White Chili with Tofu

In the same issue of Cook’s Illustrated that I found the Baked Manicotti recipe (Jan/Feb ’07) there is also a recipe for White Chili (with chicken). The combination of green chilies and cannellini beans intrigued me. For whatever reason I never actually tried making it. When I made other chili or looked up the manicotti recipe, I’d think “oh yeah, white chili…gotta try that” and that was as far as I got.

Well finally, two years later, I got around to experimenting with this recipe concept to see if I could make it work with tofu. I decided I’d use frozen and thawed tofu, as that would give a nice chewy texture. I browned the tofu in canola oil as the first step in the recipe. I set the browned tofu aside and added it to the chili at the end of cooking. In the future, I would add the tofu a bit earlier, as it would benefit from spending more time with all of the flavorful ingredients.

Frozen and thawed tofu-the texture becomes quite spongy which is chewy when cooked

The heat in white chili generally comes from green chili peppers. Some recipes were specific about which kind to use, some not. Some called for a blend, which makes sense–it’s all heat but different varieties use together makes for a more complex and layered flavor in the heat. In the end, I went with what was available and looked good in the market, poblanos and serranos.

Cilantro, scallions, poblanos and serranos

As far as the beans, all of the recipes I looked at pretty much covered all of the types of white beans, navy, black eyed peas, great northern and cannellini. I went with the cannellini because I thought their creamy texture would go well with the heat of the chilies and the chewy texture of the tofu. I used canned cannellini (Goya are my favorite brand; they have the most consistently good texture and flavor.) This worked out well, but I think in the future I would cook up dry beans for extra flavor.

While the tofu was browning, I minced the chilies and some red onion in the food processor. Once I’d taken the tofu out of the pot, I added a little more oil and cooked the chilies and onions with some garlic and cumin until it was soft (next time I’ll include coriander and oregano as well). Taking a major cue from the Cook’s Illustrated recipe, I pureed some of the onion/chili mix with some of the beans and returned it to the pot and added some (homemade) vegetable stock. This made a nice substantial base for the chili which thickened further after about 20 minutes of simmering. Next time, I will add the tofu at this point as well. I will also try replacing some of the stock with beer as the cooking liquid (gluten-free of course).

After the broth has thickened, the beans went in to be heated through. At the very end the scallions and cilantro went in along with the juice of a lime. These last additions added just the right amount of brightness to the flavor.

This was a chili with heat, but the overall flavor was much more delicate than red chili. I think it was saved from being too fiery when I took away some of the onion-chili mixture after cooking it down (my husband mentioned that his eyes were watering in from the fumes, the other room.) Two poblanos and one serrano would have done it; I started with three poblanos and 3 serranos. I served it with sour cream and avocado which further served to temper the heat. I think you could also add a little montery jack or some mild cheddar, but too strong a cheese would be a distraction. Some queso fresco and/or mexican crema would also be interesting. We also had some good tortilla chips on the side (Our favorites are Green Mountain Gringo, Miguel’s Stowe Away and Garden of Eatin.)

White Chili with garnishes

We really liked this dish. I’ll definitely make it again, soon with the changes I have noted to improve the flavor.

Pictures are here.

Tempeh and Black Bean Chili

I had all of the ingredients on hand yesterday, so I decided to make another one of my favorite recipes from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman: Tempeh Chili with Black Beans. Since trying it a little less than a year ago, it has absolutely become my favorite chili recipe, I haven’t made any other kind. One of the key elements is well browned tempeh. I also prefer to use one that is all soy and in particular I like SoyBoy for it’s firm and dense texture (some tempeh brands have grain in them, which are great but not as good in this recipe) . Instead of crumbling, as the recipe suggests, I chop it into tiny squares roughly the same size as the black beans, which I think make for a better texture.

Very Brown Tempeh

The foundation is some seriously browned chopped onions which make for a terrific back bone, which is later echoed by the addition of roasted garlic. The recipe calls for chopped carrots, but I’ve expanded that to include equal amounts chopped carrot, celery and red bell pepper. I’ve made this with canned beans when I was short on time, but I do think it is much better with dried soaked beans. The heat is supplied not only through the traditional chili powder (mine is mild, just a touch of heat) but also with chipotles in adobo.

Chipotles, Minced to a Paste

To go with the chili I made All Purpose Cornbread from the January 2005 issue of Cook’s Illustrated which has become my one and only cornbread recipe. This recipe surprised me a bit with it’s components. Honestly I guess I don’t know much about cornbread, being a New Englander and making it from a package for most of my life. Buttermilk is the liquid which adds a nifty tang. Blending thawed frozen or fresh corn kernels really boosts the corn flavor. However I cut back on the butter a bit in the recipe and I add just a wisper of maple syrup for sweetner. I also use more baking powder, since my previous favorite recipe used quite a bit more than you’d expect (6 tsps) and I think that it gives it a nicer texture and height. Baked up in a pyrex dish, it has a lovely chewy bit of crust on the outside.

Both the chili and the cornbread reheat beautifully and are terrific leftovers.

Cooking the chili

A small Flickr set is here.

My next chili experiments will be with modifying white chili to a vegetarian dish. This is apparently a southwestern US favorite. It’s similar to what most of us think of as chili, minus the tomatoes and the heat being supplied by an assortment of green chilies.