This is a recipe I developed myself, and it has become one my family's favorites. The first night I made it for supper, my oldest two children asked to have some more as a bedtime snack (and I happy obliged)! It's warm and comforting yet light enough to enjoy even in the summer. The mango literally melts into the background and adds just the slightest hint of sweetness that compliments all of the other ingredients. I always make it in the slow cooker now, but I will add an alternate stove-top preparation as well. It lends itself easily to dividing or multiplying if you are feeding more or less, and there are many ways to make it to your exact liking.
I use whatever ground meat I have on hand (usually extra lean ground beef), today I am using ground chicken (Smart Chicken) since it was on sale in my grocery store's Health Market, and I printed a coupon from Smart Chicken's website to use for another dollar off. I go easy on the meat, which helps the pocketbook a bit as well as satisfies both my meat-loving family and my own desire to eat as little meat as possible. I use canned organic black beans, as they are the same price as a can of non-organic at my grocery store. Using dried beans would save even more money. I usually use my grocery store's own brand of organic corn tortilla chips for garnish (well, my husband doesn't really "garnish", he ends up with a 50/50 mixture most of the time), but today I used Blue Chips by Garden of Eatin'. They are all natural, made with organic blue corn and have no added salt (and yes, they are still delicious)! My grocery store's health market has them on sale for $3 a bag, and I printed a $1 off one bag coupon at gardenofeatin.com. You could garnish with regular tortilla chips, corn chips, sour cream, shredded cheese, etc. My grocery store no longer carries organic mangoes, but I find the non-organic variety on sale quite often, maybe because in southern Minnesota, they are still somewhat "exotic" and don't move quickly? I love red bell peppers, but if you prefer green or yellow or orange or can find them cheaper, use what you like. The price of red bell peppers really fluctuates around here, so what I use varies (until my own peppers start sprouting out in the garden!). Today I used up the half of a red one I had left plus half of a green one. I like my chili really chunky, and I think this recipe generates more than enough moisture as it is, but if you think it needs more liquid, add a cup or so of vegetable stock, beef stock, water or even tomato sauce/juice. I add jalapeno or crushed red pepper flakes to my own bowl after I dish everyone up, as I am the only one who likes it with some heat. ;)
Black beans are high in fiber, protein, folate and other minerals, and a half-cup serving has around 10% of the standard daily recommend amount of iron. Canned tomatoes have fair amounts of vitamin A, vitamin C, and lycopene. Mango is a good source of Vitamins A and C, and they have a little fiber as well. Bell peppers are full of Vitamin C. And of course you'll get some nutritional benefits form whatever meat you choose to use--though you could absolutely make this a vegetarian dish as well. I really like to watch our sodium intake, so whenever possible, I use low sodium beans and tomatoes when I am using store-bought canned.
Mango & Black Bean Chili
1/2 lb extra lean ground beef/turkey/chicken, browned and drained
2 15-oz cans organic low sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
2 15-oz cans low sodium diced tomatoes, not drained
1 mango, diced
1 small onion, diced
1 bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp mild chili powder
1 tsp cumin
Organic corn tortilla chips for garnish
Optional: 1 jalapeno, diced (or to taste), or red pepper flakes/cayenne to taste
Directions: Place browned/drained meat in slow cooker and and all other ingredients. Mix well and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours. Garnish each serving with crushed organic corn tortilla chips.
Alternate preparation (stove-top): Brown and drain meat. Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large Dutch oven/stock pot over medium-high heat. Saute onion, garlic, red bell pepper and jalapeno until barely tender, about 3 minutes. Add mango, zucchini, chili powder, cumin, and jalapeno/pepper flakes/cayenne if desired, stirring for another 2 minutes. Add meat, tomatoes and beans. Bring to a soft boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
COST:
Smart Chicken ground chicken: $3.99/lb (on sale) - $1 off coupon, used 1/2 lb = $1.50
Organic black beans: $1.39/can x 2 = $2.78
Canned diced tomatoes (no salt added): $1.09/can x 2 = $2.18
Mango = $.50
Red bell pepper: $1.50 each, used half = $.75
Green bell pepper: $.59 each, used half = $.30
Garlic: One head was $.25, used three cloves, which is 1/4 of the head = $.06
Onion: One small red onion (8 oz) was $.75/lb = $.38
Organic corn tortilla chips: $3.00/bag (on sale) - $1 off coupon, used 1/4 of the bag = $.50
Total Cost: $8.95
Six servings: $1.49 per serving
Eight Servings: $1.12 per serving Handling Your Mango
Don't be intimidated if you have never sliced a mango--it's really simple! A paring knife is much easier to handle and highly recommended for this job. The pit is rather flat and oblong-shaped, and it runs the entire length of the fruit. It's right in the middle, so you'll need to start cutting off-center. Start on one of the wide "faces" of the mango and slice it off, using your stealth-like knife skills to maneuver around the pit if you go a little too deep. Repeat on remaining three sides. Score each piece down to the skin with your paring knife (don't go all the way through the skin) in a criss-cross pattern and then push the fruit up and out from the skin side (like you're trying to turn it inside-out) so that you can easily slice off the resulting cubes. Totally useless trivia for the day: the two wide pieces of mango you slice off are called "cheeks", and the two thin pieces are called "fingers".
UPDATE 5/24/11
Last night my husband said we may as well make this a vegetarian dish to mix it up once in awhile (yes, I was floored by this meat-lover's suggestion!), especially since I have only been using 1/2 lb of meat anyway. So the cost for making it vegetarian would look like this:
Organic black beans: $1.39/can x 2 = $2.78
Canned diced tomatoes (no salt added): $1.09/can x 2 = $2.18
Mango = $.50
Red bell pepper: $1.50 each, used half = $.75
Green bell pepper: $.59 each, used half = $.30
Garlic: One head was $.25, used three cloves, which is 1/4 of the head = $.06
Onion: One small red onion (8 oz) was $.75/lb = $.38
Organic corn tortilla chips: $3.00/bag (on sale) - $1 off coupon, used 1/4 of the bag = $.50
Total Cost: $7.45
Six servings: $1.24 per serving
Eight Servings: $.93 per serving
Eight Servings: $.93 per serving
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