My Festive Vegetarian Chickpea and Corn Chili Recipe

This is my own recipe for an easy, cheap, and healthy staple of my kitchen. I started developing it about 6 years ago, and still make it about a dozen times per year, especially if I’m trying to eat healthy and stay bread-free.

Since this chili also looks fantastic in a jar, I tend to give part of it away to any friends I plan on meeting. This time, the reason for making the chili was simple: my friend fell ill and I didn’t want her cooking tonight, so she got a jar and I got to keep a jar for myself. Since it is a known fact that my friend does not like green peppers, I sauteed green peppers on the side for my half and made sure her half only had orange peppers in it.

Read on for instructions on how to make this happen in your own kitchen!

Ingredients:
1 medium onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tomatoes
1 large carrot
1/2 green pepper
1/2 orange pepper
2 cups frozen corn
2 cans chickpeas
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon cumin
1 cup water

Directions:
Remove frozen corn from freezer and let thaw. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Heat olive oil in medium saucepan and saute onions and garlic over medium-high heat for about 3 minutes until soft, translucent, and fragrant. Lower heat to medium and add peppers and cook for another 2 minutes stirring occasionally. Add carrots and place lid on pot, allow them to cook/steam for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally. While you are waiting dice the tomatoes. Stir in corn, chili powder and cumin and place lid back on pot and let cook for another 1-2 minutes. Add diced tomatoes and water. Place lid back on the pot and turn the heat up to high until the chili comes to a boil and then reduce the heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes.

Makes about 6 servings. I recommend serving it with avocado cubes (vegan) and/or with a dollop of sour cream (vegetarian).

Here’s how it went down in my kitchen with pictures:

Bon appétit!