Love the combination of black beans and sweet potatoes. Create a complete meal by scooping some black bean chile over sweet potatoes. The sweet potatoes could be roasted, mashed, or baked. They all work.
"*" See Kitchen Notes for more information or links to special ingredients.
- 2 cups dried black beans
- 1 Tbsp. Kosher salt
- Enough water to cover the beans plus 1" above
- 5 cups vegetable broth*
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 1 medium green bell pepper or poblano, diced
- ½ cup roasted green chile, chopped
- 6 large cloves garlic, minced
- 1 – 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes with juice or 1 ½ cups chopped fresh tomatoes.
- 2 teaspoon red chile powder*
- ½ tsp. chipotle powder*
- 1 Tbsp. paprika*
- ½ tsp. smoked paprika*
- 1 tsp. toasted cumin/coriander mix
- 1 tsp. dried oregano
- 1 bay leaf
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro, minced (optional)
- ½ small to medium sweet potato per serving, roasted or microwaved
- OR 1/2 cup mashed sweet potaotes
- Raw onion, minced
- Scallions with tops, thinly sliced
- Red chile sauce
- Feta cheese, crumbled
- Sour cream or creme fraiche
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Place about 5 - 6 cups of water in a large bowl with 1 Tbsp. coarse salt. Stir to dissolve the salt.
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Add the beans and let brine 4 hours.
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After 4 hours, drain and rinse the beans. Transfer to pressure cooker.
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Add 5 ½ cups vegetable broth to the pressure cooker with the beans and start heating the broth and beans while you chop the vegetables.
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Add all chili ingredients (except cilantro) to the pressure cooker. Stir well.
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Close the cooker and bring to a medium high pressure.
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Once the setting is reached, cook for 10 minutes.
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Remove from heat and let set for 10 minutes.
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Relieve the pressure on the cooker, open and test beans for doneness and salt. If not quite cooked, continue to cook for another 5 minutes or so at high heat until done and to desired consistency.
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If using cilantro, stir it in now and serve over sweet potato with desired toppings.
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If using roasted or microwaved sweet potato*, place ½ of a sweet potato in a bowl. Cut down the middle to open it up. Pour the desired amount of black bean chili on top of the sweet potato. Top with desired toppings.
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If using mashed potatoes, scoop potatoes in a bowl. Make a hole in the center and scoop chili into the center. Top with desired topping.
Vegetable broth – I don’t make vegetable broth from scratch. I use water and a vegetable bouillon base (5 cups water to 1 tsp. base). Between the brine and the base, you’ll find that you won’t need to add additional salt to the finished chili, that is unless you like food really salty.
Chile powders – As you can see from the recipe, I don’t use a chili powder blend but rather several different chile powders and other spices and herbs. By using the discrete components of a blend, you can create a flavor profile that best fits your palate. Therefore, rather than grabbing a bottle of “chili powder”, grab all of the “chile powders” you have in your pantry and create your own.
The Sweet Potato – The sweet potato can be baked, microwaved or mashed. Here’s a quick & easy mashed sweet potato recipe.
For the baked sweet potato, scrub it, poke a couple of times with a fork, coat the outside with oil or butter, and roast in a preheated 400°F oven for 40 – 45 minutes or until done.
For the microwaved potato, scrub, poke a couple of times with a fork, and microwave on high for 3 minutes. Turn over and microwave for another 3 minutes or until done.