My office has an annual chili cookoff, and I wanted to make something awesome that also didn’t have meat in it. By accident, it also turned out to be vegan. Haha whoops?

SIDE NOTE: The jalapeño was the cheapest ingredient, at 7 cents.

SIDE NOTE 2: This does not “taste vegan.”

1 large onion, diced as fine as you want
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 jalapeño, diced with ribs removed and seeds set aside
About 3 cups sofrito (food processed green pepper, garlic, onions, and cilantro), gently pressed to remove some of the liquid
1 cup green peas, fresh or frozen
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced to roughly pea size
1 cup quinoa, rinsed very well
1 can vegan chili beans
4 cups vegetable stock, premade or from bouillon
2 8-oz cans tomato sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
Chili powder to taste (I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
Fresh cilantro to taste (I used about 1/4 cup chopped very fine)
1 package Morningstar Farms Meal Starters Crumbles or other vegan meat analog (optional but preferable)

Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion and diced jalapeño. Throw in seeds to your desired spiciness. Cook on medium heat until onions are very soft.

Cook the quinoa in the vegetable stock until the middle separates from the outside. (You will realize when this happens. It is weird and amazing.) Strain it out of the broth. Discard broth or save for something else.

Drain beans and rinse very well to remove canned bean stuff.

Combine all ingredients in a slow cooker. Let it cook for at least several hours and preferably for many more than that over a couple of days. I cooked mine for about 8 hours one day and about 6 more the next.

Comments