[vegan] coney sauce (chili con carne)

Coney dogs, chili cheese burritos, enchiladas smothered in chili sauce…..All these and more can be at your fingertips! In fact, if you already have some (mex) red chili paste on hand (which i’m SURE you do, right? no? hmph. get to it!) then you can be noshing on these in no time. This is a super fast and super easy recipe that gives you a major return in flavour, way more return than the effort you’re gonna put into it, at least….yeah, definitely. Good returns.

coney sauce (chili con carne)

sj Coney dogs, chili cheese burritos, enchiladas smothered in chili sauce…..All these and more can be at your fingertips! In fact, if you already… 10 items or less [vegan] coney sauce (chili con carne) European make it paper

yield: just over 1 quart Prep Time: 5 minutes Cooking Time: 20 minutes 20 minutes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

rating 5.0/5

( 3 voted )

ingredients:

100g / 1 1/2 cups TVP (or other meaty crumbles of choice)

1 cup (½ recipe) of (mex) red chili paste

600g/ml | 2 ½  cups broth (preferably medium-dark)

45g | ¼ cup finely chopped white or yellow cooking onion (not sweet)

26g/30ml | 2 Tbsp cooking oil

14g | 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour (or 2 tsp starch)

20g | 1 Tbsp tomato paste

Salt to taste

1 tsp brown sugar (optional)

directions:

Toast the TVP in half the oil over medium heat until golden brown, set aside

Saute onions in remaining oil over medium-high heat until onions are just cooked and starting to brown

Add in flour and cook until the flour sticking on bottom of pan is golden brown

Add in half of the broth (it will thicken up real quick)

Add in red chili base and tomato paste

Either in a blender or in the pan with an immersion blender, blend until smooth

Add remaining broth and TVP, bring to a light boil/simmer, reduce heat and simmer, stirring for about 10 minutes to allow the flour to cook and thicken and the TVP to hydrate fully

Add sugar if using

Add salt to taste

Smother something in it!

This keeps for 5-7 days in the fridge, or about 6 months in the freezer

notes:

this can be made soy free easily with seitan crumbles in place of the TVP, and gluten free with starch in place of flour

Here’s the mise en place for this one, broth (any broth will do, medium-dark ones are best imho), (mex) red chili paste (hopefully you’re starting to see how useful this stuff is to have around), onions, flour (you can sub starch if doing gluten free), a teensy bit of tomato paste, dry TVP (or whatever meaty stuff you want to use), and some oil. That’s it!

First on the list is to toast the TVP in half the oil, this adds an extra bit of something to the dish, if you’re in rush, or you just are dying for a chili cheese burrito or something, you can skip it. If you’re using something other than TVP, you should brown it in a little more oil than what we use here, usually per package directions or however you normally would. If using something other than TVP you’re gonna want to reduce your broth by about 3/4 of a cup, though the exact amount depends on how dry/wet your substitution is, always err on the side of too dry as it’s easier to add more broth than take it out. After it’s all toasted (or browned) you can set it aside and move on to the onions.

Now, using the rest of the oil we are gonna sautee the onions over medium-high heat, we’re looking for softened, somewhat translucent and nicely browned bits. Cooking them slower at a lower heat would bring out more sugars, and we don’t need that here, so quick and high is the game. When they are done, turn the heat to low and add your flour, stir to coat the onions and cook just until the flour turns a toasty golden and doesn’t smell like raw flour anymore.

Like this! I know it looks weird, and wrong, and you’re thinking it’s not gonna work very well, that you’re gonna have weird clumps of flour goo around your onions, don’t fret, it will all be fine. Now, add in 1/2 of your broth, the chili paste, and tomato paste, stir it up and then hit it with an immersion blender or toss it in an upright blender and blitz it until it’s smooth and creamy. Return it to the pan if you use an upright, add in your remaining broth and TVP, let it come back to a simmer and reduce the heat, simmering and stirring for about 10 minutes to allow it to fully thicken up and the TVP to fully hydrate. Add salt to taste, and a teaspoon of brown sugar if you like a sweeter coney sauce, and you’re done!

Like i said in the beginning, coney dogs, enchiladas, chili cheese burritos, have it over huevos, on a taco salad, on fries, on a baked potato…Anywhere you wanna use a rich hearty chili sauce, just go for it!  This also makes a REALLY good base for some crazy yum queso con carne….massive yum. (don’t worry, i’ll tell you more about this later)