My Favourite Chilli

My Favourite Chilli

from The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker, Lynn Alley, Ten Speed Press, 2010.

After some hesitation over the idea of slow cooking vegetarian meals—especially gourmet—I made a dish of curried chickpeas with ginger and coriander. It turned out to be quite flavoursome and great to be able to put a meal on cooking before I left home for work and then return to find, with just a few small additions, everything was ready. So I thought it was worthwhile giving this book another try.

I chose a bean-based recipe; I am not quite ready to use the slow cooker for just vegetables. I have a suspicion that they will overcook. I’m waiting until I have more experience with the cooker before I try them.

It was a matter of cooking the beans and spices for 6 hours to begin with. Then some more ingredients are added to cook for a further 2 hours. One of these was cocoa which had me wondering a little though I was aware that Mexican cooking sometimes used chocolate. Half an hour before the time was up some more ingredients were added, basically to warm through and cook slightly so they still retain a certain amount of crispness.

I had a few tastes and added seasonings to suit my palate and, though I had some doubt at the first few tastes, it was a very satisfying chilli. It may not classify as ‘my favourite chilli’ for me but it was eminently edible.

Taste: ✔✔✔✔

Ease of cooking: ✔✔✔✔