Vegan Beer & Chocolate Chili with Smoky Sofrito Sauce

Day 19 of VeganMoFo….

This week my younger sister Sarah came up to Toronto to visit me. She and I could not be more different since we disagree about almost everything. I wrote in an old post how incredibly picky my sister is and apparently she has not grown out of it.

She likes gummy candy and I prefer chocolate.

She will wear flip-flops until snow is on the ground and I bust out my knee-high boots at the first sign of Fall.

My sister is a big carnivore, not really liking fruits or veggies and I put kale in my breakfast smoothies.

I am a city girl and she is all about the suburbs.

She prefers mild, dare I say bland food while I am all about the heat and smokiness.

Sprouts & Chocolate: Beer & Chocolate Chili with Smoky Sofrito Sauce. This dish can be served two ways: mild but flavourful with Cashew Cream or with a Smoky Sofrito sauce for the heat lovers. Vegan and can be made gluten free!

Sometimes I wonder if we are even related! But there are very few but important things that we do agree on: pajama pants are to be put on immediately upon arriving home, Disney movies are always the first choice when we hang out and plates are not required when eating cupcakes.

Sprouts & Chocolate: Beer & Chocolate Chili with Smoky Sofrito Sauce. This dish can be served two ways: mild but flavourful with Cashew Cream or with a Smoky Sofrito sauce for the heat lovers. Vegan and can be made gluten free!

So when I asked her what she wanted for dinner we really didn’t have a lot to agree on but thankfully there is always chili, the only problem being the heat level. I told her I would make her a spiced but not spicy chili. I still needed some heat to please my palate without having to make two separate recipes.

Sprouts & Chocolate: Beer & Chocolate Chili with Smoky Sofrito Sauce. This dish can be served two ways: mild but flavourful with Cashew Cream or with a Smoky Sofrito sauce for the heat lovers. Vegan and can be made gluten free!

I decided to make a sofrito, usually a raw sauce consisting of tomatoes, onions, garlic and spices but I decided to roast the ingredients to give the sauce a little more depth and to enhance the smokiness. I blended the charred mixture so it was easy to add to the chili for the heat-lovers. A mild but flavourful version with Cashew Cream for her and a smoky spicy version for me. Now we just have to pick out a Disney movie to sing along to after we feast on chili, crusty bread and beers in pajama pants of course. 

12 recipes down, 8 more to go!

Sprouts & Chocolate: Beer & Chocolate Chili with Smoky Sofrito Sauce. This dish can be served two ways: mild but flavourful with Cashew Cream or with a Smoky Sofrito sauce for the heat lovers. Vegan and can be made gluten free!

Sprouts & Chocolate: Beer & Chocolate Chili with Smoky Sofrito Sauce. This dish can be served two ways: mild but flavourful with Cashew Cream or with a Smoky Sofrito sauce for the heat lovers. Vegan and can be made gluten free!

Beer & Chocolate Chili with Smoky Sofrito Sauce
I know this ingredients list is long but it does make quite a bit of chili to last you all week. The cocoa may seem like a strange ingredient but it is used in the popular Mexican mole sauce. Serve this chili with Cashew Cream (with an extra teaspoon of cider vinegar), green onions, avocado, cilantro or lime wedges. This recipe makes about 9 cups of chili. Like most stews and soups, this tastes better the next day when all the flavours have mellowed out. To make this recipe gluten free, replace the beer with a gluten free vegetable stock.
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Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr 10 min
Prep Time
15 min
Cook Time
45 min
Total Time
1 hr 10 min
Smoky Blended Sofrito (Makes 1.5 cups)
  1. 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  2. ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  3. 1 cup canned diced tomatoes, drained and juices reserved for the chili
  4. 1 large red onion, peeled, halved and coarsely chopped
  5. 1 medium red pepper, cored and coarsely chopped
  6. 6 medium garlic cloves, peeled and lightly smashed with the side of a chef’s knife
  7. 1 medium jalapeno, stem removed and cut lengthwise in half
  8. 1 tablespoon oregano (preferably Mexican)
  9. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  10. ½ teaspoon ancho chili powder
  11. ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper
  12. Pinch of cayenne pepper (or more!)
For the Chili
  1. 1.5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  2. 1 large red onion, finely chopped (about 2 cups)
  3. 1 large carrot, peeled and diced (1 cup)
  4. 1 red pepper, cored and diced
  5. 3 medium garlic cloves, minced
  6. 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  7. ¼ teaspoon cracked black pepper or to taste
  8. 1 tablespoon Hungarian paprika
  9. 1 tablespoon chili powder
  10. 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  11. 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  12. ½ tablespoon oregano (preferably Mexican)
  13. ¾ cup Indian Pale Ale (I used Keith’s but any beer will do, for gluten free use vegetable stock)
  14. 2-28 ounce cans diced tomatoes
  15. 1-19 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
  16. 1-19 ounce can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  17. 2 cups fresh or frozen corn kernels
  18. ½ cup lightly packed cilantro leaves, minced
For the sofrito
  1. Set oven rack to the middle slot and preheat oven to 500 degrees.
  2. In a roasting pan, toss all the vegetables with the oil, vinegar and spices until well coated.
  3. Roast for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the chili.
  4. Once the vegetables are softened and slightly charred, add mixture to a blender and blend until completely smooth. Set aside until the chili is ready to be served.
For the chili
  1. Heat the oil in a large 6-8 quart heavy-duty pot over medium-high heat until shimmering hot, about 2 minutes.
  2. Add the onions, carrots, peppers, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally until the mixture begins to soften, about 4-5 minutes.
  3. Stir in the spices and cook for 1 minute.
  4. Add the beer and reduce by half, scraping all the browned bits from the bottom of the pot, about 1-2 minutes.
  5. Reduce heat to medium and add the tomatoes and beans and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the corn and cilantro and cook for another 5 minutes.
  6. Serve with suggested toppings.
Notes
  1. The sofrito is optional unless you like the heat and then I recommend it. If you don't use it all, it freezes well to use whenever you need a little spice in your recipes.
Sprouts & Chocolate http://www.sproutsandchocolate.com/

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