Sunday, June 15, 2014

Modified "White" Chicken Chili

As the weather is cooling off here in the southern hemisphere, I had a hankering for some white chicken chili. I went looking over my two other white chicken chili recipes (here and here) for ideas. I modified it for stovetop instead of crockpot, and of course available ingredients. I picked smaller sized beans for faster cooking. It takes quite a while, but once you get it started, it requires minimal work.

What You Need (Ingredients):

  • 2-3 cans (drained) or about 8 ounces of dry beans, soaked overnight or quick soaked. I prefer white beans but today could only find small red beans! The pot pictured was a full 500g. bag. They expanded a LOT while soaking. After soaking, I used half the pot, about 3 cups.
  • 1 T. olive oil
  • two onions, chopped
  • 3-5 cloves for garlic, chopped
  • 1.5 T cumin
  • 2 chicken bullion cubes and 3-4 cups of water, or 3-4 cups of chicken broth
  • a pound of chicken breasts (4-5), trimmed of fat and cut in half
  • 1/2 t. white pepper
  • 1 jar of green salsa (or, in the U.S., 2 cans of diced green chilis)
  • for a little more heat, a diced jalepeno of a couple diced hot red peppers
  • a bell pepper, diced
  • optional garnishes: tortilla chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, cilantro
What To Do (Instructions):
  • If you haven't soaked your beans, see the link above to quick soak (takes one hour).
  • Heat oil in a large stock pot over low heat and add onions. Stir until they're soft. Add garlic and cumin and stir for about another minute.
  • Add water and bullion cube (or broth) and heat. Add chicken, beans, white pepper, green salsa, and diced pepper. Make sure broth covers everything, but it shouldn't be too much higher than the level of the other ingredients.
  • Cook on medium (simmering) for at least an hour to two hours, until beans are soft, stirring occasionally. I cooked covered for about a half hour, and then uncovered as it had more liquid than needed. Chicken will easily tear apart. Add bell peppers and cook for a few minutes more.
  • Garnish and serve!