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5 Best Chilli Recipes — Healthy, Non-Toxic & Delicious Cooking In MEC

Below you can find 5 best chili Recipes (vegetarian & non-vegetarian)  — healthy, non-toxic and delicious for cooking in your MEC Pure Clay Pots. As you are taking all the steps needed to cook an extremely healthy and nutritious meal, it is important to keep these things in mind:
  1. Avoid canned ingredients like chicken broth as the dish will still be very flavorful when cooked in MEC pots with just water. They cook with a gentler heat that keeps the nutritional value and the natural flavor of your food intact.
  2. If your recipe demands, use homemade chicken broth or vegetable broth. You can always make these at home  and store them in glass jars for future use. Or if already using chicken and/or vegetables in the recipe, just add water, to let the pot make it into a savory broth.
  3. When a recipe calls for canned tomatoes, use fresh tomatoes, when cooked they can be pasted by smashing against the walls of the pot (you have a motar and pestle right there!). For canned beans, use home cooked beans.  They are very easy to cook and store, or cook them with the recipe, dry bean cook faster in MEC, and tastes much better and more creamier in MEC (no metallic taste).
  4. As needed, use sea salt (has many trace minerals), raw sugar like “Jaggery“, and good minimally processed cooking oil like coconut oil, sesame seed oil, or olive oil.  Avoid vegetable oil, corm oil and the likes.
  5. And finally, when using seasoning, get the natural spices and add them to the pot right when you are cooking.  Avoid using processed seasoning.  While raw and natural spices have many great health benefits, when they are factory processed and preserved, chemicals are added and/or certain elements are extracted out of these natural ingredients rendering them useless and the chemicals harmful in the body.  Spices are best used whole, raw and natural!
The MEC difference when making the best chili recipes:
Besides your food being fully non-toxic (no metals and chemicals interacting and leaching in to the food), and more nutritious (the difference in heat cooks without damaging nutritional cells).  Here are some more advantages to making chili in MEC’s pure clay pots:
Easy one pot cooking: The complete recipe can be done in one pot, including cooking the beans. Beans and lentils take anywhere from 30 mins to 1.20 hours to cook. To save time off course you can use home pre-cooked beans too.
Less water needed: Less water is required than mentioned in recipe for conventional cookware.
Cooking beans in pure-clay prevents flatulence:  The water left from cooking the beans will be enough for the recipe, typically it’s recommended this water be discarded to prevent beans from causing flatulence.  Not so when cooked in clay.
Pureeing can be done right in the pot: If recipe calls for pureeing ingredients you may not have to when cooking in clay.  Just let the ingredients cook some more and smash against the clay walls and they can be pureed and will blend in well with the rest of the recipe to form a thick base. When cooking in other ware the ingredients acquire a harder texture and thus require pureeing separately to mash them down.

1. Slow Cooked GREEN CHICKEN CHILI – A Unique & Healthy Twist on Traditional Chili

Ingredients:

(Serves 6-8)
3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs; 2 large sweet potatoes, unpeeled, cut into 1″ cubes (about 2 pounds); 16-ounce tomatillo salsa (salsa verde) (about 2 cups); 2 cups water; 2 teaspoons ground cumin; 2 teaspoons (or more) kosher salt; 1 teaspoon (or more) freshly ground black pepper; cooked dried black beans; Sliced avocado, cilantro leaves, sour cream, and/or finely chopped onion (for serving; optional)

Recipe:

Mix chicken, potatoes, salsa, water, cumin, salt, and pepper in MEC pot. Cover and cook until chicken shreds easily with a fork and sweet potatoes are tender, about 1 hour on low & medium. Add beans during last 30 minutes of cooking. Shred chicken in with 2 forks. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed. Serve topped with avocado, cilantro, sour cream, and/or onion, if using.
You could also start with cooking beans in water (un-soaked dried black beans take about 1.15 hours to cook, soaked takes .45 mins to 1 hr).  Then add the rest of the ingredients.

2. BEEF AND SQUASH CHILI – Comfort Food at its Finest

Ingredients:

(Serves 6)
1 dried ancho chile; 1 dried pasilla chile; 2 cups water; 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon oilve oil; 1 pound boneless beef — cut into 1/2″ pieces; Kosher salt; Freshly ground pepper; 1 large white onion, finely chopped; 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped; 2 teaspoons ground cumin; 1 teaspoon dried oregano; 1/2 acorn squash, scrubbed, sliced into thin wedges, then into 1″ pieces; 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice; 2 tablespoons raw pumpkin seeds (pepitas); Sour cream; Chopped avocado; Sliced red onion (for serving)

Recipe:

