Best Vegetarian Chili with 9 Beans

Best Vegetarian Chili with 9 beans, a fusion dish between Indian dal and  chili that I came up with.
A protein packed Fall night meal.

Right to left: Kidney beans, Black Eye beans, Brown chickpeas, Indian butter beans(Val), Adzuki beans(Red Chori), Toor beans, Moong, Black Matpe and Muth.

I have used the assorted dried whole beans here, available in Indian stores, which comes in  pack called Navaratan dal (meaning 9 dals) whole not split.

My herd does not like it too tart chili hence I have gone low on tomato. Pl use more if  you like. Also u will find carrot and bell pepper in this chili it is just to keep the interest in the chili and distract from the thought of lot of beans.

Ingredients: Serves 4
Dried Navaratan dal - 1 cup = 3 cups when cooked.
Carrot -1 cubed
Bell pepper - 1/2 cubed
Red onion - 1 large chopped
Tomato - 1-2 chopped finely
Ginger - 1 inch piece chopped
Garlic - 4-5 flakes chopped
Green chili /Jalapeno - 1 chopped
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
Chili powder - 1 tsp (use as per tolerance levels)
Turmeric powder - 11/3 tsp
Coriander powder - 1/2 - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Butter - 3- 4 tsp
Salt to taste

Garnish:
Coriander leaves
Cheddar Cheese or more butter (1 tsp per serving) to garnish
Lime slices

Method:

1. .Wash the assorted beans/ dals well few times and soak in 4-5 cups of water overnight. Drain when ready to cook wash once again. Boil 5-6 cups of water in a pot and cook for around 1- 11/2 hrs until all the dals are cooked OR pressure cook it until all the dals are cooked may take 7-8 whistles. (Remember smaller dals cook faster so most will mash up in the end)
2. .When the pressure goes open the cooker and mix the dals well.
3. Heat butter when it melts add the cumin  when the aroma comes add ginger,garlic and green chili when it softens add onion and saute until pink then add the chili powder, turmeric powder, coriander powder saute until the raw smell goes the  tomato chopped, allow it to cook well then add salt,carrot and bell pepper and saute until soft then.Now pour the well cooked dal and cumin powder. Allow this to simmer on low flame for 5-10 minutes until the flavors mingled. Add hot water and adjust consistency as the chili will thicken as it sits.
4. Sprinkle chopped coriander leaves. Mix the vegetarian chili and serve with a dollop of butter or cheddar cheese.

Serve this chili with bread or flat bread like chapatti, roti or savory dinner muffin (as seen in pic)

Go easy on the servings if bloating is an issue for you. Add lots of garlic and a good pinch of asafoetida while tempering (step 3)to reduce bloating.

Hope you like it.
Meena