Winter Lentil Chili Recipe

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Winter Lentil Chili
As featured on “Talk of the Town” in January 2011

This is a great take on an old favorite and saves you SO much money by substituting lentils for meat & beans.

Bulk it up even further by adding additional other winter vegetables like squash & eggplant that have been chopped finely in the food processor. If you’re not worried about keeping this a vegetarian dish, substitute beef stock for vegetable stock and add a couple dashes of worcestershire sauce for a meatier taste!

Ingredients

8 cups vegetable broth or stock
½ cup frozen yellow onions, diced
2 cups frozen tri-color bell peppers, diced
2 carrots, diced
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 tablespoon Montreal Steak seasoning
1 teaspoon cumin
1 (16-ounce) package brown lentils (about 2 1/4 cups lentils if buying from bulk section)
2 (15-ounce) cans diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional for garnish)

Method

Bring 3/4 cup broth to a simmer in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add vegetables and garlic and cook about 10 minutes or until tender. Combine chili powder, steak seasoning and cumin in small bowl, add to pot and cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add lentils, tomatoes and remaining broth. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, partially covered, 30 minutes or until lentils are almost tender. Uncover and cook 10 minutes longer. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Note: If you want to speed up the cooking time, soak your lentils in water overnight before cooking and reduce stock in the recipe. You can also omit the Montreal Steak seasoning to keep it a low sodium dish.