(1) Toast chiles in a dry small MEC pot over medium heat, turning occasionally and pressing down to help them make contact with the pot, until darkened in color and beginning to soften, about 3 minutes.Cover with 2 cup water; let sit 30 minutes to soften. Purée chiles and water by smashing it against the walls of the pot cover and let it sit.
(2) Add 1 tablespoon oil in a MEC pot over medium. Add beef with salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, about 7-10 minutes. At this point, some liquid will have accumulated. Then add white onion and garlic. Cover and cook until softened (stir once or twice if need be), 6–8 minutes. Add cumin and oregano and cook, stirring, 1 minute.
(4)  Add chile purée and 2 more cups of water to the pot, season with salt and pepper, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until liquid is slightly thickened and meat is tender, 20–25 minutes. Add squash; cover and cook until tender, 10–15 minutes. Stir in lime juice.
(5) Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°. Toss pumpkin seeds and remaining 1 teaspoon oil on a baking sheet; season with salt. Bake, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 8–10 minutes. Let cool. Serve chili topped with sour cream, avocado, red onion, and toasted pumpkin seeds.

3. Butternut Squash, Turkey and Beans Chilli – Amazingly Delicious and Healthy

Ingredients:

(Serves 8)
1 large red onion, finely chopped; 6 garlic cloves, minced; 2 tablespoons finely chopped rosemary
Kosher salt; 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper; 1 1/2 pounds ground dark-meat turkey; 3.5 lbs whole peeled tomatoes, drained, juices reserved, and chopped; 4 cups diced butternut squash; 15-oz. cooked or dried cannellini beans; 1 pound Tuscan kale (also called dinosaur or Lacinato kale), stems discarded, leaves roughly chopped (about 8 cups); 12 large sage leaves, finely sliced.

Recipe:

  1. Add some water in an MEC pot set over medium heat, add the onion, garlic, rosemary and a large pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is just barely softened, about 5 minutes.
  2. Add the crushed red pepper and turkey and cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is cooked through and browned, 15 to 20 minutes. Now add the cooked beans.
  3. Add the tomatoes and their juices to the pot, and let the mixture cook covered for another 20 minutes.
  4. Turn the heat to low and let it simmer for about  15 minutes. Stir in the squash, cover the pot and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until the squash is just tender about 25 minutes.
  5. Add the beans, kale and sage and cook, until the kale is just wilted, about 5-7 minutes. Season with additional salt if needed and Ladle the chili into MEC bowls and serve.
If using dried beans, you can start by cooking the beans in water (un-soaked, dried cannelloni beans take about 1 hour to cook, soaked takes .45 mins).  Then continue with the recipe.

4. Vegan Kidney Beans & Halapinio Chili – A Healthy vegan Chili Cooked in Pure Clay

Ingredients:

(Serves 6-8)
1 medium yellow onion, diced; 1 cup shredded carrots; 1-2 jalapeño peppers, stemmed, seeded, and minced; 3 garlic cloves, minced; 1/2 cup bulgur, rinsed; 2 tablespoons chili powder; 1 tablespoon ground cumin; 2 cups diced fresh tomatoes (about 2 medium or 6 plum tomatoes); 15-ounce dry kidney beans, 15-ounce dried black beans, 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, or to taste; Chopped fresh cilantro

Recipe:

  1. Add water and both varieties of beans to the pot, cover and cook for 1 hours on medium heat. reduce heat to low and let it simmer for an additional 10-15 mins.
  2. Add the onion, carrots, and jalapeño and sauté, stirring them. Add garlic, add the bulgur, chili powder, and cumin and stir until well combined.
  3. Stir in the tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the beans are tender about .45 mins. Season with salt to taste. Serve with a sprinkling of cilantro, if desired.

5. VEGETARIAN BLACK BEAN CHILI – A Serious Crowd Pleaser

Ingredients:

(Serves 4)
2 cups chopped onions; 1 2/3 cups coarsely chopped red bell peppers (about 2 medium); 6 garlic cloves, chopped; 2 tablespoons chili powder; 2 teaspoons dried oregano; 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin; 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper; 3 15- to 16-ounce dried black beans, Chopped fresh cilantro; Sour cream; Grated Monterey Jack cheese; Chopped green onions

Recipe:

Add water and beans to the pot, cover and cook for 1 hour on medium heat. reduce heat to low and let it simmer for an additional 10-15 mins.
Add onions, bell peppers, and garlic stir and cook for about 5 minutes. Mix in chili powder, oregano, cumin, and cayenne.. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until flavors blend and chili thickens, stirring occasionally about 15-20 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Ladle chili into bowls. Pass chopped cilantro, sour cream, grated cheese, and green onions separately.

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