Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Raw Chili for a Cold Night


Our heater is not working in our house all the sudden, but fortunately I had some raw chili in our freezer to warm us right up (along with the fire my husband built). So, I thought I would share my favorite raw chili recipe. The pictures show it in a pan because I did not put it in the dehydrator for a few hours before dinner to warm it, so I warm it on the stove while stirring until about warm to the touch but not too hot to cook out the enzymes from the wonderful vegetable medley. I found this recipe online last winter so I can't credit the source any longer, but I have made my own modifications to the original recipe too as I found I like chili pretty spicy. I also discovered this does freeze well so you can make a double batch and then have dinner ready in the freezer in a flash when you want some healthy goodness.
Prep- pre soak walnuts for at least 4 hours, and pre-soak sun-dried tomatoes for at least 1 hour
Blend these ingredients (or to make it chunkier you can put in a food processor):
2 tomatoes
1/4 sweet red onion
4 cloves garlic
20 sun dried tomatoes, halved (about 1 pack)
1/4 c. raisins
3-4 tablespoons chili powder (or to taste if you don't like it that spicy)
1/4 to 1/2 tsp ground red pepper (also depends on taste and spice level)
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. oregano
1/3 cup olive oil
1 tsp. salt

Add these ingredients to the blended ones:
2 stalks celery, finely diced
2 zucchini, finely diced
2 ears of corn, cut kernels
1/2 red pepper, finely diced
1 cup of chopped walnuts (acts like a ground beef in texture and filling)
1 grated carrot (optional)
1 chopped tomato (optional)

Allow ingredients to set together at least 6 hours or overnight so that the spices can fully mingle. To warm (the suggested way), put in the dehydrator at 100 degrees for several hours before serving. Enjoy!

PS- i did deliver a large sample of this to a friend who somewhat made fun of me for making "raw chili", and her response was "I am eating humble pie". She loved it!

4 comments:

  1. This sounds delicious! Now how does one go about attaining a dehydrator?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Ebay? I am actually horrible with dehydrators- another reason I do the warm to the touch on the stove method!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I made some and it was super. I changed it a little to add some Elvis but it is a very nice recipe.

    I used 1 zucchini instead of 2
    added 1 poblano
    forgot about raisins
    added some coriander
    2 tsps turmeric
    some lime juice
    no chili powder

    for the oil I used a mixture of hazelnut, olive, hemp and coconut

    ReplyDelete
  4. I forgot the most important part. I also added some nice Lapsang Souchong tea to capture the essence of Wuyi pine fires.

    ReplyDelete