meals that you can drop a bunch of ingredients in a pot and it's hard to screw up. It's also very inexpensive, and can feed you for at least a week. Vegan food does not have to have fancy Whole Foods ingredients and once you find what you love its pretty easy to build your favorite recipes from there. This is an easy vegan chili recipe that can be modified depending on the level of spiciness you prefer. I like my chili spicy, but not ghost pepper spicy if you know what I mean.

A few notes:

• I used canned beans but if you prefer cooking yours from dry beans, they work wonderfully.

• If you want to avoid the gassiness that comes from eating a ton of beans, sprinkle some asafoetida powder (also known as Hing) while its cooking.

• Check the thickness of your chili when it's close to being done. If its too thick, add more tomato sauce. If it’s too soupy, stir in 2 tbsp of cornmeal straight into your chili.

---

Ingredients

Herbs & Spices

• 2 bay leaves

• 4 leaves of fresh basil, chopped

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp cumin

• 1 tsp coriander

• 1 tbsp sugar

• salt + pepper to taste

Beans

• 1 cans of black beans

• 1 can of kidney beans

• 1 can of pigeon peas

Vegetables & Broths

• 2 cans whole peeled tomatoes, crushed

• 2 tbsp tomato paste

• 1 bell pepper

• 4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

• 2 fresh jalapeños, diced and seeded (optional)

• 2 large onion, diced

• 2 stalks of celery, diced

• 2 medium carrots, diced

• 1 cup of water

• 1 cube of Edward & Sons' Garden Veggie Bouillon Cubes

• 1/2 habanero pepper, for extra spiciness

• optional: a few drops of liquid smoke

Directions

1. In a large skillet, cook the onion, 2 cloves of garlic, bell pepper, and celery in olive oil over medium heat until the onion is fragrant.

2. In your slow cooker, stir in all your ingredients including the cooked onion, pepper, garlic, and celery mixture.

3. Set the cooker on low and cook for approx. 4-5 hours.

As always, if you love it share it! Comment down below and let me know your thoughts, suggestions or just say hi!

ENJOY!