Vegetarian Chili

I live with six girls, three of whom are vegetarians. This chili, from Jack Bishop's A Year in a Vegetarian Kitchen, is a house specialty of ours.

Ingredients:

• Oil for the pan (about 2 tbsp.)
• one large-ish onion, peeled
• 2-4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• Chili pepper to taste
  
• 2 tbsp. chili powder
• 2 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 10-12 oz. of firm tofu, drained and broken into pieces
• 30 oz. beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 30 oz. canned, diced tomatoes
  
• 1 12-oz. bottle of beer
• VT cheddar, sour cream, plain yogurt, etc. for garnish. Bishop also recommends lime wedges.

Procedure:

1. Heat the oil in a large pot (like what you might cook spaghetti in) over medium heat until shimmering. Meanwhile, use a food processor or some kick-ass chopping skills to finely chop the onion and garlic, separately. When the oil is shimmery, add the onions and a few shakes of salt. Cook until translucent, a little more than 5 minutes. Add chopped garlic, chopped or ground chili peppers, chili powder, cumin and coriander; cook, stirring often, for about 2 minutes (until very aromatic).
2. Add the tofu, breaking apart any large-ish chunks with a wooden spoon, until well coated in spices (2 minutes). Add beans, diced tomatoes, beer and 1/2 tsp. salt and bring to a boil.
   
3. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for 30 minutes. The remove the cover and continue to simmer until chili is thick, at least another half hour. Adjust spices to taste.
   

Tips:

• This meal gets better with age, so I like to make it on a Saturday or Sunday and plan to eat/share it all week. Sometimes I adjust the quantities of stuff to make a bigger batch.
  
• I'm kind of obsessed with cayenne pepper, which I buy crushed, in bulk. I usually add about a tablespoon to taste, though I've also used half a fresh, chopped habanero pepper, and I've also used canned jalapenos... Experiment.
• Bishop says to use kidney beans. I use at least one can of kidney beans, and I happen to love black beans, so I always add those. Use whatever kind you like.
  
• I usually use one can of tomatoes and one or two whole, ripe tomatoes, that I chop by hand, or with my roommate's choppy thing. Again, experiment.
• I just started using this awesome little choppy thing one of my roommates has, and I don't think I'll go back to chopping by hand.
• Bishop's book is organized seasonally, and this chili is under "Winter." It is a good winter food-- warm, fun to stay in and make-- but we make it totally appropriate any season with the beer. The first time we made this it was the Harvest Chili, and most recently, I used UFO Pale.