The Ultimate Melting Pot

Chile con carne: a detestable food which, falsely called Mexican, is sold in the United States from Texas to New York.

--Francisco J. Santamaria, “Diccionario de Mejicanismos”

The above Mexican view of American chili may raise our culinary hackles, but we asked for it. After all, we stole the word chili from the Aztecs, and then used it in all sorts of ways without checking back with them.

In 1959, when Santamaria’s monumental dictionary of Mexican colloquial usages was first published, he could not possibly have foreseen what chili would become in the United States.

We know it as a craze (think chili cook-off), a fund-raiser, a fast food, the cause of countless arguments (beans vs. no beans) and a national dish, along with hot dogs and hamburgers, both of which it occasionally smothers.

But a detestable food? Well, in some cases, it’s hard to argue with that. Where Santamaria goes totally wrong is limiting chili to that portion of the United States between Texas and New York. He’s ignored the whole western half of the country, perhaps because some of it was once part of Mexico and still should be, in his opinion, or perhaps because we make better chili out here.

Or maybe not. A review of chili recipes published in The Times in the last dozen years turned up such extraordinary ingredients as frankfurters, canned baked beans, pears, pineapple, sauerkraut, spaghetti sauce mix, curry powder, herbes de Provence , dark rum, Kahlua and even tempeh , an Indonesian fermented soy bean product.

Today, certainly, we are making wonderful chili, although not according to Texan or Mexican rules. Instead, we’ve developed chili with a world view--occasionally traditional, often regional and, increasingly, seasoned with immigrant flavors.

There are French, Vietnamese, Chinese, Filipino, Italian and Lebanese accents in the following collection of recipes. Mexican ingredients show up too, but the way they are used is different. Jalapenos go into a Filipino chili and tomatillos , cilantro and black beans into a modern Southwestern chili along with orange juice and dark beer.

Some chilis are created arbitrarily. Others evolve when people from different backgrounds add the ingredients they are accustomed to. For example, an Italian tosses Marsala wine into the pot; another recipe calls for the canned red chili sauce that Mexican-American women have used for generations, and a Vietnamese-American makes an incredible chili that includes, of all things, shrimp.

Whether or not beans belong in chili is no longer an issue. A more timely question is: Do you really need meat? If you’re willing to do without, try Lebanese-style chili beans with fried onions and rice-- Mujaddara. The “beans” are lentils, not pintos, but give them a dose of cumin and cayenne and they might even sneak their way into a Texas barbecue.

This Lebanese dish of rice and lentils, which can be served cold as well as hot, tastes oddly like chili beans, and it can be used as a vegetarian equivalent, especially if you add cumin and cayenne. Wholesome and delicious as it is, though, there’s no getting around the fact that it has an excessively earthy--even muddy--appearance, so be sure to garnish it generously with chopped parsley and green onion. Two tips: Olive oil is responsible for much of the flavor, so use a good one; the translucent brown color to aim for in the fried onions is described by Lebanese cooks as jnahet al-dabur, “hornet’s wing.”

MUJADDARA (Vegetarian Lentil “Chili”)

2 cups lentils

2 medium onions

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup rice

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cumin, optional

1 to 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper, optional

Chopped parsley

3 green onions, chopped

Pick over and rinse lentils. Bring 6 cups water to boil, add lentils, reduce heat and simmer 1 1/4 hours.

Cut each peeled onion in half lengthwise and place flat on work surface. Make vertical cuts extending nearly to root, then free slices by cutting off root. Separate slices into strips.

Heat vegetable oil in skillet. Reduce heat to very low and fry onion strips, stirring occasionally, until translucent brown, 30 to 40 minutes. Drain oil from onions.

Stir rice into lentils. Texture should be somewhat soupy. Add more water as necessary. Simmer until rice is done and dish has consistency of thick porridge, about 20 minutes. Stir in fried onions, salt, olive oil, cumin and cayenne. Garnish with chopped parsley and green onions. Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

485 calories; 301 mg sodium; 0 cholesterol; 28 grams fat; 46 grams carbohydrates; 15 grams protein; 2.67 grams fiber.

This is one of those dishes that people just can’t stop eating; friends have been known to have thirds and then smile with slight embarrassment and serve themselves some more. Part of its appeal is that it smells so good while it’s cooking--the combination of garlic, pork, orange juice and dark beer is extremely potent. It’s good served over rice or in bowls with corn bread on the side.

