Easy Healthy Chili made in bulk at start of the week

[10sun]

my new favorite chili recipe out of the 6 or so i've tried, although traditionalists will hate it:

Southwest White Chicken Chili:

3 Large boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 med. size ears of corn (or 1 large can of corn)
1 can white navy beans
1 can Pinto beans
1 can garbanzo beans
4-12 cloves of garlic to taste (i use a whole head)
1 small onion (white, yellow)
2-4 jalepeno peppers, to taste (recommend remove the seeds)
1-4 mushrooms (white, crimini, brown, magic)
2 cups chicken broth (canned/boxed is fine but try to avoid MSG ><)
1/2 cup sour cream (low fat is fine)
12oz beer (1 can)
6 bay leaves
2 Tablespoons Vegetable/Canola oil
1 Tablespoon Tabasco/hot sauce (green chili sauce is good too)
1 Tablespoon white pepper
1 tsp? salt (to taste)
Fresh cilantro
Tortilla Chips

1. Marinate the chicken breasts in the Tabasco Sauce and 1 Tablespoon of the vegetable oil for 20 mins-1 hour (you can go longer but really not much point). While the chicken is marinating, Wrap the corn ears in foil (unless you are using canned)

2. Preheat the Grill or Oven to "high" heat, about 450 degrees for my grill (or "broil" on the top rack of the oven). Grill the corn ears and chicken breasts together for about 8 minutes or "high" heat turning once at the 4 minute mark. Remove both. NOTE: if the chicken and corn are not entirely cooked thats fine since they will have plenty of opportunity to finish in the chili pot).

2.5: While you are grilling/broiling the chicken and corn, finely chop both the garlic and onions. Remove the seeds from the Jalapenos and mine them as finely as possible. Finally, coarsely chop the Mushrooms. Set these aside on a seperate plate or whatever.

3. Remove the chicken breasts and corn from the grill/oven. Set the chicken breasts aside and allow them to cool, while you unwrap the foil from the corn and slice the corn off the husk. Throw away the corn husks and set aside the corn. Cut the chicken into 1/2 inch cubes.

4. Heat the other 1 Tbsp. of oil in a large soup pan on medium heat (the one i use is about 80oz) until the oil is smokin' hot. Add the cut up Chicken breast, the salt, the white pepper, and the chopped onion, garlic and jalapenos, and cook on medium heat until the onion turns slightly golden. Add the corn and stir well.

5. Pour in the entire can of beer. Then, stir in all 3 cans of beans, as well as the bay leaves. Finally, stir in the 2 cups of chicken broth. Increase heat to "high", cover, and allow the entire mixture to come to a moderate boil.

6. Reduce heat to "low"(really low, like just above "off"), and stir in the mushrooms and sour cream. Cover, and allow to simmer on very low heat for 30 minutes. NOTE: if you see significant steam escaping the lid of the pan, you are simmering with the heat too high, it should be bubbling/steaming only slightly.

7. Serve Chili topped with fresh Cilantro leaves with Tortilla chips. If desired you may refridgerate the chili (just use the pan it's in) up to 4 days or Freeze it (lasts like a month or more)

add some cheese to the recipe for extra love~

[Metranon]

i'm not really a big fan of dairy, but if youre gonna add cheese i would recommend a jalepeno monterrey or maybe a jack....don't recommend cheddar with this recipe really

[10sun]

I make a similar white chili, the cheese is what really sets it apart for me. I personally add mozarella right before I serve it. In addition, I don't use beer or onion in my recipe. I never had thought of adding beer(lager I assume?) and I hate onions.

[Metranon]

i use stella artois (lager), you could use pretty much any beer as long as it isn't too dark or red colored since that will cause discoloration of the final product

even with adding a full 12oz of beer i think 90% or more of the alcohol is burned off within 5 minutes of adding it to a hot stove. however a bit of the nice hops/barley flavor will come through which is a tasty contrast to just chicken stock . Also, adding the beer after you sautee the garlic, chicken, etc will cause the alcohol and living enzymes to deglaze the bottom of the bot immediately (similar to what a lot of chefs do with wine), releasing all the flavor that might be stuck on the sides/bottom of the pan, which is the reason to add the beer before the chicken stock.

If you're going to serve the entire pot of chili immediately you may want to let the beer sit out with the top off for like an hour in the fridge previous to pouring it in, otherwise there is sometimes a hint of carbonation left in the final soup which can be disconcerting to descriminating guests. I normally just eat a tester bowl right after I make it and then let the rest set up in the fridge overnight (it's better the 2nd day!)

I'm sure you could use non-alcoholic beer or vegetable stock instead, or if you're hurting maybe just an extra 1/2 cup of tap water, not that i recommend it.

I've thought about buying dried beans and rehydrating them myself for this recipe but, haven't gotten around to it yet...might be interesting to rehydrate them in water that incorporates fresh garlic, herbs, or spices so you could in effect "marinate" the beans as you prepare them.

[10sun]

I usually use flat cans of Budweiser for my cooking... as I always have leftovers from parties where nobody drinks it and I rarely drink it myself as I prefer microbrew stouts.

I'll have to try rehydration sometime this winter... I don't have shit else to do, it is getting too cold to go out and play anymore =(

[Jay]

Bump. Metranon's chili is sooooo good.

[liquidstayce]

Figures you bump this on the day I am being lazy and making hormel turkey chili out of the can tonight for dinner