Smokey Chipotle Tri-Tip Chili

In my past life, I would have posted this recipe to my food blog. But my food blog disappoints me and I want to start over.

This recipe came to me this morning as I was pondering over what I was going to do with a whole pound of leftover smoked tri-tip. What a fabulous idea.

First, the ingredients:

1 tbsp canola oil

 4 cloves garlic, minced

 1 dried chipotle pepper, divided in half, one half chopped, one half solid

1 1/2 cups (1 pound?) smoked tri-tip, diced (mine was previously cooked and taken straight out of the fridge)

1/8 cup brown sugar

 2 15-oz cans tomato sauce

4 tbsp chili powder

dash of cinnamon

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

1/2 tbsp paprika

1 tbsp Italian seasoning/oregano

 1 tbsp maple syrup

1 15-oz can white kidney beans

1 15-oz can red kidney benas

1/4 cup masa/corn meal

That's a lot of junk. But it is yummy.

Prep ingredients beforehand, so you can just dump them in.

Heat the canola oil  in a large stock pot over medium heat for about a minute (just so it gets hot). Then pour in the minced garlic and stir it in just until it is fragrant. At that point, add the diced half of the dried chipotle pepper and continue cooking it. This will add heat to the base of your chili.

Once it's nice and spicy-smelling, it's time to add the diced smoked tri-tip. Cook this to a good sear - you'll notice the meat getting darker and all the smells will combine into a smokey wonderland in your pot. Then add the brown sugar to give it a  bit of caramelization.

Once that's nicely incorporated, reduce the heat to low and add the tomato sauce.  Pour in the chili powder and the cinnamon. Mix it all up and let it gradually get to a boil.

At this point, you can add the rest of the spices, including the garlic powder, the salt, the pepper, the paprika, and the Italian seasonings/oregano. Top it off with the maple syrup.

Mix it together thoroughly, then dump in the white kidney beans and the red kidney beans. Add the solid half of the dried chipotle pepper.

Stir very well, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer (basically as low as your stove top will allow you to go without turning off), and allow those amazing flavors to mingle for about an hour. You should also make sure to stir the chili once every 10-15 minutes just to make sure it doesn't get stuck to the pot.

After the hour is over, add in the masa and about 1 tbsp of water. Mix that in there to thicken, then allow it to continue to cook for another fifteen minutes.

In the end, you should get a very thick, very smokey (yet slightly sweet!) chili. And if you're anything like me, you need to top it with a thousand things just because you need an excuse to eat them. I'm obsessed with cheese, sour cream, green onions, and olives, so chili is the perfect excuse to eat them all at once.

Hope it's delicious.