PORK AND TOMATILLO CHILI

1 cup orange juice

1 (12-ounce) bottle dark beer

1 pound tomatillos, peeled and quartered

1 cup peanut oil

1 head garlic, peeled

2 pounds boneless pork, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Salt, pepper

2 large onions, thinly sliced

2 pounds Roma tomatoes, chopped

3 jalapeno chiles, diced

1 teaspoon crushed hot red pepper, or to taste

1 bunch cilantro, leaves chopped

1 (1-pound) can black beans with liquid

Cooked rice

1/2 avocado, peeled and sliced

Cilantro sprigs

Lime Sour Cream

Combine orange juice, beer and tomatillos in large saucepan. Cook over medium heat about 20 minutes.

Heat peanut oil in large skillet. Add garlic cloves and cook 2 minutes. Stir in 1/4 of cubed pork and season to taste with salt and pepper. Brown pork on all sides, remove pork with slotted spoon and add to tomatillos. Cook remaining pork in skillet. Remove pork and garlic and add to tomatillos.

Pour off all but 1/4 cup oil in skillet. Add onions and lightly brown. Add to tomatillo and pork mixture. Mix in tomatoes, jalapeno chiles, crushed red pepper and cilantro. Cover and cook over low heat 2 hours. (Chili can also be cooked in 350-degree oven 2 hours.) Add beans. Cook, uncovered, 1/2 hour more. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Serve over rice, garnished with sliced avocado, sprigs of cilantro and Lime Sour Cream. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving, without rice, contains about:

547 calories; 171 mg sodium; 86 mg cholesterol; 25 grams fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 34 grams protein; 3.74 grams fiber.

Lime Sour Cream

1/2 cup sour cream

Grated zest and juice of 1 lime

Combine sour cream with lime zest and juice. Stir until blended. Makes 1/2 cup.

Take Chinese ingredients such as five-spice powder and soy sauce; add shrimp, carrots and other things you find in egg rolls; incorporate luxury foods that the French brought to Vietnam, such as butter and fine steak; then mix in good old American chili components. What you wind up with is Tuan Nguyen’s extraordinary East-West chili. Born in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and now living in Los Angeles, Nguyen took a prize in a cook - off with this dish.

TUAN NGUYEN’S EAST-WEST CHILI

Butter

3/4 pound ground beef

1/2 pound shrimp, peeled and chopped into small pieces

1 tablespoon soy sauce

2 teaspoons 5-spice powder

1 teaspoon sugar

1 pound beef tenderloin, cut in 3/4- to 1-inch chunks

10 cloves garlic, finely chopped

2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans Italian-style stewed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups water

5 sprigs basil, leaves only, coarsely chopped

1 cup loosely packed oregano sprigs

2 teaspoons hot chili powder

8 to 10 small dried hot chiles

2 medium onions, coarsely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and sliced

2 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

Salt, pepper

6 to 8 small dried hot chiles for garnish

Lightly coat bottom of Dutch oven with butter and heat over medium heat. Crumble ground beef into pot. Add shrimp and cook until beef is lightly browned. Add soy sauce, 5-spice powder and sugar. Raise heat and cook until beef is cooked through. Turn out onto platter.

Again coat pan with butter. Add tenderloin cubes and cook until browned on outside. Stir in garlic. Add ground beef mixture, undrained tomatoes, water, basil, 1/2 cup oregano sprigs and chili powder. Cut whole chiles in half to expose seeds. Add chiles and seeds to pot. Cover and simmer over medium heat until beef is tender, about 30 minutes.

Add onions, carrots, cumin, remaining oregano sprigs and season to taste with salt and pepper. Cook, covered, 15 minutes, or until carrots are tender. Let cool 15 to 20 minutes, then reheat. Serve garnished with whole dried chiles. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving contains about:

357 calories; 723 mg sodium; 126 mg cholesterol; 16 grams fat; 25 grams carbohydrates; 30 grams protein; 2.58 grams fiber.

Bonnie Ventura of Montebello gives her chili traditional Mexican flavor with canned red chili sauce, the kind you might use for enchiladas. The smoked sausages were a last-minute replacement for pintos when Ventura entered a chili cook - off that banned beans. To taste the chili the way she usually makes it, replace the sausages with two cups pinto beans, boiled with cut-up onion and whole garlic cloves until tender.

BONNIE VENTURA’S CHILI

2 (1-pound) packages smoked sausages

1/2 large onion, sliced

1 cup flour

1 (1-pound 12-ounce) can red chili sauce

2 to 3 cups water

1 1/2 pounds ground beef

Ground cumin

Garlic powder

Mrs. Dash seasoning

Salt, pepper

Cut sausages into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Heat large skillet and add sausages and onion (do not add oil). Cook until sausages are very well browned. Set aside, reserving juices in pan.

