Before I get into the story of this chili, you need to know two things: 1. It is really good. 2. It is not that hard to make.

Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way, I’ll tell you that Toby and I were both pretty skeptical about it. It has a ton of vegetables in it, which is great for making you look hotter (and who, except possibly Catherine Zeta Jones, couldn’t stand to look a little hotter?), but could really go either way, taste-wise. But we were both pleasantly surprised.

We did have some issues, though. This recipe comes from the Gourmet “Quick Kitchen” special edition magazine, and it said it took 45 minutes including prep. I figured it would take a little longer, but the last 20 minutes or so is cooking time, and I had a little more than an hour until ballet. So I decided to go ahead and make it.

That was problematic. It actually took about an hour just for me to get all the vegetables washed and chopped, so I left the chili cooking and ran off to ballet a few minutes late.

As I ran out the door, I told Toby to rinse off the pinto beans and add them to the chili when the timer went off, then cook the whole thing for five more minutes. I also told him to stir it a lot. He heard, “Rinse and add the beans when the timer goes off, then stir it every five minutes.” So it cooked for about an hour longer than it needed to. Oops. It was fine, though, because he did turn the heat down. And he did stir it every five minutes.

The recipe says to put the roasted dried chiles in a spice grinder and grind them up, but I don’t have a spice grinder so I just put them in a small blender. That worked perfectly fine. Your seasonings will be a lot less chunky if you use a grinder.

In case you’re wondering, that is what kale actually looks like.

This is kind of a vegetable-packed combo of Cincinnati chili and mole sauce. We added a little bit of cheese and sour cream, but it’s good by itself, too. And I’m sorry I don’t have more photos — I was pretty rushed at the end. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Pinto bean mole chili (Adapted slightly from Gourmet “Quick Kitchen”)
2 dried ancho chiles
1 dried chipotle chile
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted (or 1 teaspoon ground cumin)
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 medium onions
4 garlic cloves
3 medium zucchini or yellow squash (or combination)
3/4 pound kale
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon orange zest
1/8 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1 can whole tomatoes in juice
1 1/4 cups water
3 (15-ounce) cans pinto beans

Wipe dried chiles with a damp paper towel. Slit the chiles lengthwise and discard stems, seeds and ribs. Chop onions and zucchini/squash. Finely chop garlic. Thoroughly rinse kale, then remove leaves from stems and discard stems. Chop the kale leaves.

Heat a dry heavy skillet (not nonstick) over medium heat, then place chiles flat on hot skillet. Turn and press with tongs to toast chiles about 30 seconds — until pliable and slightly changed in color. Remove from heat and tear chiles into small pieces.

Finely grind cumin seeds and chiles in a spice or coffee grinder (or small blender). Combine with oregano, cinnamon and salt.

Cook onions in oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add garlic and cook, stirring, one minute. Add chile mixture and cook, stirring, 30 seconds.

Stir in zucchini/squash and kale and cook, covered, 5 minutes. While this is cooking, zest the orange and chop the chocolate. Chop the tomatoes (but keep the juice handy).

Add the zest, sugar, chocolate, tomatoes and juice, and water. Stir and cover the mixture. Simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender — about 15 minutes.

Drain and rinse pinto beans. Stir into chili and simmer 5 minutes.