Halloween Raw Chili Recipe

Happy All Hallow's Eve! What a great day to light the jack 'o' lantern, turn on some spooky tunes, and brew and stew a delicious autumn meal. In pagan religions, today marks the end of the harvest. Any food left unharvested on the fields tonight would be tainted by the living dead. Christians placed All Saint's Day (Toussaint here in France!) on Nov. 1 to Christianize the pagan holidays. To celebrate the beautiful autumn vegetables and start of the holiday season, I decided to make my first raw chili. And it was delicious! Recipe below and Halloween soundtrack in the sidebar for you!


Halloween Raw Chili Recipe
Serves 3-4 people

3/4 cup walnuts soaked
(If you have time to soak the walnuts the night before, let them soak for 6 hours or so, and then drain and dry. If you want to make the chili right now, start to soak the walnuts at the beginning of your preparation and you can use them this way as well).

For your chili base, add:
4 vine-ripened tomatoes seeded (they are a bit smaller than regular tomatoes)
10 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (water-soaked would be fine, but I cannot find them here)
1/2 each green and yellow bell pepper (or whatever colors you like)
1 stalk celery
1 hot pepper (or to your tastebuds)
1 garlic clove
3 T olive oil (cold pressed organic please!)

Process in a food processor at med-high speed, occasionally stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Process until all chopped (3-4 brief pulses) and then add your spices:
3 tsp cumin
4 tsp chili powder
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
Juice of 1/2 lime

Of course, these were the spices I had at home and felt like adding. Be creative! Fresh cilantro would be great, go spicier if you like, add onion powder, etc.


Then process the base again until it is purée, almost liquidy. Pour into a dish.

For your chili mixings, combine in a separate bowl:
2 vine-ripened tomatoes
the other 1/2 of your two peppers
3 shallots minced
2 mushrooms
the 3/4 cup walnuts, drained
3 tsp olive oil
2 tsp tamari
2 tsp agave
1/2 tsp sea salt

This is the mix that will make your chili chunky, so cut the veggies to the size you would like to chew. I did the peppers a bit bigger than the mushrooms, but next time, I would make the peppers smaller and the mushrooms bigger. The fleshy mushrooms are really nice combined with the crunchy walnuts.

Stir together to mix the flavors, then pour into your chili base.And voila, you are ready to serve. Eat and enjoy. Yum!