Why is it that the more heavily processed and unhealthy food is, the cheaper it is? That's so not fair!
Sometimes it seems like you can't afford to eat healthy.
Home made chili with dry beans and leftover pork is a great way to get more miles out of good quality pasture raised meat.
Did you know that dry beans are an inexpensive, high quality, unprocessed food?
They are easy to cook, but there are a few tricks you need to know to cook them successfully--and not give you gas. Here are some tips to get you started.
Soak dry beans overnight with at least an inch of water covering them. They will expand considerably and soak up lots of water.
The next morning, pour off the soak water, cover with fresh water, and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a lively simmer and cook for 3 hours. A quick test for doneness is when you remove a bean and blow on it, if it is not done, the skin will not curl back. There is a stage where the skin curls back and they aren't quite done yet, but at least you know it's getting close, if the skin curls back. They are fully done, obviously, when they are soft to chew.
Before adding other ingredients to your beans, discard the boil water. This is the trick to making beans that don't give you gas!!
To preserve the B vitamins, please do not add baking soda to the cook water. It is true that they cook faster with baking soda, but it's not worth the sacrifice of nutrients.
Do not add anything acidic to the beans until they are fully cooked and completely soft. Once you add vinegar, tomatoes, or any other acidic ingredient, it is very difficult to get them softer. So if you are making chili, cook the beans in water prior to adding the beans to the tomato based soup.
Pork Chili Recipe
Chili is an inexpensive, healthy meal because the beans are cheap, and it can make use of leftover pork.
You can use something like leftover pulled pork, or the meaty bones leftover from a roast. If you use meaty bones, boil the bones for several hours and use that broth as the base for the chili. Strain all of the bones and meat out of the broth, pick the meat off the bones when it is cool enough to handle, and add the meat to the chili.
The type of beans you use in chili is not important. Kidney beans are a traditional bean for chili, but I have used just about every kind of bean you can think of and they all make good chili.
Ingredients:
2 cups dry beans
half gallon of water for soaking
half gallon of water for boiling
roughly 1 pound of pork
16 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 - 16 oz cans of tomato sauce OR 1 pint of fermented tomato paste
2 tsp salt
2 tbs paprika
1 tbs cumin
1 tsp coriander
(OR you can use 3 tbs of chili powder blend in place of these spices)
1 diced onion
red pepper or hot sauce to taste
optional: 1 or 2 diced bell peppers
The night before making chili, put the dry beans in a 5 quart (or larger) pot. Cover them with the soak water.
The next morning, pour off the soak water. Cover them with fresh water. Put the pot on the stove on high and bring to a boil. Watch that it doesn't boil over. Once it is at a rolling boil, reduce the heat to medium low so that it stays at a lively simmer. Put the lid on it. (Be aware that putting the lid on it is kind of like turning up the heat--it might boil over. After a few minutes, check under the lid and turn down the heat if it looks like the bubbles are rising very high.)
After 3 hours, test for doneness. With a spoon, remove a bean from the pot. Blow on it. Does the skin curl back? If not, it's not done yet. If the skin does curl back, try eating it. If it is not quite soft yet, let them boil a bit longer. If it is done, proceed to the next step.
Once the beans are done, pour off the boiling water and discard it. Do not use that water in soup, it will give you gas.
Add all remaining ingredients to the pot. If you boiled pork bones, add some of the broth as well. If you have no broth, add enough water to bring it to a good consistency. Remember that as it simmers, some of the water will evaporate and it will get a bit thicker.
Allow the chili to simmer until dinner time. Stir occasionally to prevent the bottom from scorching, and add water or broth as needed.
Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, chopped scallions, and/or tortilla chips.
Tip: did you know that most grated cheese that you buy has anti-mold chemicals in it? These preservatives harm your gut microbiome. For a healthy gut, buy cheese in a block (or make your own) and grate it fresh. It tastes better when it's fresh grated, too!
What is your favorite bean dish?
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