While not necessarily for those that define chili as a meat dish without beans, this version in which the meat is a flavoring is sure to please folks that like a very savory bean dish with gentle floral heat. A pressure cooker makes this job a snap, and consistently makes the most tender beans.
Wife wanted something spicy today, but all our meats are frozen. Decided to use a small section or pork loin plus bacon for the meat component of our chili in which the beans and chiles are the stars of the dish. However, the best meat is beef, which tends to impart the best umami.
Ingredients:
- 1 lb pork loin, plus bacon ends if you have them. However, any kind of meat you like will do fine
- Assortment of dried chiles - anything you like. Most of what you see on grocery store shelves are rather mild (larger = milder)
- 1 lb dried black beans
- 2 large cans whole tomatos
- 2 tbs smoked paprika
- 1 tbs cumin
- 1 tbs thyme
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions for the pressure cooking part:
- Split, de-stem and seed all chiles - for a more robust flavor, toast the chiles on hot iron until you smell their essence
- Cut meat into bite-sized pieces
- Dice bacon
- Inspect beans for any debris or stones, then add to the pot and rinse with water
- Add the meats
- Add 10 cups water
- Add dried chiles, ensuring they are immersed in the water
- Pressure cook for 60 minutes
Assembling the chili:
- After opening the pressure cooker, remove all chiles to a separate container (or blender)
- Pour all the cooking liquid from the pressure cooker into the vessel containing the chiles - blend until smooth
- Into a large pot, empty the canned tomatos - crushing the tomatos by hand
- Add the contents of the pressure cooker and mix
- Add the blended chiles
- Add all spices and stir until fully incorporated. Note: sometimes I'll double or triple the spice amounts depending on the desired flavor
- Salt and pepper to taste
Because the chiles will be removed, they are added last
From the left - the big pot with hand-crushed tomatos, the contents of the pressure cooler (beans and meat), chiles in the cooking liquid
From the left, the big pot with all ingredients, the blended chile plus cooking liquid, which is then added to the big pot when smooth
Finished! Top with a little cheese, onions, or whatever you like for a bit of freshness
