Chicken Chili

Taking advantage of this steroid day, when I have energy before the poisons in my system take hold, I made a big pot of chili. I made this once before, a couple weeks ago, when I learned Rancho Gordo had prepared my second shipment of beans for the bean club.

I am not keeping up with the shipments of beans!

In my defense, I couldn’t eat beans for several weeks after the surgery. But as soon as my taste came back, I had a serious craving for Mexican food. So I went looking for a chicken chili recipe, an EASY one, and found it at smittenkitchen.com. Her recipe is for a slow cooker. And to be honest, I’ve been burned once before trying to cook dried beans right in a recipe in a slow cooker (bad case of beansplosion in the digestive system). So I decided both times to soak the beans overnight and even give them a 30-minute start on the stove. In the first case, this worked perfectly. In the recent batch, in which I used Lila beans, they are a bit overcooked. Which in chili is way better than undercooked.

This time around, I also used a rotisserie chicken. So everything but the onions and peppers were fully cooked. Which made this a 30-minute chili (aside from bean prep, of course, but I did that a day ahead).

This chili lends itself to lots of additions, though it is delicious on its own. You can add corn, cilantro chutney (my fave), barley, whatever. I had the last of my tomatillos from the garden so I pureed them (with the garlic, another step saved!) and cooked them down with the onion before adding the other ingredients.

And to really make this perfect, I got my box of beans (which included black beans right at black bean soup season, and black-eyed-peas which I’ve always wanted to use for New Year’s Day). In it was a wonderful extra: freshly dried Mexican oregano! Primo! Just what the recipe called for!

I hope you make this– it also freezes nicely. Here it is with my modifications (click on the link above if you want better banter and the original recipe for slow cooker or stovetop).

Mexican Chicken Chili

1 rotisserie chicken
1 medium yellow onion, chopped small
1 large or a few small ancho poblano peppers, chopped small
2 large garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
Ground chili powder of your choice, to taste (or a jalapeno for hotter chili)
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes (I used a quart of garden-canned with liquid)
5 cups of cooked beans
chicken broth
additions such as corn, barley, pureed tomatillos, red or green peppers, cilantro

garnish with sour cream, cheese, cilantro, as you like, and serve with corn or flour tortillas

1. If using dry beans, soak overnight. If you want to finish them in the chili, just put all the chili ingredients except the chicken in a large pot with 4-5 cups of chicken broth so there is enough for the beans to absorb and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, then add chicken and serve. You need about half that if the beans are pre-cooked from cans or if you simmered them in chicken broth or water for 30 minutes after soaking. If your beans are cooked, go to step 2.
2. In a large pot, sautee onion and pepper in a small amount of oil for 5 minutes. Add the spices, tomatoes, 2 cups of chicken broth and the beans. Shred the chicken and add it to the pot and let it simmer for the flavors to meld for 20-30 minutes. Serve!