Sriracha: Fire in a bottle

Caution: Explicit language. But funny. Click on the red type below.

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/sriracha

Chili? Or just a tasty vegetable stew?

If you've never been to Terlingua, Texas, on the first weekend of November, you don't really know what chili is. Yes, you can buy (click on the book cover above) a copy of "A Bowl of Red," Frank X. Tolbert's bible on the legendary stew, and follow the directions, but to taste, all in one place, the chilies that have been judged the best of their respective communities, and to immerse yourself in the culture of the pod, is an experience not to be missed.

Started in 1967, the cookoff features a number of different chilies, but to be a Texas chili, the mixture must:

• Not contain beans
• Not contain anything that doesn't turn red or brown after four-plus hours of cooking.

I love a good bowl of red. But I don't eat that much red meat anymore, and when I do indulge in grass-fed beef from a local farmer, I prefer a nice steak.

So my chili these days is one that will have my Texas friends rolling their eyes. Just taste it, though, before passing judgment. It may not be what you call chili, but you'll have to admit it's a tasty vegetable stew (which is what Frank X. Tolbert reportedly called Dave Chassen's famed Beverly Hills chili, which  contained beans).

Vegetable Chili
Serves 8

Ingredients
1 medium eggplant
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1/2 cup olive oil
2 onions, chopped
6 cloves minced garlic
1 large red pepper, diced or one large jar diced pimientos
1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained, but reserve the liquid
1 15-ounce can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 15-ounce can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon oregano
1 tablespoon basil
1 teaspoon pepper
Salt to taste
1/2 bunch of chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill
Juice of 1/2 lemon

Instructions
Cut eggplant into cubes and sprinkle with salt. After an hour, pat dry. Sauté in 1/4 cup of the olive oil until almost tender and set aside. Add remaining oil and sauté onions and garlic until softened. Add to eggplant. Put on low heat and add all but the last four ingredients. If cooking on the stove, leave uncovered and stir frequently for 30 minutes, then add the last four ingredients and cook for another 15 minutes. If using a crockpot, cover and cook for at least an hour; add the last four ingredients 15 minutes before serving.
Serve over brown rice. Offer shredded cheddar cheese, tiny-diced fresh jalapeños or hot sauce and sliced scallions as toppings, and serve with corn chips or cornbread.

Note: If eggplant is out of season, use a large can of black olives, chopped, and obit the kosher salt.

Want to waste not? Tips to use leftovers

Making a great pot of chili last night, my thoughts wandered to recipe cooking vs. instinctual cooking. Most everyone, who has basic cooking skills and instructions that make sense, can cook from a recipe and have a dish that turns out well. (Of course, everyone who conveys a recipe hopes the instructions make sense, but you'd be surprised at how many don't, even ones that make it into a cookbook.) But the instinctual cook uses his or her senses on how a dish should be and goes on to make it unique. The advantage to this method is that one can use what is at hand, the freshest produce and most inexpensive meats, even bits and pieces of previous dinners, commonly derided as "leftovers."

The dishes that lend themselves most easily to this are melanges, and almost every cuisine has one or two of them. My standbys are chili, jambalaya, gumbo, spaghetti, curry and soups (five options can get most anyone through a week; if you have others, please let me know).

For the chili, I started with a pound of ground turkey and a tablespoon of olive oil. Turkey is bland, but much like tofu, it picks up the flavors around it. I season it as it's cooking with garlic, onions, cumin and oregano. And of course, chili.

I prefer straight chili. Prepared chili powder is OK, but it's a combination of chilies, cumin, oregano, salt and sometimes other spices, and you don't know how old the other spices are that go into it, since the smell of chili overwhelms the others. I use ancho powder if I'm in a hurry; otherwise, I like to use dried whole chilies (a combination depending on how hot I want it) stemmed and seeded, soaked in a little boiled water for 45 minutes, then puréed.

If I'm preparing a bowl of red, I add a can of beer and stop right there. But turkey doesn't hold up nearly as well as beef for that. So my turkey chili is what the sainted Frank X. Tolbert would refer to as "a rather tasty vegetable stew." (Those were the fighting words that led to the first chili cookoff, which gave birth to a cultural phenomenon that will continue this year in Terlingua, TX, Nov. 5-7.)

I added a 28-ounce can of diced tomatoes, then found in the refrigerator the following: 1 eggplant, which I had sliced and salted in preparation to sauté, but had a change of plans; 1 1/2 yellow bell peppers, which had been charred and the skins removed; a lonely carrot; a half cup of refried black beans. I rinsed the eggplant slices, trimmed the skins off them, then chopped them and the peppers coarsely before adding them and the beans to the pot. I peeled the carrot and shredded it into the pot. Then everything cooked for about three hours. The texture, no doubt thanks to the refried beans, was just right; usually if the chili is a little soupy at the end, I add a little masa harina to thicken the stew.

One taste and you, too, would know why it drives me crazy when people say they'd rather eat fast food than leftovers.

Now, no discussion on chili would be complete without a little travelogue on Texas, so here's one on Big Bend National Park, which will give you a little taste of Terlingua country.

Ben Ali of Ben's Chili Bowl - RIP

Ben's Chili Bowl is a bit of DC Americana that no one should miss - but we sure will miss the founder, Ben Ali. The link to the Washington Post behind-the-story blog on him is here and there's a link to the full obituary on that story as well. The photo at right is of my husband Jim on one of our visits to Ben's.

