Chili in Chile

Contrary to popular belief, Chileans do not eat chili, nor do they typically even like (or know about) spicy food. As a Texan living in Chile, I have an insatiable craving for spicy food. The hotter the better, right? Tonight I set out to introduce real Texan (turkey) chili to Chile. Granted, as a "hoof-a-tarian" as my mother would like to call it (e.g. I don't eat anything with a hoof), real Texan chili is difficult to accomplish without the standard ground beef and/or sausage/bacon complements, however, I feel like the unusual flavors and extra kick were exactly what a dinner party was asking for on a random Tuesday night. Sadly, I learned that I only have 4 spoons in my furnished apartment and had to make due with unmatching bowls, but that is probably the least of the problems I faced in making chili in Chile. We can all eat with our hands, right? Just kidding...but, admittedly, I used a fork and made my friend Lauren enjoy her meal with a wooden spoon. So much for being a good hostess....Here's the closest thing to the recipe that I can replicate for what I made:

INGREDIENTS:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 extra large green pepper, seeded and chopped
1 red pepper, seeded and chopped
1 yellow pepper, seeded and chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 lb ground turkey
2 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground pepper
3 tbsp instant hot cocoa mix
2 tsp seasoned salt
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 can garlic diced tomatoes (15 oz approx.)
1 8 oz (totally guess on this one) of tomato paste
~14 oz canned pinto beans (mine were actually in a box and not measured in ounces)
1/2 beer (in my case, Heineken was the only beer in my fridge)
1/2 can (haha...no canned veggies in Chile) or equivalent of kernel corn
2 tbsp (or more!!) Cholula
sour cream
grated cheese
diced onions

DIRECTIONS:
Note: This recipe was adapted for the difficulty of obtaining desired products in Chile, however as a result of smuggling illegal spices through customs when I went home for Christmas coupled with the Chilean Walmart subsidiary, Lider, I was able to make some BOMB chili. Change it up however you like and it should turn out great! (As long as you are Texan ;)...haha)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, peppers, and jalapeno; cook and stir until the onion is transparent. Push these to one side of the pot and crumble in the ground turkey. Cover, and cook for about 8 minutes, stirring occasionally without mixing the veggies (ensuring that the garlic doesn't burn) and meat. Once the meat is no longer pink, stir everything together.

2. Season with chili powder, red pepper flakes, paprika, cumin, pepper, cocoa mix and seasoned salt. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and pinto beans. Crack open the beer, and pour in about 1/2. Find your boyfriend (or some other guy) to drink the rest. Partially cover the pot and simmer over medium heat for about 50 minutes, stirring occasionally.

3. Mix in the corn and Cholula and simmer for 10 more minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool for a few minutes before serving.

4. Top with diced onions, grated cheese and sour cream. AND CELEBRATE!! YOU JUST MADE CHILI IN CHILE!

Okay, so I know the Cholula is a little specific, but I am obsessed with it, and almost named my cat after it, so if you can find it -DO! (Snickers ended up fitting her sweet, peanutty cat personaliy better than hotsauce.) If you live in Florida, California or Texas, you have no excuse for using Tabasco or some other sub-par equivalent. Secondly, I know some people actually eat beef, so I am sure this is probably good with ground beef (or even more ground turkey, but that was REALLY hard to find in Chile) and/or some added bacon. In addition, please feel free to drink the rest of the beer. I personally prefer Chilean Savignon Blanc to beer, so I was merely recanting my evening in true blog style. And finally, please, please, please if it is your power to bake/buy/find jalapeno corn bread (or any variation of cornbread), serve it up with a delicious pot of Chile Chili!

For those of you that could care less about cooking, there is more to the story than a great recipe. First, the look of surprise on the faces of my American friends was unforgettable when I told them that there was not only Worcestershire sauce and Nesquik cocoa in the chili, but also the look of confusion on the faces of their Chilean and Spanish significant others at the mention of both items. A conversation over the pronunciation of Worcestershire then pursued, ending in a standstill. I still hold that in England, they pronounce it without all the confusing syllables so that is comes out sounding more like "Wuster" (thanks Trey) over the tongue-twister of pronouncing each syllable phonetically would propose. Aside from the challenge in finding what I was searching for (assisted by my visit to the farmer's market this weekend), I had a lot of fun renewing my love for the kitchen, so-be-it in a strange and foreign kitchen, but a kitchen, nonetheless. I couldn't have been more pleased when Jackie's Spanish boyfriend asked me for the recipe. How often does a guy want to know how to make something? Sadly, after realizing that I didn't exactly have one, and any version of a "recipe" I could offer was riddled with ingredients available specifically either in Chile, the US, but neither Spain (his home country) nor Peru (where Eduardo is moving next week), he quietly left my "recipe" behind. I can't say that I am offended since he finished off two bowls of the chili.

All I know is the bowl of chili in the picture above was worth the effort and something worth bringing to Chile. I am still curious though how a country called CHILE doesn't eat spicy food, but I guess that is something for me to work out on my own.