Logan woman’s vegetarian chili recipe featured in national magazine
Paula Zsiray’s vegetarian chili never had an official name until it showed up on the cover of a national magazine.
Her “Meatless (but you’d never know it) Chili” appears in the latest Woman’s Day Magazine along with a short story about how the hearty recipe came to be. Zsiray was a finalist among three top chili makers from around the country. The no-meat, grain-based chili, she explains, has a history that continues to evolve.
“It’s gone through a couple of changes along the way,” said the Boston-born Logan woman. “I have a couple of family members who are vegetarian and now they make it for their families.”
Zsiray first made the hearty soup about 20 years ago when she volunteered to bring a meat chili alternative to her son’s Cub
Scout chili fundraiser. The idea came from a basic mix she saw in a cookbook that she altered and perfected to her own liking.
“I was always told: change it, name it and claim it,” she said with a laugh. “It has a beans and corn and a bunch of different things in it. I think the flavor is really great and the ingredients give it a nice texture.”
The main ingredient, uncommon even for vegetarian chili, is hard red wheat. The recipe calls for three quarter cups of wheat berries that must soak overnight. Zsiray says hard red wheat can be substituted with Bulgur wheat too. The woman’s nephew soaks his wheat overnight in water laced with hot sauce but warns his aunt the method is not for the “faint of mouth.”
The vegetarian chili is easy to make but does require some chopping of raw ingredients including celery, bell peppers, jalapeños and onion.
“The hardest part of the recipe is to remember to put the hard red wheat in water overnight,” says Zsiray. “But the nice thing about it is the wheat and it has a lot of fresh ingredients.”
Last summer Zsiray was reading through Woman’s Day and saw a request for chili recipes. She sent hers in and thought nothing of it. Months later an editor called Zsiray and told her she’d been placed among three other finalists.
Zsiray is also a field editor for Taste of Home magazine and has had other recipes published. She is a library media teacher at Mountain Crest High School in Hyrum.
Vegetarian (but you’d never know it) Chili
3/4 cup wheat berries, soaked overnight
2 large carrots, coarsely grated
1 medium red onion, coarsely chopped
1 large clove garlic, finely chopped
1 28-oz can of crushed tomatoes
1 28-oz can of tomato purée
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Kosher salt
2 15-oz cans kidney, pinto or black beans, rinsed
1 16-oz package frozen corn kernels
1 bell pepper (red or green), cut into quarter inch pieces
1 teaspoon jalapeño hot sauce, plus more for serving
Sour cream, grated cheddar and tortilla chips, for serving
Rinse and drain the wheat berries and place them in a 5-to 6-qt slow cooker. Add the carrots, onion, garlic, tomatoes, tomato purée, oregano, cumin, cayenne and 1/2 teaspoon salt; mix to combine. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 8 hours or on high for 4 to 5 hours.
Stir in the beans, corn, bell pepper and hot sauce and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve with the sour cream, Cheddar, tortilla chips and additional hot sauce, if desired.
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Vegetarian, Raw and Vegan with Bill & Sheila
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