In clean skillet, brown flour slowly over low heat, stirring constantly. Let cool at least 15 minutes. Stir in red chili sauce. Add 2 cups water. Cook and stir until thickened, adding more water as needed.

Brown ground beef in Dutch oven or heavy pot, seasoning with 1/2 teaspoon each cumin, garlic powder, Mrs. Dash, salt and pepper. Add chili sauce mixture, sausages, onion and juices. Add 3 tablespoons cumin, 1 1/2 tablespoons garlic powder, 1 1/2 teaspoons Mrs. Dash and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and simmer over low heat 30 minutes. If chili is too thick, add water to desired consistency. Makes 10 servings.

Each serving contains about:

431 calories; 1,177 mg sodium; 87 mg cholesterol; 32 grams fat; 14 grams carbohydrates; 20 grams protein; 0.09 gram fiber.

In Bicol, which is in the southern region of the Philippines, many chopped - meat dishes are stewed in coconut milk along with fiery hot chiles. This recipe was adapted from laing, which originally calls for coarse-ground pork and chopped taro leaves; we’ve substituted chicken and spinach. And since some of those red hot chiles are not readily available, we used serranos and jalapenos.

WHITE CHILI WITH SPINACH

2 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon minced garlic

1 cup chopped onion

3/4 cup chopped tomato

2 pounds boneless chicken or pork, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

3 jalapeno chiles, finely chopped

1 to 2 serrano or red Japanese chiles, chopped

1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk

2 tablespoons fish sauce

Water or chicken broth

Salt

White pepper

1 (1-pound) can white beans, drained, optional

1/2 pound spinach leaves, chopped

Garlic Fried Rice, optional

Heat oil in large heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add garlic and saute until golden. Stir in onion and tomato and saute until tender. Add chicken and saute 5 minutes. Add vinegar, chiles, coconut milk and fish sauce.

Cover and simmer 50 to 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Add water or chicken broth if needed.) Season to taste with salt and white pepper. Add beans if desired. Heat 5 minutes. Adjust seasonings to taste.

Add spinach leaves and cook 1 minute. Serve with Garlic Fried Rice. Makes 6 servings.

Each serving, without Garlic Fried Rice, contains about:

336 calories; 396 mg sodium; 70 mg cholesterol; 21 grams fat; 9 grams carbohydrates; 31 grams protein; 2.38 grams fiber.

Each serving, with Garlic Fried Rice, contains about:

484 calories; 446 mg sodium; 70 mg cholesterol; 25 grams fat; 33 grams carbohydrates; 33 grams protein; 2.5 grams fiber.

Note: If desired, add 1 cup drained canned black beans or garbanzo beans after 40 minutes of cooking.

Garlic Fried Rice

2 to 3 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

4 cups day-old cooked rice

Salt

Heat oil in large deep skillet or wok. Add garlic and saute until golden. Stir in rice and stir-cook until rice is hot, about 8 to 10 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

Because she uses Marsala wine in chicken cacciatore, spaghetti sauce and other Italian favorites, Marge Serritelli Powers didn’t give a second thought to pouring some into chili. Instead of pasta or polenta, however, she serves the chili with flour tortillas and suggests a side dish of corn cooked with green chiles and butter.

MARGE’S ITALIAN CHILI

2 tablespoons olive oil, about

2 large red onions, chopped

4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/4 cups Marsala wine

3 pounds beef stew meat, cut in small dice

3 tablespoons pasilla chili powder

2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 rounded teaspoon dried oregano leaves

1 (28-ounce) can whole tomatoes

1 (6-ounce) can tomato paste

1 (14-ounce) can clear beef broth

Salt, pepper

1 (15-ounce) can jalapeno pinto beans

Hot pepper sauce

Add enough oil to large pot to coat bottom. Heat oil, add onions, garlic and 1/4 cup wine and cook until onions are tender but not browned. Add meat and cook until thoroughly browned. Add chili powder, cumin, oregano, undrained tomatoes, tomato paste, beef broth and remaining wine.

Season to taste with salt and pepper. Lower heat and cook, covered, 2 hours, checking occasionally to make sure chili does not dry out. Mixture should be thick, like stew. Add beans during last 30 minutes. Season to taste with hot pepper sauce. Makes 8 large servings.

Each serving contains about:

360 calories; 693 mg sodium; 73 mg cholesterol; 13 grams fat; 22 grams carbohydrates; 36 grams protein; 2.20 grams fiber.