Yum Yum Raw Chili!

 

I love creating my own and finding new raw vegan recipes - especially delicious ones.  There are many books obviously, but there is also a huge variety of raw food blogs with a ton of recipes to make yourself or become inspired by.  One of my all time favorites is Amie-Sue of Nouveau Raw.  Her blog itself is easy to navigate, has eye-popping pictures and the best part... her recipes, which I have made many of and some inspired me to create my own. 

So lets move on to the chili.  I've made this recipe twice so far and wow!  This is the BEST raw vegan chili I've ever had!  The first time I made it I followed it to the letter.  The last time I changed just a few things.  Oh and her chili recipe is called Raw Hearty Smoked Chili - so all credit goes to Amie-Sue, I'm just sharing with you some photo steps and my few little changes at the end.  I've linked her recipe in several areas for you to obtain it on your own. 

The entire recipe was very simple.  Of course there's prep work as in any other recipe, but it is a smooth process.  This is basically the mixture for the sauce that you make first.  Let me say that you'll need a large food processor.  Mine is an 11 cup and as you will see it will be full to the top, especially after adding the water.  I may be looking into a 14 cup processor one of these days.

The metal bowl on the left contains all the spices.  The rest of the ingredients will be going into the food processor with the sauce.  It smells so good!

Oh darn!  I forgot this beautiful yellow bell pepper.  No worries, I caught it in time.  Chopped it up and into the processor it went.

See?  All the way to the top and I even patted it down a little.  I pulsed a few times and then...

Yummy chili!  You can make this chili as thick or thin as you like.  We like a thick hearty chili so Amie-Sue's recipe was right on the mark.  This can be eaten right away, but I made it in the morning to let all the flavors mingle.  About an hour before dinner time I resisted eating the whole darn thing myself, grabbed a ladle, filled a couple bowls and popped them into dehydrator to knock the chill out of the chili.  (okay I admit it, I took a few bites first)

While Amie-Sue's recipe is indeed truly delicious as is, I made a few changes and additions to the second batch as noted below.  Please go to her blog for the entire Raw Hearty Smoked Chili.

Sauce -
I replaced lemon juice with raw apple cider vinegar (lemon sometimes upset my tummy)

Spices -
For the chili powder I used Ancho Chili Pepper Powder
For the cumin I used Smoked Cumin
I omitted the celery salt

Veggies -
I used the raw walnuts
I used baby portabello mushrooms
I increased the onions to about 3/4 cup (we LOVE onions!)
I added around 1/4 cup or so of diced Anaheim Chili pepper that I dehydrated for a few hours first.  That kicked up the heat a little bit, but not horribly so as that is not too hot of a pepper.

Oh and the leftovers... yum yum yum!  We had the last of the chili the second night and just like traditional chili, it was better the second time around!  I do believe Mark licked his bowl clean... and mine.

Now hop on over to Nouveau Raw and check out all her amazing recipes.  You might want to grab a drool towel first.

Peace,
Rocki