Pages

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

White Bean Chili with Rajas

I thought I'd stop for a moment and do a little bit of a recipe review.

I've mentioned before that I'm a devoted subscriber to Vegetarian Times. I've subscribed for years, and one of the main things that keeps me with it is the fact that almost every recipe I've tried from them has been a winner. Their recipes often help get me out of a food rut and they encourage me to try new foods and flavors that I might otherwise pass up.

In this month's issue I found a section on poblano peppers. Poblanos are great because they pack a lot of flavor without a lot of heat. Roasting them brings out their flavor even more, and this white bean chili uses the depth of the roasted rajas to give it a lot of substance. Rajas is a mix of roasted poblano peppers, onions, garlic, and oregano. It's used in this chili, but it's also good as a topper for tostadas, nachos, or burritos (hello, Mexican breakfast burrito!).

I was skeptical of this recipe at first because it doesn't have very many ingredients, but once I started making it, I realized that sometimes simple IS better and this chili fits that bill. This chili, mostly made up of white beans, rajas, corn, and a few spices was exactly what I was looking for in a meal. To serve it, I topped it with some toasted pumpkins seeds like the recipe suggested, but I left off the melted goat cheese topping to make it vegan. To make it a little more hearty I served it over some baked Yukon Gold potatoes, which I thought went hand-in-hand with the chili, making it quite a substantial meal.

My only complaint was that I made a half batch instead of a full one (but I usually do that when I'm trying something new). I will definitely make this again. So, go pick up this month's issue of VT and check it out!

No comments: