Damn Good Chile!

One thing you'll likely not find much of in my cooking is speed. I'm not a huge fan of "quick and easy" recipes. Not that I'm against them or anything, I just prefer my food to cook on super low heat for hours to let flavors mesh better, and even to let it sit for a day sometimes. This is one of those recipes :) I'd been really wanting something hearty as the cold weather starts to come, and I seem to have done it with this chile. I would have preferred to put in fresh non-sweet white corn instead of the edamame, but the edamame came out quite nice. If you can't find/have the dried chiles (which you likely won't if you live in Japan), you can just use about a tablespoon of red chile powder, that should be fine. I added the onions and bell peppers last so that they could still be a bit crunchy when served, but you can add them in with the carrots if you like. Finally, all the amounts are guesstimates, so feel free to not use measuring anything ha ha. Hope this helps keep you warm this winter.



Cook Time: 2 to 3 hours, plus overnight soak for beans

Makes about 8 to 10 servings

Ingredients:

Dry beans, large type like lima, kidney, etc., whatever your store stocks. About 3 cups dry
Dried small chile pepper, deseeded
5 smoked chipotle peppers, deseeded
1 dried chile rojo, deseeded
2 chile de arbol, deseeded
Garlic, 5 to 7 cloves, chopped up into small pieces
Very ripe tomatoes, 2 medium, diced up into small chunks
Red wine, cheap kind is okay, about 1/4 to 1/3 cup
Olive oil, 4 tablespoons
Mirin (sweet fermented rice wine), 1 tablespoon
Soy sauce, 1 & 1/2 tablespoons
Shiitake mushrooms (or similar type), 15 small, stems removed and cut in half
3 medium carrots, diced into medium chunks
Edamame, removed from pods and rinsed, about 1 cup's worth
Onion, 1 medium, diced up
Bell peppers, 10 small, diced up

Spices, to be added in all at once:

Bay leaves, 4
Dried oregano, 1 teaspoon
Dried parsley, 1 teaspoon
Dried basil, 1 teaspoon
Black pepper, 1 teaspoon
White pepper, 1/2 teaspoon
Ground cumin, 1 teaspoon
Cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon
Nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon
Paprika, 1 and 1/2 teaspoons
Salt, 1 teaspoon

Soak the beans overnight or for at least 8 hours. I suppose you could use canned beans, but I don't like doing this as you can't control the flavor of what comes in a can, plus it's just not as fresh

The next day, rinse the beans and place in a large pot. Pour enough water to just barely cover the beans. Turn the heat on to medium high. Once the water begins to boil, lower the heat to the lowest setting possible.

Add the small pepper, the chipotle, the chile rojo, and the chile de arbol to the side of the pot. Cover the pot and let cook for about 3 minutes.

Remove the dried chiles with a fork or chopsticks and put in a blender. Use a ladle to scoop out some of the bean water and add to the blender. Blend this until there are no more big chile chunks in the mix. Add this back to the pot of beans, pouring more bean water into the blender and shaking it around to make sure you get all the mix from the blender out.

Add the tomatoes, red wine, olive oil, mirin, soy sauce, and all the spices. Stir well.

Add more water to the pot to cover everything. Don't add too much water though, a few cups should be alright. Let this come to a boil, lower the heat, then cook on a low flame for 1 hour to 1 and a half hours.

**Note: Check that the beans are cooking well, they should be soft after about 1 to 1 and a half hours, even if not completely cooked quite yet. Basically, if you take one out and it is too hard to chew, they are not ready. If this is the case, let this pot boil on low heat for another 20 minutes or so, then proceed with the next steps.

Add the shiitake, carrots, and edamame. Stir well.

Let the chile cook for another 30 to 40 minutes, then add the onions and bell peppers and stir well. Cook for another 15 to 20 minutes to let all the flavors soak in well.

Enjoy with whatever the hell you want; like crakers, bread, rice, whatever you fancy. Happy eats :)