Easy Slow Cooker or Crockpot Vegetarian Bean Recipe

Zoe's Vegan Vegetarian Chili: Colorful, tasty, satisfying, guaranteed to please starving teenagers

Vegetarian Chili, Serves 4 - 6: We adapted this vegetarian chili recipe many years ago from The Moosewood Cookbook, by Mollie Katzen. We ate vegetarian chili so often at our house, when the kids were growing up, that we knew the recipe by heart. There were always several containers in the freezer, for those times when ravenous appetite struck without warning.

We dedicate this chili recipe to our vegetarian daughter, Zoe, who pretty much lived on it for several years, and had been nagging us for the recipe. Vegetarian chili is a great vegan recipe by itself, or with salad and cornbread, or make it vegetarian with parmesan or ricotta cheese, or sour cream.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried kidney beans, with cooking liquid (see recipe below)
• Or 2 cans bean, drained and rinsed + 4 cups water
• 1 cup bulgar or cracked wheat
• 1/4 cup tomato paste
• 1/2 red pepper, diced
• 1/2 green pepper, diced
• 1 medium carrot, diced
• 2 stalks celery, chopped small
• 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
• 1 jalapeno pepper, halved and seeded, or 1 pinch cayenne
• 2 thin slices fresh ginger, peeled, or 1/2 tsp dried
• 1 tiny pinch asoefetida, OR 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 1/2 cinnamon stick
• 3 Tblsp olive oil
• 1 tsp each: paprika, gr. cumin, coriander, fennel
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/4 c. minced parsley
• 1 Tblsp braggs liquid aminos, or soy sauce

Kidney beans:

1. 1 cup dried dark red kidney beans
2. Soak 4 hours in hot water, or overnight
3. Drain, rinse, add 6 cups unsalted water
4. Bring to a boil, skim foam, cover and simmer 2 hours

Chili Directions:

1. Add bulgar & tomato paste to kidney beans + cooking liquid or water
2. Add bay leaf, cinnamon stick, jalapeno & ginger slices
3. Return to boil, cover and simmer
4. Preheat saute pan or frying pan on medium
5. Prep veggies, including garlic clove, if you're using it
6. Saute veggies in oil 5 minutes
7. Add remaining spices, saute another two minutes
8. Stove Top: Add a few tablespoons water, cover, and steam for ten minutes Transfer the veggies to the bean + bulgar mix, cook another fifteen mnutes or so. Add minced parsley, and braggs or soy sauce to taste
9. Slow Cooker or Crockpot: Omit the first three steps. After sauteing the veggies, transfer everything to the cooker, cover and simmer 2 hours. Add minced parsley, and braggs or soy sauce to taste.

*If you're going to soak and cook beans, it's worth making extra, to freeze in small amounts for future meals.

*For more detailed advice on cooking and eating beans:
How To Eat Beans Without Gas

More great bean recipes from Savvy Vegetarian

Barley Bean Vegetable Soup (vegan)

Black Bean Veggie Burgers (vegan)

Eclectic Pasta Stew (vegan)

Kidney Bean Pasta Soup (vegan)

Lentil Cauliflower Potato Soup (vegan)

Slightly Garlicky Hummus (vegan)

Spicy Red Lentil Vegetable Soup (vegan)

Tabouleh Middle Eastern Salad (vegan)

Tasty Pasta Salad

White Bean Italian Style Soup

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