Cabbage and Bean Chili with Herbed Cornmeal Dumplings

It has been "April Showers" all day long here in Colorado.  I do love the Spring rain and it puts me in the mood for something warm and comforting.  Hence:  Chili and Dumplings! 

When you eat "vegetarian-ish" for as long as I have, you come across about a million different chili recipes.  I, myself, rarely make the same chili twice because it is such a great way to clear out the pantry and the crisper!  Especially when the grocery budget is tight, I love to challenge myself to make dinner with whatever is on hand.  It often makes you combine things you wouldn't normally have thought to put together and it forces you to get creative with a limited number of ingredients. 

So, inspired by the rain and the contents of my pantry and fridge, I give you this chili.  This dish is deliciously warming and full of flavor!  The cabbage gives it lots of texture and crunch, while the beans and dumplings make it homey and filling without being heavy.  Not to mention the beautiful color pallete of bright purple cabbage, green onions, a rosy-red broth and pale, golden-yellow dumplings.  In the words of Ina Garten, "What's not to like?!?" 

Cabbage and Bean Chili with Herbed Cornmeal Dumplings
serves 8-10

1 cup dried black beans, cooked
1 cup dried kidney beans, cooked
2 T olive oil
1 T peanut oil
1 green pepper, diced
1 red onion, diced
2 celery ribs, diced
6 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups red cabbage (about 1/2 a small head), sliced and washed
1 28 oz. can diced San Marzano tomatoes
6 cups vegetable stock
1/8 cup maple syrup
1 T cumin
1-3 tsp cayenne, to taste
salt and pepper
Herbed Cornmeal Dumplings, recipe to follow

In a large soup pot or dutch oven over medium heat, add olive oil and peanut oil.  Add pepper, onions and celery and saute until soft, about 7 minutes.  Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add cabbage and stir well.  Cook until volume of cabbage is reduced by almost half, about 10 minutes.  Add tomatoes and stock and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and stir in maple syrup, cumin, cayenne and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook, covered, about 15 minutes.

Gently drop the dumplings onto the surface of the chili and cover again.  Cook until dumplings have puffed up and are firm, about 25 more minutes.  Serve.


Herbed Cornmeal Dumplings
makes 14 dumplings
adapted from a recipe posted by Bon Appetit's website in January of 2011:  http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/01/mixed_greens_and_sausage_soup_with_cornmeal_dumplings

3/4 cup white flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 T sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
3/4 cup almond milk or other milk substitute (or regular milk)
1 1/2 T peanut oil
1 tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
1 T fresh rosemary, finely chopped

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt.  Add the wet ingredients and stir to combine.  Add chopped herbs and stir once more to combine.  Allow mixture to sit for at least 1 hour and up to 2 hours.

Wetting your hands periodically with cold water, roll dough into golf ball-sized pieces.  Drop into hot liquid, cover, and cook for 25 to 30 minutes.

Black Bean Mocha Soup

Here at the Ariss household, we are major coffee drinkers!  Obe makes it every morning, drinks a cup while he gets ready and then gets one to go.  I usually only have one cup, which leaves us with leftover coffee almost every day.  In the spirit of minimalizing waste, lately I've been pouring the extra coffee into a glass milk bottle and sticking it in the fridge to enjoy later. 

But tonight I decided to put it to a different use - making my pot of beans a LOT more interesting!  Some leftover coffee and a little espresso powder, layered with luscious dark cocoa, and we've got a complex, bittersweet blend of flavors that is sure to cure your black bean boredom. 

Black Bean Mocha Soup
serves 4

1 yellow onion, chopped
1 T olive oil
4 cups cooked black beans
2 cups brewed coffee
1 cup vegetable broth
2 tsp dark cocoa powder
1 tsp espresso powder
pinch of cayenne
pinch of cinnamon
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp honey
salt to taste

In a large pot, add olive oil and heat over medium-high.  Add onions and saute until soft, about 7 minutes.  Add beans and stir to combine.  Add remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer.  Using a hand blender, puree soup until it becomes smooth and creamy.  Adjust salt and spices, if necessary.  Serve with rice seasoned with a little lemon juice or a poached egg, if desired.

Vegetable Burritos

It seems to me that one of the most common misconceptions about healthy eating is that it costs more.  In my experience, this is not so!  In fact, when I was a perpetually broke college student a whole decade ago, I ate very well on a minuscule food budget.  Lots of beans and rice, lentils, yoghurt, applesauce and other simple, wholesome foods were the staples of my diet back then.   

This burrito recipe is a perfect example of how to eat well without spending a lot of money.  All the ingredients are widely available, beans are about the cheapest source of protein there is, and the veggies can be just about anything you have in the fridge.  You can make a huge diversity of variations depending on what you have, what's on sale, or what's in season, including zucchini, asparagus, leeks, eggplant, potatoes, and just about anything else you can think of!  Choose what you like and make the recipe in big batches, because these burritos are great for freezing. 

Vegetable Burritos
makes about 6 burritos

Beans:
1 pound dried pinto beans
3 T olive oil
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 T ground cumin
1 tsp cayenne
salt and pepper to taste

Veggies:
1 T olive oil
2 red bell peppers, chopped
2 green bell peppers, chopped
1/2 yellow onion, sliced
1/2 bunch kale, stems removed and chopped
6 whole wheat tortillas

First, make the beans.  Pick through beans and remove any rocks.  In a pressure cooker, add dried beans and enough water to fill half the pot.  Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to de-pressurize at room temp.  When beans have cooled, slightly, remove from pressure cooker and strain in a colander.  Rinse well.

