What can I say? You can take the girl out of the Southwest but you can’t take the Southwest out of the girl. And that being said, I love a good chilli. Especially when the evenings are cold and dark and having a warm stomach just makes me feel better about life.
(Adapted from A Pinchof Yum)
Ingredients:
1½ lbs. chicken breasts
5 cups of chicken broth
1 onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 jalapeno, minced
1 bell pepper
2 tablespoons of butter or olive oil
2 teaspoons of chili powder
1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 14 ounce cans tomatoes, undrained
1 14 ounce can black beans, drained
cilantro and cheese for topping
Instructions:
Start by cooking your chicken. Bring the chicken broth to a rolling boil and add the raw chicken breasts. Cover and cook for 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the chicken continue to cook in the broth for another 20 minutes. Remove the chicken, let cool, and shred with two forks. Reserve 2 cups of broth. Keep chicken in the fridge until ready to use .
Then heat the butter in a large soup pot over medium high heat. Add saute your garlic, onion, jalapeno, and bell pepper by and saute until tender. Add the spices, salt, and sweet potatoes. Saute until the sweet potatoes are lightly browned.
Next, add the tomatoes, black beans, shredded chicken and reserved broth. Stir and cover with a tight fitting lid. Keep over medium heat for 45 minutes stirring occasionally.
After 45 minutes, uncover and you should see hardly any liquid. Add 1 1/2 cups of water and stir to combine. Let it liquid reduce down for about 7 more minutes just to help thicken your chilli up even more.
Lastly, season it salt and pepper and serve topped with cilantro and cheese. (I served mine over rice.)
Sauteing the veg.
The chilli starting to come together.
