Bowl of red

Cold temps call for a bowl of hot chili! In New Mexico you order your chili by the color, by asking for either 'a bowl of red' or 'a bowl of green.' The former is more spicy, and the latter is more mild, or at least less spicy. Shown above is the start of my turkey chili, and to confuse matters more, actually has both red and green chili peppers in it. And it has three dark ingredients—dark chocolate, dark kidney beans, and dark Mexican beer. My recipe also has a dash of cinnamon, which along with the chocolate and beer, helps to give it interesting and complex flavors. You don't actually think, "hmmm… this tastes chocolaty or cinnamony," but the flavors are there and tease your tastebuds a bit. For my full recipe, click here. Click here to read more about Hatch green chile peppers. See yesterday's post or click here for a tutorial on how to roast green chili peppers.