Vegetarian chili made with black eyed peas and a Mexican Pizza

Ingredients inspire dishes. My sudden love for Mexican cuisine is totally inspired by the tins of Chipotle Chillies in Adobo sauce that Nupur (One Hot Stove) was so sweet enough to gift me when she was visiting us in Mumbai last year, among many other gifts including a handmade Eggplant cap for Atri :)

Having never cooked Mexican food before, they were just lying at the back of my kitchen shelf for many many months. The day I opened the can and took a teeny taste of the contents, I was sold on this. One tin goes a long way and the large chillies soaked in adobo sauce are bursting with heat and smoky flavours, giving any Mexican recipe an authentic touch.

This Chili dish is something you can serve as a stew to eat with soft tortillas, top slices of bread or make it thinner and have it as a hearty soup on a cold evening. Whichever way, this is guaranteed to be a sureshot crowd pleaser and the spicy flavours will easily agree with the Indian palate.

Vegetarian Chili with black eyed peas

serves 6

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil or vegetable oil

4-5 cloves garlic, finely chopped

5-6 mushrooms

1 green capsicum

1 red capsicum

1 onion

6 medium tomatoes

2 cups boiled black eyed peas (Pressure cooked with enough water until very soft and mushy)

2 chipotle chillies in adobo sauce (or use regular green / red chillies finely chopped)

1/2 tsp red chilli powder or more as per preference

1 tsp dried ground oregano

1 tsp freshly ground cumin 

Preparation

Finely chop the garlic, onion, mushrooms and capsicums.

Fill a large pot with 2 L water. Score the tomatoes with a cross at the smooth end. Allow to come to a boil and drop the tomatoes. Once this comes to a simmer, turn off flame and cover for 2 minutes.

Fish out the tomatoes and place them in tap/cold water, until cool enough to handle. Peel off skins and chop to a medium dice, seeds included.

Directions

1. Heat the oil in a large wok. Saute the garlic for 30 seconds, before adding the onions, capsicums and mushrooms. On a medium flame, let these cook for 7-10 minutes with a pinch of salt added towards the end.
2. Once the vegetables are nearly done, add the chopped blanched tomatoes, cooked black eyed peas, chopped chipotle / chillies and spice powders along with a tsp (or as per taste) of salt. Add 1/2-1 cup of water, cover with a lid and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Check for spiciness and salt, adjust the taste according to your preference and remove into a serving bowl. This chilli should be quite dried out if using as a pizza topping or else the base will get soggy. If serving with tortillas or rice, you can leave some amount of liquid in the chili.

You can use black beans, kidney beans or any other beans instead of black eyed peas.

For Pizza

Ready pizza bases - 6

Black eyed peas chilli

Grated cheddar cheese - 1 cup

Dried oregano

Dried chilli flakes (optional)

Preheat oven to 200C

Spread the chilli over the base. Top with grated cheese and bake for 5-7 minutes, till cheese melts.

Sprinkle oregano and if you like it really hot, then chilli flakes too.

Keep a chilled beer or iced water handy!

 We started the Mexican dinner with a bowl of guacamole and baked corn chips (Italia brand). It was the most fun dinner we had in a long time. Thank you Nupur!

If you happen to spot tinned chipotle chillies in a supermarket near you, please leave a comment and I shall include it in a note here, to help the readers.

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Chana cabbage salad with yogurt dressing - Low carb vegetarian dinner series

This one sounds like an odd combination but they hit off pretty well - something like the chemistry of the geeky Farhan Akhtar and the glamourous Deepika Padukone in the movie Karthik Calling Karthik (which I very badly want to see and end my 15 month exile from the movie-hall), though I must admit that neither the chana nor the cabbage are as glamourous as Deepika, but the end result was almost there!

I found this variety of very small chana, almost like a baby of the big brown variety (lighter in colour too) The advantage is that they cook faster, their skins are more tender and according to me they taste better in salads where they blend nicely with the other ingredients instead of sticking out.

I'm not a big fan of raw cabbage in salads, so finely shredded cabbage and chopped onions were sauteed after some tadka and mixed into the dressing along with the boiled chana. For the dressing I used hung yogurt which is simple yogurt drained of all its water to get a thick cheese like remnant. You can beat this with a few spoons of milk for a creamier taste or use it as it is. If you have no time to hang, and if your yogurt is thick enough, then go ahead use it just like that.

We had this with microwaved crispy papad strips as dinner - the papads went crunch crunch against the chew-chew of the salad and on the whole it was a wholesome fun meal. I'm focussing on high protein dinners nowadays as I want to cut out carbs at night. This is a part of that series. I will share the other stuff I make in this series.

Chana Cabbage Salad
Low carb vegetarian dinners - 1
Serves 2

1/3rd cup small chana - soaked overnight or for 4-5 hours
1 tsp oil
1/2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp mustard seeds
pinch of asafoetida
1 cup finely shredded cabbage
1 medium onion, diced
1 medium tomato, deseeded and diced

Dressing
1 cup hung yogurt
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp frankie masala or chat masala or cajun seasoning
pinch of red chilli powder

Shredded cabbage for garnish

Roasted papad or baked tortilla chips / pita chips to serve with the salad (optional)

Directions

1. Pressure cook the soaked drained chana with 1 1/2 cups water until soft - it took me three whistles and 6-7 minutes on sim. Since these chana varieties have a thick skin, they don't easily turn to a mush, so nothing to worry here. When the cooker has cooled off, drain chana and keep aside.
2. In a wok, heat 1 tsp oil. Add the asafoetida, cumin and mustard seeds. Once they splutter, add the onions and cabbage with a pinch of salt, stir for 2 minutes on medium flame till slightly soft. Remove from the wok and cool.
3. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients for dressing. Whisk well. Add the boiled drained chana, the cabbage-onion mix and toss to coat evenly.
4. Garnish with shredded cabbage and serve chilled with papad or baked chips.

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