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I made some Vegetarian / Vegan Cactus Chili for Veggie Supper Club last night.  If you stumbled in here from a recipe search; well, this blog is mainly music related, but here are some past recipes I did: Amazin’ Beans with Homemade BBQ Sauce,  Vegan Biscuits & Gravy -and- Spiced Biscotti.

Ingredients for Cactus Chili
makes approx 6 servings (1 cup ea.)

• Nopales (flat pad cactus), cooked, 1 Jar (30 oz) – You can use fresh cactus if your grocery has them, but you’d need to pre-cook and do stuff to them that I don’t have the understanding to try to explain.  Your best bet, just go to your local Mexican grocery store or some supermarkets may have the jarred Nopales in their Mexican food aisle.
• Diced Tomatoes, 2 cans (~30 oz total) – You can get adventurous here and find some with garlic, peppers or other spices added as well.  The great thing about chili, it that it’s really hard to mess up.
• Tomato Sauce, 1 can (8oz)
• Black Beans, 1 can (~15 oz) – drained & rinsed
• Garbanzo Beans, 1 can (~15 oz) – drained & rinsed
• Yellow Sweet Corn, 1 can (~15 oz) – drained & rinsed
• Onions, raw, 1/2 cup cut small
• Garlic, 6 cloves minced
• Olive Oil, 1 tbsp
• Jalapeño Pepper, 1 pepper diced small
• Veggie Mexican-style crumbles – if desired (I didn’t use them this time)
• crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
• garlic powder (to taste)
• onion powder (to taste)
• chili powder (to taste)
• cumin powder (to taste)
• cilantro and/or vegan sour cream for garnishments (to taste)

Steps

1. In a large pot (I used a 5 quart pot), saute the onions and garlic in the oil on medium-high heat until translucent.
2. Add tomatoes and tomato sauce.
3. Add corn, beans, jalapeno pepper, and nopales (cactus).  Make sure to thoroughly rinse the corn and beans (especially the beans).  The liquid they come in is a main source of the “gas” with beans.
4. Add spices to taste.
5. After everything’s been added, cook for approximately 30 minutes on medium heat.  Stir frequently.
6. Garnish with cilantro and sour cream.  Serve with chips, tortillas, or rice.

Enjoy!

~Dan – np: Björk – Selmasongs -EP-