I grew up eating “chili” made with dark red kidney beans. The wizard, pinto beans. We don't really care for each other's “proper chili”, but I had all these black beans lying around, and I (accidentally) made some we both liked, no doubt because both of us are willing to concede chili can be made with black beans, but neither of us have childhood associations with them.

So here's an approximate version^[1] of the recipe culled from my admittedly week old memory, with the hopes that I'll be able to make it again:

Black Beans:

• 250 g (approx) black beans, washed & picked over (could just use a pound; just round up by 40% or so the seasonings below)
• 1 T cocoa powder
• 1/2? t salt (or whatever is correct for half a pound or so of beans)
• 1/2 C onion
• 4–8 cloves garlic

Method:

• place beans in a medium sauce pan, cover with at least an inch of water. Bring to a boil, let sit, covered, for an hour.
• Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, turn #6, cook until all the beans are soft.
• Most of the water will evaporate thru the holes in the pan—mebbe add a bit more?

Additional Protein:)

• 2 C TVP shreds
• 1 t mushroom base better than brand boullion
• 1/4 – 1/2 t liquid smoke
• probably ? some minced garlic. Or mebbe garlic & onion powder...
• Water to hydrate.

Method:

• stir boullion into (some) water;
• add shreds, liquid smoke, minced garlic, onion/garlic powders plus any other seasonings that make sense.
• Let sit until shreds hydrate.
• Since extra water just goes right into the beans, no worries about using extra

Chili:

• cooked black beans, their juices, onion & garlic;
• shreds, spices, its liquid
• ground cumin
• red chili flakes
• smoked paprika
• 1 jalapeno, finely minced, including seeds and pith;
• chili powder
• black pepper...?
• 1 t cocoa and or cloves(opt)
• 1 T olive oil
• 1/2 (or more?) large onion, minced^[2]
• 1/2 – 1 large bell pepper, minced
• additional garlic? garlic powder? onion powder?
• 1/4 C sundried tomato & olive oil
• 1 6 oz can tomato paste
• More water as needed
• minced cilantro, for garnish
• sour cream and/or shredded cheese for garnish

Method:

saute onion, jalapeno, & garlic; add 1 t ea or so of spices and stir till fragrant. add canned tomatoes, mashing with a tomato masher; add beans and TVP shreds; stir in sundried tomatoes & tomato paste; add more seasonings to taste serve with bacon fat skillet cornbread for a real treat

Notes:

• In case it wasn't obvious, this recipe is vegan (as long as you omit the cheese topping, ofc; the cornbread most definitely is not, though the link provides a vegetarian version.)
• Everyone I fed it to, including the wizard, liked it! Also, it was pretty firey. The black beans were not the biggest ingredient, they had some space between them in the bowl. It probably makes sense just to use a pound of beans...
• Consider adding cocoa and cloves
• I used the big can of Nina tomatoes, and there were lots left over, but needed the denser tomato flavor from the sundried & paste.
• Could add some dried mushrooms in with the TVP for more umami (In fact, I might have...)
• comes together in an afternoon—cook the beans, rehydrate the TVP; the rest is pretty fast to asssemble. That said, like so many stews of this type, it's better after having a day or so to meld the flavors
• Stayed fresh for 6 days (by which time we'd eaten it all)

Unless otherwise noted, text, image and objects depicted therein copyright 1996--present sylvus tarn.

Sylvus Tarn