Smoked Chilies

I was browsing the Mountain Rose Herbs website recently, putting together an order for tonic herbs, when I noticed they had smoked chili flakes. I had to buy some. Smoke is such an excellent flavoring in beans and barbecue sauce - getting chiles infused with it sounded great.

When the packet came, I opened it up and sniffed cautiously. Not cautiously enough. These chiles are hot and smoky. Yum. I added a spoonful to my favorite chili. I think I could have added even more, but I find with chiles it's best to start slowly. And it was an excellent stew. I served it with brown rice and sautéed greens.

Here's the recipe. If you don't have smoked chili flakes, you can use the regular kind. Add chili powder to your taste.

The smoked chili flakes will give a smokey flavor that will match well with the smoke of the fireworks on Fourth of July.

Chili
1 cup pinquito beans or pinto beans, dry
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 carrots, diced
1/4 cup oil
1 cup green lentils
6 tsp chili powder
1 tsp smoked flaked chiles
1 tbsp dried Mexican oregano
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp paprika
14-oz can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup tamari
salt to taste

Cook beans in plenty of boiling water until tender, about 90-120 minutes depending on how old the beans are. Drain off the water.

Sauté onion, garlic and carrot in oil until soft, about 10 minutes. Add cooked beans, dry lentils, spices and tomatoes with their liquid. Stir in 2 cups of water and bring to the boil. Simmer the chili, uncovered, for 1 hour, adding water as necessary so it doesn't dry out. Add the soy sauce and simmer another 30-60 minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Serves 6. Even better reheated the next day.