Five Bean Spring Chili with Ramps, Nettles and Sautéed Morels
This post shares a fun seasonal variation on a recipe from my book that offers you a chance to infuse the vibrant verdant flavors of spring time into a nourishing chili
I recently used some spring harvests of Ramps, Nettles, Garlic Mustard, Goji leaves/shoots, Morels and combined it with dried beans, frozen garden tomatoes as well as Goji Berries, freeze dried garden peppers, some fermented fire roasted hot peppers and dried spices/herbs from our 2023 harvests (with some wild rice and schisandra berries) and made a batch of fun and extremely delicious Spring Chili.
This Chili is a great way to use up a big pile of spring foraged nutrient dense greens and the last of the previous seasons preserved/frozen garden tomatoes and is hefty enough to stand alone as a filling meal, though it does make for an epic plate of chili fries!
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 liters of diced/chopped frozen or canned tomatoes
(or approx 2 to 3 cans diced)
- 1/2 cup dried Black Coat Runner Beans soaked over night then cooked until tender (or 1 can of kidney beans drained and rinsed)
- 1/2 cup dried Trial Of Tears Beans soaked over night then cooked until tender (or 1 can of black beans drained and rinsed)
- 1/2 cup dried Succotash Beans soaked over night then cooked until tender (or 1 can of pinto beans drained and rinsed)
- 1 can of 1/2 cup dried Romano Beans soaked over night then cooked until tender (or 1 can Romano beans drained and rinsed)
- 1 cup dried Jacob’s Cattle Beans soaked over night then cooked until tender (or (or 1 more can of any of the other varieties of beans listed above drained and rinsed)
- 4 bell peppers of assorted colors (if you can mix in a couple Poblanos that is even better)
- 4-7 dried hot peppers from the garden (dependig on heat preference
- 4 small or 3 medium-large yellow onions
- 2 to 3 medium-large Portobello mushrooms (washed, roasted and chopped)
- 1 cup fresh Morels (or half a cup dried)
- 2-3 cups diced fresh Nettle Leaves
- 1-2 cups diced ramp leaves (or 2-5 cloves of garlic finely diced , though it is not exactly the same as ramps)
- 1 cup diced garlic mustard leaves
- 1-2 cups diced goji leaves
- 1 cup frozen goji berries (or 1/2 cup dried goji berries diced)
- 1 - 2 tsp schisandra berries
- 1/2 cup dried wild rice
- 1/2 cup to one cup dry red wine
- extra veggie broth for adjusting consistency as you cook
- 1 to 2 small cans of tomato paste (depending on intended consistency)
- 2 to 3 tablespoons of chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 5-7 whole cacao beans crushed in mortar and pestle or 2 tablespoons cacao nibs
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander seed
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin seed
- 1 1/2 teaspoons - 1 tablespoon dried oregano (depending on personal preference)
- 2 diced chipotle peppers in adobe sauce
- I to 2 tablespoons lime zest
- the juice of 1/2 lime
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- optional: some Rhodiola Rosea or Rhodiola integrifolia root powder
Directions:
Use a blender or food processor to dice up about ¾ of your tomatoes so there are still small pieces, add to a large stockpot. Open the cans of tomato paste and add contents to the pot stirring well. Next hand chop the remaining tomatoes into nice bite-sized chunks and add to the pot as well. Then the herbs and spices (oregano, cumin, coriander, chili powder, cocoa powder, and cinnamon) are added to the pot, turn heat to medium-high, bring to a boil then lower to a simmer. While the pot simmers, wash bell peppers and peel onions, roughly chop them, throw a slug of olive oil in a large pan (or pot if they don’t fit in a pan), add the wild rice and then fry the chopped bell peppers, wild rice and onions on high heat (mixing every minute or so) until softened with some seared edges. The Bell peppers, pan fried wild rice and onions are then added to the stockpot and stirred in well. Dice the chipotle peppers (and additional fresh hot peppers if using) and add to a large pot, stirring in well.
The cans of beans are then opened, drained in a strainer, rinsed and added to the pot (along with the pre-cooked dry beans from the night before). Stir the pot well, set the oven to roast at 350 and then begin to de-stem and wash all the mushrooms. Once washed place the Portobellos stem side up on a baking sheet, drizzle lightly with olive oil and put in the oven to roast for 20-30 minutes or until softened and juicy. While the Portobello mushrooms are roasting slice up all the morel mushrooms and sauté with a bit of olive oil in a large pan until softened, add to stockpot and stir well. Once portobellos are cooked, remove from oven and allow to cool until they can be handled, cut into ¼ inch thick slices and then chop them so each piece is about an inch in size. Add to the chili and mix them in.
Add diced Nettle, Goji Leaves and berries, Ramps, red wine, garlic mustard leaves and Five flavor berries now.
Bring to a brief boil then simmer on low with the lid cracked slightly open for at least one hour to let the flavors blend and strengthen (simmering for up to three hours for a thicker stronger flavored chili). Serve chili in bowls topped with chunks of avocado and a sprinkling of cheese and fresh cilantro.
This also goes beautifully with a big chunk of homemade sourdough bread or sourdough croutons.
The recipe above is an adapted version of a recipe from my book (cover shown in image below).
For those interested in purchasing a physical copy of the book you can do so through this link:
https://recipesforreciprocity.com/shop/softcover/
Here is one of the songs I like to listen to as I dance around the kitchen and cook up dishes like the recipe above, Enjoy! :) and happy creating in the kitchen
Wow! This looks good. And healthy too. Hope you enjoy.
Now I am hungry all of a sudden.