In a large pot over medium-high heat, add olive oil.  Once hot, add onions and saute until soft, about 5 minutes.  Add garlic and cook for another minute.  Add beans, cumin, cayenne, salt and pepper and stir to combine.  Use a wooden spoon to mash the beans as you cook and stir them for about 10 minutes.  If you like a smoother consistency, add about 1/2 cup vegetable stock and puree with a hand blender.  Remove from heat and set aside.

Meanwhile, in a large flat-bottomed pan over medium-high heat, add olive oil.  Add peppers and onion and fry until onions darken and peppers are soft.  Add kale and season with salt.  Remove from heat and stir frequently until kale is softened by the heat of the other vegetables.

Add a large spoonful (about 2/3 a cup) of beans to each tortilla and spread around, leaving about 1 inch of room around the edge.  Top with a large spoonful of veggies and roll into a burrito.  Serve with salsa, hot sauce, fresh cilantro, avocado slices, or guacamole, if desired.

Spaghetti Squash with Beans & Greens

Truth be told, I have never been all that impressed with the Spaghetti Squash.  The somewhat trendy tendency to treat it as a replacement for pasta is, for me, utterly unsatisfying.  There's something about a pile of squash with spaghetti sauce that leaves me feeling cheated.  However, if you start treating this vegetable as a vegetable, rather than spaghetti in disguise, it becomes something else entirely!  The light, delicate sweetness and interesting texture of spaghetti squash make it an excellent home for bright, zingy flavors and crispy textures. 

This recipe is simple, cleansing and light.  It makes an excellent post-over-indulgence type of meal (I often like to have something like that on Mondays to give the week a refreshing start).  You can also make this as a side dish to go alongside any protein with bright flavors like lemon and white balsamic vinegar. 

Spaghetti Squash with Beans & Greens

1 Spaghetti Squash
2 cups kale, stems removed and torn into bite-sized pieces
2 cups brussels sprouts, leaves separated and core removed
2 cups broccoli florets, roughly chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
zest of two lemons, juice reserved
2 cups white beans, cooked (canellini or navy work well)
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper
1 T olive oil
2 tsp walnut oil
1 tsp peanut oil
1 T white balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup sliced almonds (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Half the spaghetti squash length-wise and place on a lightly oiled baking sheet, cut side-down.  Roast squash until soft, about 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, toss the kale, brussels, and broccoli with garlic, lemon zest, olive oil and salt to taste and place on a large baking sheet.  Bake, tossing mixture occasionally, until some of the leaves are crispy, about 10 minutes.

Once squash has cooled a little, use a large spoon to scrape the stringy flesh into a large bowl.  In a separate bowl, whisk the cumin, lemon juice, balsamic, peanut and walnut oils, and salt and pepper to taste until combined.  Add to squash and toss well.  Add greens, white beans and almonds and toss just before serving (so the greens stay a little crispy).

Spaghetti with White Bean Sauce and Crispy Kale

This recipe was inspired by a recipe in Robin Robertson's "Vegan Planet" (an excellent cookbook for Vegans and Veggie lovers alike).  I make it with whole wheat spaghetti (though any wholesome pasta variety will do) and throw in lots of luscious, green kale for good measure.  The pureed beans have a slightly creamy texture which makes the sauce taste rich without adding any cream, cheese or butter. 

The other marvelous thing about this recipe is, it's cheap to make!  I buy dried white beans in bulk.  They are less convenient to use, but you save a lot of money versus buying cooked beans in a can (not to mention there's far less packaging involved, so it is better for the environment).  I also think dried beans taste a little better since canned beans tend to have that slightly "tinny" flavor.  Don't bother soaking beans overnight, especially if you have a pressure cooker.  Many people might tell you otherwise, but I literally never pre-soak my beans (and, BTW, Rick Bayless also recommends skipping this step!) because I try to eliminate uneccessarily time-consuming steps whenever possible.  If you don't have a pressure cooker, I would strongly recommend buying one.  It will be your new favorite cooking instrument!

Spaghetti with White Bean Sauce and Crispy Kale
Serves 6

3 T olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups cooked white beans
2 T chopped sage
1/2 tsp white pepper
4 cups vegetable stock or water
2 T white balsamic vinegar (optional)
1 lb. whole wheat spaghetti
6 cups chopped kale, stems removed
salt

Preheat oven to 350.  Toss kale with 1 T olive oil and a sprinkling of salt.  Arrange on a large baking sheet in a single layer, then bake until crispy, about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil.  In a large saucepan, heat the rest of the olive oil on medium.  Add onions and garlic and saute until soft, about 7 minutes.  Add beans and sage and stir to combine.  Add stock, turn up heat to high and bring mixture to a boil for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid reduces slightly.  Reduce heat and puree with a hand blender until smooth.  Keep heat on low and allow to thicken until it reaches desired consistency, at least 10 minutes.

Cook spaghetti in pot of boiling water according to package instructions.  Drain in a colander and add to pot of bean sauce.  Add balsamic vinegar and toss well.  Serve spaghetti with a handful or crispy kale on top.