Veggie Cooking: African Chili

I went to college at the University of Montana, that is the heart of mountain beef country and as you can imagine we ate a lot of it.  I met a culinary arts student there who had this wonderful collection of unique recipes. She could make things our of nothing and it would be drool worthy. One day she told us she was going to make a group of us her African Chili.  I admit, I was not as creative of an eater as I am now, but I thought what the hey, she had never steered me wrong before, I'll give it a try.  One bite and I was done. No longer was I afraid of any cuisine, all ethnic groups were fair game, I wanted to try it all!  Before that, my big venture into ethnic food eating was cheep Chinese takeout, not exactly a triumph of culinary expression as it did not even come close to real Chinese cooking.  Now if a country exists on the face of this big oceany ball we call home I want to try its food.  Bring it on, in all its yummy glory.  This simple African Chili recipe was ground beef based, so if you don't like soy, or want to make it with meat just cook a pound of your favorite ground meat and drain and you are all set to go!

 I bring you: African Chili,
(Soy & peanut allergen alert)

Ingredients:
1 lb soy crumbles, or 6 soy burgers chopped, if you grocery story is too far behind the times to have crumbles
1 medium onion, chopped
1 red or yellow bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
1 15 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
1 14 oz can of corn, drained
1/4 cup peanut butter
Hot sauce
Hot cooked rice
Light flavored oil of your choice

Saute the onion in a touch of oil until translucent.  Add the soy crumbles and cook until heated through.  Add the chopped pepper, the tomato sauce, water, and hot sauce to taste and cook for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.  Mix in the drained corn and cook for another ten minutes.  Mix in the peanut butter and stir until melted. Serve over hot rice.

Several posters have said that they are allergic to the soy based meat substitutes.  I would love to know, if any of you get adventurous enough to try it, how this recipe works with beans instead.  I bet it would be delicious since most of the flavor is from the veggies and the peanut butter.  I would love to know any meat free recipes you have.  Do you have one that doesn't use a soy based meat substitute? Send it my way.  Got a killer recipe for something that is grain based? I would love to try it! I will give it all a go, because leftovers rule in all ways.

Keeping the cooking real,
Kelly, the origami ninja

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