Wild Mushroom Chili
Dried mushrooms and canned beans do the work meat usually does. One pot, one long simmer.
- calories
- 330
- weight
- 7 oz
- cal / oz
- 47
- protein
- 13 g
- serves
- 6, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 45 min
- total time
- 60 min
- water
- 700 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Dutch oven
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Vegetarian
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Dried mushrooms | 2 oz | maitake, oyster, or shiitake; slice or crumble to pieces about half an inch |
|---|---|---|
| Cooking oil | 3 tbsp | or 4 tbsp butter if you are running a cooler |
| Dried onion flakes | 1/2 cup | |
| Granulated garlic | 1 tbsp | |
| Chili powder | 1/4 cup | or 5-6 dried guajillos, toasted and ground at home |
| Ground cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Smoked paprika | 1 tsp | |
| Dried red bell pepper | 1/2 cup | or one fresh pepper if you have a cooler |
| Canned whole peeled tomatoes | 1 15 oz can | |
| Tamari or gluten-free soy sauce | 2 tbsp | carry in a small leakproof bottle |
| Canned beans | 2 15 oz cans | black or pinto, not drained |
| Dried thyme | 1/2 tsp | |
| Bay leaf | 1 | |
| Vegetable bouillon | 2 cubes | |
| Salt | 1/2 tsp, plus more at the end | |
| Shelf-stable shredded cheese or hard cheese | 4 oz | optional, for the top |
Method
- Put the dried mushrooms and dried pepper in a bowl or spare pot with about 400 ml of boiling water. Leave them 15 minutes. Keep the soaking water.
- Heat the oil in a Dutch oven or large pot over coals or a low flame. Add the onion flakes, garlic, chili powder, cumin, and paprika. Stir for two minutes until it smells toasted, not burnt. Spices scorch fast over a fire, so keep the pot off the hottest coals.
- Add the drained mushrooms and pepper. Cook five minutes, stirring, until they stop giving up water.
- Crush the canned tomatoes into the pot by hand. Add the tamari, the mushroom soaking water, another 300 ml of water, the bouillon, thyme, bay leaf, and salt.
- Simmer uncovered 30 minutes. It should reduce and darken.
- Add the beans with their liquid and simmer 15 minutes more. Pull the bay leaf, taste, and add salt.
- Top with cheese if you brought it.
Mushrooms carry a chili the way beef does, but only if you treat them like meat. The soak and the sear matter. Skip the sear and they stay spongy and release water into the pot for the whole simmer, which leaves you with bean soup.
The soy sauce looks out of place and is the most important thing here. Meat brings glutamates; without it the chili tastes flat no matter how much chili powder goes in. Two tablespoons fixes that. The mushroom soaking water is doing the same job, which is why it goes in the pot instead of on the ground. Original calls for fresh peppers roasted over a burner and a food processor for the onion and garlic; dried pepper and onion flakes get close and remove the two things you cannot do in camp.
Packing
Onion flakes, garlic, chili powder, cumin, paprika, thyme, bay leaf, and salt go into one bag as a spice premix. Mushrooms and dried pepper share a second bag. Cans and the tamari bottle ride wherever they will not get crushed.
Variations
- Fresh mushrooms instead of dried if you have a cooler. Use 8 oz and skip the soak, but add an extra cup of water.
- Pickled onions and a spoon of sour cream on top if you are car camping with a cooler.
- Add a cup of instant masa or cornmeal at the end to thicken it into something you can eat with a tortilla.
https://foragerchef.com/wild-mushroom-chili