Chilli! As in "by the time I'm finished cooking, it'll be chilli!

Vegetarian Chili

(Serves 6)

Ingrediants:

-10 medium sized fresh tomatos (or canned equivalent)

-1 medium sized onion

-2 garlic cloves

-1 cup of celery-1 cup of corn

-1/4 cup of olive oil

-1 tablespoon of basil

-1/2 cup of green pepper

-1/2 cup of red pepper

-1 can of red beans

-1 box of whole grain pasta

-salt (optional)

-pepper (optional

-1/2 teaspoon of hot pepper (optional)

-1 can of tomato paste (optional)

1. Peel, divide and liquify fresh tomatos. To do this, simply bring a pot of water to a boil, and submerge tomatoes until skin becomes wrinkly and begins to detach. Remove tomatoes from water and then remove the skin. Then, divide each tomato into several smaller parts, so as to be more manageable when liquifying and to remove any tough parts. Then, using a handheld blender, blend the tomatos together until they become a homogenous solution. Add the result into a large pot.

   
   

2. Dice all of the fresh vegetables, excluding corn, and add to the pot along with the basil, the spices, and the oil. Add more or less hot pepper depending on preference, then put the pot on the stove, cover it, bring it to a boil and allow it to cook for some time. Maintain boil on low heat.

3. Open can of beans and drain any water, then add the beans and corn to the pot, and allow chili to cook until ingredients are of desired tenderness. For a chunkier chili, reduce cook time, or increase it for the opposite effect. If chili is too thin, tomato paste may be added. It is difficult to estimate the exact times it will take to cook chili, as much of it relies o

   n the individuals taste, therefore it is recommended to try small samples every so often, and to change cooking tactics accordingly.

4. When chili is done, let sit for approximately 30 minutes to enhance flavouring. Durring this time, prepare pasta to be served with dish, by following the instructions on the box.

5. Serve and enjoy!

My landlady is Chilean, and while Chile ha nothing to do with chili, it was an interesting parallel nonetheless. I told her about this project, and how I needed a recipe that had some sort of vegetarian protein source, all while having grains in the dish, and this was

her recipe. I'm a very slow cook, and it took me the whole of five hours counting preparation and clean up to make it, however, it was definitely worth it! It's a fairly simple recipe, and practically impossible to burn too, it's just time consuming if you aren't used to preparing a lot of vegetables quickly. However, It's important to note that many shortcuts can be taken, such as using canned beans and tomatoes, and powdered forms of garlic, onion, and hot peppers if time is an issue. For a skilled cook, or simply after repeating the recipe several times, it might take between an hour and an hour and a half to prepare it.

Aside from preparing comes eating, and though late, it was delicious! It could have used a tad less onion, as that's a taste I'm picky about in excess, but other

than that it was perfect. Because I work in a cafe, I'm used to making food look good. Presentation is everything, it's our first impression, so I didn't spare any bells and whistles when making this meal. As a result, my landlady loved it, and although she was apprehensive at first by the sheer size of the portions, she finished it all and long before me! I felt kind of bad about constantly asking her how to make it (when you spend more than an hour in the kitchen on one dish, you really don't want to make mistakes), so it was nice to be able to return the favor. The next day I also brought two portions to school, to share with my friend Samar as I'd originally invited her over for supper, but she couldn't make it that weekend. Once again, it was a hit and she finished before I did, saying that it tastes like her mother's chili. I really enjoyed preparing a whole meal, and it really taught me to appreciate the work that goes into i

t. When you cook for yourself it's much easier, and you rarely bother with large recipes, but as you cook for more people, you're forced to elaborate a bit more. Thus, there is more variety at my home in The Eastern Townships than here in Montreal.

Eating a vegetarian meal is not something I do all the time. My lunches and breakfasts are almost always vegetarian, however most of my suppers contain meat. If not, they only consist of pasta, and are always lacking a protein source. With the vegetarian chili, there is plenty of protein in the beans, and it's a cinch to cook up some pasta or cut up some bread. What's more, with the large variety of vegetables in the mix, there's a myriad of vitam

ins present, all in a low fat, healthy calorie meal. What's more, the oil in it could probably be reduced. Eating a vegetarian meal is much greener in every sense of the word, as meat often comes from unsustainable sources. The livestock raised are pumped with hormones and antibiotics, not to mention are succumbed to horrible living conditions and fed a corn based diet. Meat has a heavy carbon footprint compared to vegetables. While some of them are probably shipped from very far away, the onions and garlic in my recipe were from Quebec, and the celery was organic. If I was back in The Townships and had access to my vegetable garden, the bulk of it would be organic.