New Veggie Chili
My old veggie chili recipe called for a box of soy protein crumble, which is unavailable at our local grocery store. I revisited the recipe of Best Vegetarian Chili by Cook's Illustrated. It called for bulgur for ground meat-like texture. My local grocery doesn't have bulgar either, or I usually don't have it. However, luckily this time was different. I had bulgur in hand! It must be some leftover when I made Cook's Illustrated's veggie burgers, which were pretty good. I basically followed my old recipe, replacing a box of soy protein crumble with about 2/3 cup of bulgur. Actually it was a lot. When I opened the lid and saw the chili, all looked like bulgur. I added a can of pinto beans to adjust the ratio of beans and bulgur, and added more water because it was so thick almost like bulgur pudding. I also used green pepper instead of red or yellow one. No celery. One extra garlic clove. The result was fantastic! Cook's Illustrated says "Bulgur fills out the chili, giving it a substantial texture." That's true. I think natural bulgur could be much healthier than heavily-processed commercial soy protein. I will keep some bulgur in pantry from now on.
