Winter Wonderland: Vegan "Meat" Chili with Cornbread

As regular followers of this blog can attest, there are few refrigerator staples I rely on as much as I rely on Soyrizo. The stuff is amazing. I've made Sloppy Soyri-Joes, Soyrizo Spaghetti, and I'm about to bring you:

VEGAN "MEAT" CHILI ON CORNBREAD

Why yes, that is an enormous pat of vegan butter waiting to melt on hot cornbread. And indeed, I HAVE gone up a dress size since beginning my Snackro-cooking this fall.

I always have trouble timing my dishes in macrobiotic cooking. I think it's because I have spent the last five years subsiding wholly on takeout, and when you order takeout, it's all done at the same time. So here's a chili chronology:

CHILI CHRONOLOGY:

24 Hours to Chili: Soak beans

2 hours before: Preheat oven for cornbread to 425 F. Gather your ingredients, rinse kombu I didn't rinse my kombu this morning, and I kid you not, I found a tiny shrimp in my miso today. Out. Rageous.

1 hour 15 minutes before: Begin cooking your beans

1 hour before: While beans are cooking, make and bake your cornbread.

30 minutes before: While beans and cornbread are cooking, begin caramelizing onions.

CHILI RECIPE (see previous entry for Cornbread):

Ingredients:

-Aduki beans (1 to 1 1/2 cups)

-Kombu

-Soyrizo (1 package)

-4 onions, sliced into eighths

-5 carrots, sliced into wedges

-1 tsp garlic salt

-1 tsp red pepper flakes (leave this out if it's too radical for your system)

-1 tbsp. oregano flakes

-1 tbsp. dried parsley flakes

-Grated vegan mozarella to taste

Soak aduki beans overnight. I used about a cup/cup and a half.

The next day, cook your aduki beans, covering with water and add your strip of kombu. No sense losing the valuable nutrients provided by kombu! Bring to a boil uncovered, then reduce heat and simmer for about an hour to an hour and a half. Sample the beans. They should be soft but not gelatinous.

While the rice is going, boil your onions in one pan, and your carrots in another until the carrots are soft and the onions are milky-blue in color. Throw the ingredients in the blender. Add water as needed, and season with oregano, basil, parsley, and sea salt. Hit it with a shot of umeboshi vinegar (or white wine if you don't have ume).

Add Soyrizo and "marinara," and begin to season. I season as needed, but as the marinara and the beans can make things too sweet, I'm pretty generous with the garlic sauce. Once the soyrizo and marinara are heated, dump in your beans. I would stir it all together and taste test, and then spice as needed.

Grate your soy cheese, take the cornbread out of the oven, and enjoy it all!!

Becky