Chicken Tortilla Chilli.
My 2nd place chilli cookoff recipe
I know, I know. It’s second place, you probably want a first place recipe. I would too. While I would like to have the first place recipe, the guy who made the first place chilli didn’t even write it down. So here’s my second place recipe. All the chillies in the cookoff were strong contenders, but this one is mine. The recipe is mostly based on the Chicken Tortilla Soup recipe by Brian Lagerstrom on Youtube. Here’s his video. I recommend his channel.
My recipe deviates a little bit for the cookoff. I used my own spice blend and I took a few extra steps to make it more competitive.
Anyway, onto the recipe.
Recomended Equipment
- A large pot of at least 4 quarts. This recipe makes about 3 1/2 quarts. Ingredient sizes may increase or decrease the voume. I used a 5 quart enameled cast iron dutch oven.
- A blender
- A grill and charcoal chimney
Ingredients
- Spices to taste:
- A blend of Cummin, Coriander Seeds, Caraway Seeds, Black Cardamom, and Black Pepper
- Smoked Paprika
- Salt
- MSG
- Fresh Vegetables:
- One medium sweet onion
- Two Poblano Peppers
- Two Jalapeño Peppers
- One head of garlic
- Canned Vegetables:
- One 8oz can red kidney beans
- One 8oz can black beans drained
- One 28oz can crushed San Marzano or San Marzano Style tomatoes
- One 8oz can sweet corn
- One 4oz can smoked chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (3 peppers for this recipe)
- Stock:
- One liter carton of chicken stock. If you have home made stock, use that.
- Meat:
- One Rotiserie Chicken
Method
PREP
This part is optional, but recommended to really boost the flavor of the chilli.
- Prepare your grill.
- Add charcoal brickettes into your charcoal chimney and light them. The chimney helps get the charcoal get hot quickly.
- Give your onion a rough dice.
- Chop the top of a head of garlic off. Coat in salt and olive oil, and wrap it in foil.
- Roast Peppers and Garlic.
- Dump the charcoal onto one side of the grill and lay your peppers on the other side. As the charcoal cools, move the peppers closer to the coals
- Break Down the rotiserie chicken.
- Waiting for the peppers is a good time to break down the chicken. Remove bones and chop the chicken into pieces that make sense for a spoon. Reserve the drippings from the bottom of the chicken. If you can, reserve the bones in the freezer for homemade stock later on.
- Peel the skin off the peppers and discard the seeds.
- The peppers will be pretty soft, you may be able to scrape some of the skin off with a knife.
- Dice the peppers, including three of the adobo chipotle peppers. That will be most of the prep you have to do before you start cooking.
COOKING
- Preheat a large pot.
- Add olive oil to the pot followed by your diced onions.
- Add salt, stir with a wooden spoon, and let your onions sweat for a few minutes.
- Add your peppers and garlic to the pot. Mash the garlic with your spoon.
- Let your aromatic veggetables cook for a couple minutes before adding your spices.
- Add your spices and let them toast before adding a whole 28oz can of crushed tomatoes.
- Add salt.
- Add the chicken stock and chicken drippings and let the pot come to a simmer.
- Add your red beans with the water, black beans drained, and corn drained to the pot. Allow the pot to come to a simmer again.
- Scoop a portion of the chilli into a blender and blend.
- Depending on the size of the blender and how thick you like your chilli, do this once or twice.
- Add the chicken and to the chilli and stir occasionally to avoid sticking on the bottom of the pot.
- Let the chilli simmer and reduce until it reaches a consistency you like.
- Add last mile seasonings, Salt and MSG, to taste.
Recomended Garnishes
- Cilantro
- Avocado
- Fresh white cheese such as Cotija, Oaxaca, or mozzarella
- Sour Cream
- Tortilla Chips
The results speak for themselves.
