Spicy Cacao Black Bean Chili
I admit I’ve never understood the obsession some folks have with extremely spicy food. I remember watching a friend spoon ungodly hot purple Thai peppers on to an already blazing curry. "My whole mouth is on fire!" my friend crowed, sweat beading on his red forehead while tears flowed down his cheeks.
Really, life is difficult enough. Why make eating painful?
A well-administered punch of spice in a dish is another thing — one I can appreciate. The heat level of this chili recipe is moderately hot, more of a deep warmth that intensifies the other flavors instead of drowning them in a fiery bath.
The addition of crushed cacao beans and pumpkin seeds gives this chili an added earthy depth reminiscent of a traditional Mexican mole sauce. Along with the nutritional boost you can expect from adding cacao superfood to any recipe.
If you get your kicks consuming food that makes you pant and cry, by all means feel free to add as many habaneros to this recipe as your adrenaline-seeking heart desires.
Serves 4
Ingredients
1 cup black beans, properly rinsed and soaked*
2 tsp crushed cumin seeds or dried cumin powder
1 tsp crushed coriander seeds or dried coriander powder
4 red cayenne or jalapeño peppers (habanero, tabasco, or serrano peppers for the ultra-heat lovers), de-seeded and thinly sliced
3 cloves garlic, crushed with the knife blade and thinly sliced
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 small or 1 large bell pepper, any color, cubed
2 small or 1 large tomato, roughly chopped, or 1 small can crushed tomatoes
1 tsp dried oregano leaves
Salt
Black pepper
Hot sauce of choice (optional)
1 Tbsp brown sugar
½ cup shelled pumpkin seeds
1 cup rice (brown, white, sprouted, or whatever you prefer), quinoa, or a combination
Cooking oil
*For instructions on how to rinse and soak beans properly, read How to Prepare Beans for Maximum Flavor and Minimum Toot.
**To crush cacao easily without making a mess, put the beans in a zip lock bag, zip it, and pound lightly on the bag with a small hammer, stone, or pestle. That way the pieces of cacao don't scatter everywhere.
Utensils
Large heavy pot with lid (for the chili)
Medium pot with lid (for the rice or quinoa)
Small skillet/ frying pan
Wooden spoon
Sharp knife
Cutting board
Rubber gloves for de-seeding and slicing hot peppers
Ladle for serving
Directions
Drain the black beans and give them a final rinse
Prepare all the vegetable ingredients as described in Ingredients.
Combine just the ginger, turmeric (if fresh), garlic, and hot peppers in a small bowl
Pour a nice dollop of cooking oil into your large heavy pot and heat over a medium flame
Add the dried spices first. Cook for about 15 seconds, mixing the spices into the oil with a wooded spoon
Next add most of the ginger, turmeric (if fresh), and hot peppers in the bowl, reserving about ⅓.
Mix thoroughly with the oil and spices and cook until aromatic
Add the chopped onion and cubed bell pepper. Toss in a pinch of salt and combine thoroughly.
Lower the heat to a low-medium, put the lid on the pot, and let the veggies "sweat" for two minutes.
Remove the lid and add the drained black beans, a Tbsp of salt, a Tbsp of cider vinegar, and enough water to cover.
Replace the lid. Bring the beans gradually up to a boil, then reduce to medium.
Cook for at least 45 minutes, until the beans begin to soften (until you can easily pierce one with your thumbnail)
Meanwhile, let’s prepare the cacao.Pour a scant dollop of cooking oil in the small frying pan and heat over a medium flame.
Add a pinch of cumin and coriander and mix thoroughly with the oil.
Add the reserved garlic, ginger, turmeric, and hot peppers. Cook until aromatic.
Add the pumpkin seeds and crushed cacao beans with a pinch of salt. Mix thoroughly.
Lower the heat and toss the seeds with the oil for a few minutes until they are evenly coated with spices and salt.
Turn off the heat and put the spicy cacao mix off to the side.
This is a good time to check on the chili. If most of the water has boiled off, add just enough to keep the beans covered, bring back to a boil, then reduce to medium.
Also, go ahead and get the rice and/or quinoa started. Once the rice is cooking, you can get back to the chili.
Remove the lid and check the beans. If you can't easily pierce one with your thumbnail, keep cooking them until you can.
In a small bowl, combine the chopped or crushed tomatoes, pinch of oregano, dash of salt, black pepper, 1 Tbsp brown sugar, and as much hot sauce of your choice you want. Just remember, you can always add more, but you can't take it out.
Add the mixture to the beans, stir, and continue simmering the chili until the beans are very soft.
Once it is done, allow the chili to sit for at least 15 minutes before serving to allow the flavors to harmonize.
Spoon some rice into a bowl, ladle the chili over it, and add a generous topping of the spicy cacao/pumpkin seed mix.
Kristen Krash is the co-founder and director of Sueño de Vida, a regenerative cacao farm and reforestation mission in Ecuador. Sueño de Vida works to educate and inspire everyday people about permaculture, sustainable living, environmental activism and healthy living all in the name of living more in harmony with nature to create a better world for us all.
You can support the Sueño de Vida mission today by purchasing our cacao or contributing to direct reforestation.
Thank you.
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