What can I say about the Polar Vortex? Ooooh oh me oh my it’s c-c-c-cold here in Upstate, NY, and frankly, I don’t like it! There are, however, some good things about about cold weather like cozy nights in front of the fire in particular. Moving here from TX, I didn’t have many wood burning fire nights, but now I have quite a few, a lot really. And….I’ve pretty much mastered starting and maintaining a fire and it’s hard to argue how comforting this is.
In our old house, we had a wood stove insert in our fireplace and I would wake up every morning, start the fire and keep it going all day. That heated the entire house. Our furnace only turned on in the middle in the night after the fire died out. I loved it! The house we’re in now is a 1920’s Colonial that isn’t wide open enough to put a stove insert in the fireplace and heat the house. The heat would basically get trapped in the living room and not spread to the rest of the house.
Oh well. That’s where a hot bowl of chili comes in on a cold night. Gary asked me tonight what I wanted for dinner and without hesitation I said chili…. but I wanted to make it a little different. I wanted to use the spices from my Indian Spice Kit. We agreed it was a good idea, and by golly it turned out great! The base of this recipe is a basic, fool proof chili but instead of being seasoned with a Mexican chili powder or oregano, we used Indian spices. And since Indian spices we used consist of cumin, coriander, and Indian chili powder (similar to cayenne), the difference in flavors are subtle- but you can definitely taste them! This makes a good size pot and should easily serve 4 up to 6 depending on how hungry you are and if have anything else with it.
- 2 Tbsps. oil
- 1 cup onion, chopped
- 1 cup bell pepper, chopped
- 1 Tbsp. garlic, minced
- 1 Tbsp. ginger, minced
- 1 jalapeno, seeded, chopped
- 1 lb. 93% lean ground turkey
- 1 Tbsp. sugar
- 2 tsps. salt
- 1½ tsps. each coriander, cumin, curry powder
- 1 tsp. turmeric
- ¼ tsp. Indian chili powder or cayenne
- 2 cups low sodium chicken broth
- 1 (28 oz.) crushed tomatoes
- 1 (15.5 oz.) can kidney beans, drained
- 1 cup frozen peas
- Heat oil in a large pot on medium heat. Add onion, bell pepper, garlic, ginger, and jalapeno. Saute 10 minutes.
- Add turkey and cook 5 minutes.
- Sprinkle in sugar, salt, and spices.
- Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and cook uncovered 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
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