Vegetarian Chili with Cornbread

Not your run of the mill, sad chili here.

Flavor: 8/10

Ease at home: 6/10

Ease at camp: 5/10
Heat level: 5/10 

Times made: 2

This one needs a bit of work, but only because the cornbread is pre-packaged, it was a little too sweet for my tastes, and rehydrated up too thin (so I ended up cooking them like crumbly pancakes)- needs to work easily as a pan biscuit. Also, I MUST to come up with a way to have sour cream on the trail, every cell of Russian heritage in my body demands it.

Still, I can't really complain...the meal was as delicious as it looks (and you can't even see the hunks of melty cheddar beneath the cornbread). This is my own chili recipe, spiced primarily with pasilla peppers, and utilizes Heston Blumenthal's infused butter technique for added flavor. I find this recipe is best made with seitan, but can be prepared with fake ground meat instead (and probably regular ground meat, too).

Recipe:

Cornbread 

In a baggie, mix:

• Marie Callender's organic, just-add-water cornbread mix- I brought 1/3 package for two people.
• Dehydrated green onions- if you want, to taste
• Pepper jack cheese powder- if you want, to taste

Vegetarian Chili:

Either dehydrate a batch of YOUR favorite chili (be sure it's low fat otherwise it may spoil quickly), OR:

Begin by toasting your chiles, then set aside:

• 3 pasilla peppers (4 if small)
• 1 dried chipotle if you like the flavor 

Heat 1 T oil on medium heat and fry until onion is translucent:

• 1.5 yellow onion (or 1 very large onion)
• 1 jalapeno
• 2 cloves garlic

Add the following and stir for 5 minutes:

• 3 T tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf

Finally, add:

• 1 28 ounce can of diced tomatoes
• 1 can kidney beans
• 2 c. ground seitan, beyond meat, ground round, TVP, or other veggie protein. Seitan seems to rehydrate best.
• 2 t Mexican oregano
• 1/2 c dark beer or 1/4 c JD

Turn heat to low and simmer ~1.5 hours.

Compound butter:

In a pan on medium-low heat, combine:

• 2/3 stick butter
• 2 t pasilla powder
• 2 t cumin
• 1 t gaujillo powder
• 1 t sweet paprika (or smoked if you want that smoky flavor)
• 1/4 t cayenne powder

Stir frequently and watch VERY carefully. You want to pull the butter off the heat as soon as the spices begin to toast and become aromatic, but before they burn.

Meanwhile, put the other ingredients in a bowl:

• 1 t ketchup
• 1/2 t Worcestershire (vegetarian or regular, up to you)
• 1/2 t Marmite or Vegemite

Once the butter is ready to come off the heat, pour it into the other ingredients, whisk together. Now, freeze the butter and once solid, put it in a ziplock or vacuum seal it into a baggie.

At camp:

Begin by making the cornbread. I recommend under-rehydrating, so that the batter is thicker and easier to work with. Fry in batches on low heat, flipping, adjusting heat, and adjusting pan position as needed to avoid burning. As you can see, being a fairly thin batter, mine kind of cooked up in a piecey jumble which did not detract from the flavor, but was a little inconvenient. Once the bread is all cooked up, put it aside.

 Next, rehydrate the chili. Bring water to a boil and add dry chili. Lower heat and let it simmer a bit, until the beans are starting to become supple again. If your chili contains Beyond Meat, continue to simmer slowly until the Beyond Meat is completely soft (~8 minutes). Take off the heat, cover, let it sit and hydrate fully.

To serve, stir in the compound butter and season with salt and vinegar if you brought some. Sprinkle with cheddar cheese, then cornbread. 

Enjoy!

Descending to camp, and to dinner, along Bubbs Creek.