DC -- to dine for

Today we head off to DC for a little pleasure (Capitol visitors center), a little business (Hetch Hetchy) and a little remembering (Jim's dad and other Alzheimer's victims at a candlelight vigil at the Lincoln Memorial). And a little eating, of course.

I have no idea what the day holds; the best food we've had in DC has been around DuPont Circle, but I don't think we'll be heading that way today. So will it be a hot dog stand or chili today, or something more nutritious? Stay tuned.

Eat like a "Slumdog"

Riding the wave of "Slumdog Millionaire," here's an easy recipe for potato curry.

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes
1 big onion
2 tomatoes
2 tablespoons oil
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1/4 teaspoon tumeric
2 teaspoons red chili powder, divided
Garam masala
cilantro leaves for garnishing
Salt to taste
1 teaspoon crushed ginger
4 crushed garlic cloves
1/2 cup frozen baby green peas (petit pois)

Instructions
Wash potatoes and peel them if you want them to look pretty. Otherwise, leave the nutritious skins on. Chop them into 1/2" thick cubes.
Chop onion finely. Chop tomatoes and cilantro.
Heat a wok or a sauce pan. Add oil. When oil is heated, add cumin seeds. As the seeds sizzle, add asafoetida and turmeric powder. After this, add 1/2 tsp chili powder in the tempering. This gives the gravy a nice deep red color. Also if you add chopped cilantro at this stage, it enhances the flavor of the curry.
Add onions and fry until they become light brown. Add chopped tomatoes and saute until they soften, blend with the onion and oil separates from the mixture. Then add crushed ginger and garlic. Fry until just aromatic.
Add peas and diced potatoes. Mix and add 2 cups hot water. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.
Remove the lid and check if potatoes are tender. Add salt, masala and the rest of the chili powder and mix. Let it simmer uncovered for 5 minutes to thicken the gravy.
Garnish with cilantro and serve with plain rice.
Note: You can find the garam masala and asafoetida in Indian groceries. You can make this dish without them, but it won't taste authentic.

Not-so-sweet sweet potatoes

Now that the holidays are over, a great majority of Americans don't give sweet potatoes the time of day. Pity.

A few avant-garde restaurants have put them on the menu as fries, but they treat them just like their potato cousins, and the delicate orange flesh is often overwhelmed by the oil. I like to either wedge them (if they are small) or cut them in thick slices, toss them in oil, season with a mixture of chili powder, salt and citric acid (sold as a mix in Mexican groceries for seasoning jimaca, fruit and corn on the cob) and roast at 425 degrees until brown and puffy.

An English friend of mine just pops them in the microwave, skin and all, until they "moosh to the touch," then slices them lengthwise, opens them by gently squeezing each end toward the middle and drops a knob of butter to begin its liquid journey through the fluffy topography as she seasons the root with salt and pepper.

Mark Bittman of the New York Times likes to stir-fry them, and Joe Yonan of the Washington Post likes to roast them, too. Their recipes are below.

Stir-fried sweet potatoes with brown butter and sage
By Mark Bittman
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:

4 tablespoons olive oil
2 to 3 pounds sweet potatoes, peeled and grated, 4 to 6 cups
Salt and pepper
4 tablespoons (½ stick) butter, more to taste
4 cloves garlic, crushed
20 sage leaves
Instructions:

Put oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, add sweet potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring only occasionally, until they change color and begin to brown, then stir more frequently until they are tender but not at all mushy.
Meanwhile, heat butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and sage; shake pan occasionally. When butter turns brown, turn off heat.
Use tongs to remove sage and garlic from butter. Serve potatoes drizzled with butter and garnished with a few sage leaves. Garlic can be served alongside, though it will not be super-soft.
Each of 5 servings: 353 calories; 3 g protein; 41 g carbohydrates; 20.5 g fat; 7 g saturated fat; 115 mg sodium; 25 mg cholesterol; 5 g dietary fiber.

Miso pork on a sweet potato
By Joe Yonan
Serves 1
Ingredients:

1 medium sweet potato, scrubbed clean (about 6 ounces)
3 ounces lean ground pork
2 stalks (6 ounces) broccolini, cut crosswise into 3/4-inch pieces
1 tablespoon mild white miso
2 tablespoons water, plus more as needed
1 scallion, white and green parts, cut crosswise on the diagonal into thin slices
Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Use a fork or sharp knife to prick the sweet potato in several places. Place on a piece of aluminum foil and bake for 40 to 60 minutes or until the sweet potato is tender and can be easily squeezed. (Alternatively, to speed up the process, the pricked sweet potato can be microwaved on high for 1 minute, then carefully transferred to the oven and seated on a piece of foil. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until the potato is tender.)
Heat a large, heavy skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add the pork and stir-fry for about 5 minutes or until no traces of pink remain and the pork starts to exude juices; break up any large clumps as you work. Add the broccolini and stir-fry for 3 to 4 minutes or until the vegetables are barely tender and retain some crunch.
Add the miso and water; cook, stirring, for 1 minute or so, until a creamy sauce forms. If the mixture seems too dry, add up to a few more tablespoons of water, stirring to combine.
When the sweet potato has finished baking, place it on a serving plate. Use a sharp knife to make a centered, lengthwise slit in the top, pinching the potato on each end to expose the flesh and make a pocket for the filling. Spoon the miso-pork mixture on top. Sprinkle with the scallions and serve hot.
Each serving: 428 calories; 19 g fat; 7 g saturated fat; 23 g protein; 45 g carbohydrates; 61 mg cholesterol; 718 mg sodium; 10 g dietary fiber