For the love of Seitan

Why haven’t I posted this before? This was one of the first vegan recipes I made on my own. If I had a spice scale, from 1 to 10, with 1 being a bland potato and 10 being a habanero pepper, I’d put this recipe at a 3 or 4. It’s got some heat, but not in a way that overwhelms the flavors. You can get HP sauce at any British import market or Cost Plus; it’s a delicious brown sauce that is also fantastic as a french fry dip. But I digress. I served this with blue corn jalapeno bread, the recipe for which I’ll post soon. This recipe makes a lot of chili; have some friends over to enjoy it, or have some plastic or glass storage containers on hand to freeze the remainder.

Ingredients:
3 jalapenos
2 anaheim chiles
2 poblano chiles
1-2 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 medium and 1 small onion, sliced into 1/4″ half moons, then sliced perpendicularly in half
5-7 cloves of garlic, crushed
4 Tbsp chili powder
2 Tbsp ground cumin
1 Tbsp ground thyme
1/2 cup water
2 packages Yves Ground, broken up
4 cups of water
2 cans tomato paste
2 cans diced tomatoes, still in juices
1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 can white navy beans, drained and rinsed
4 Tbsp HP sauce
1/4 cup agave nectar
1 Tbsp Tapatio hot sauce (NOT Tabasco! Cholula is an adequate substitute)

1. Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to broil. Place jalapenos, anaheim chiles and poblano chiles on a baking sheet and roast in the oven until blistered and about 60-70% black. Remove from oven, place in a durable plastic bag (a freezer bag works great), roll up and set aside for 10 – 15 minutes. Remove from bag and peel the skin off, then dice the chiles and set aside.

2. In a large soup pot, saute the onion in olive oil on high until browned and almost crispy. Turn the heat down to med – low, add garlic and mix well. Add the spices and mix well. Saute for 30 seconds or so, until fragrant. Pour in 1/2 cup of water and scrape up the bits that are stuck to the bottom. Add Yves Ground, mix well. Cook on medium for about 10 minutes.

3. In a large bowl, add tomato paste to 4 cups of water. Whisk together until it’s a tomato sauce. Pour into the soup pot. Add diced tomatoes, beans and chiles. Heat on medium for 10 minutes. Add HP sauce, agave nectar and Tapatio. Turn heat up until chili is boiling, then bring heat down to low and simmer for 1-2 hours.

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