Chili out for the New Year

My mother has a friend named Rena (not to be confused with this girl over here). Rena is a fascinating person and -- there is really no better word for it -- cool. She is also a lady with an amazing New Year's Day tradition.

Let me just say before I continue I have nothing against Southern California's two strongest New Year's Day traditions: waking up to watch the Rose Parade on channel 5 the Rose Bowl (in fact, I watched the Rose Parade first thing this morning. I only have to say two things: sledding dogs and marching band doing "Thriller"). I also have nothing against New Year's breakfasts at Denny's or IHOP -- in fact, I did breakfast at IHOP last year. But Rena's house on New Year's Day is amazing.

Here's how it worked: Rena would invite us all to her amazing Craftsman-style home in the heart of Central Los Angeles. When you were there, it was almost like you weren't in Los Angeles of present day anymore, but far away, possibly out in the country. In the meantime, she would feed you chili and cornbread, and then you would fill out one of her world-famous questionnaires for New Year's.

The questionnaire would feature everything, such as who you thought would win the Best Picture Oscar that year or simply what you wanted to do that year. Then Rena would put them in envelopes and label them with your name. The following year, when you came to her house, you would get back your questionnaire from the previous New Year's Day, followed by a new one to fill out. You would see how far you came, and how far you had to go. This tradition would continue year after year.

The amazing thing about this questionnaire is that sometimes the craziest things you wanted would happen -- and, occasionally, would regret that you got what you wished for. Sometimes, life got in the way. But this tradition always rang true. It was fun and hilarious, but at the same time sacred. It was almost as if you were sealing your greatest wishes and sending them upwards.

Maybe for next year, I will do a tradition like this. In the meantime, I will settle for cleaning up things after last night's shindig, and looking forward to celebrating the "Jew Year" with friends tomorrow night -- and a performance by Moshav band.

In honor of Rena's chili, here is my favorite chili recipe -- chocolate chili. For those who are vegan, I think you can substitute soy crumbles, and it will be just as delicious. Just make sure to add some oil to create the roux with the chocolate.

CHOCOLATE CHILI

2 pounds ground beef or chuck roast cut up (see quick tip 1)
Salt and pepper
1 large onion
3 cloves garlic
3 tablespoons oil
1/4 cup cocoa powder
2 cans kidney beans
2 cans crushed tomatoes
1 cup water with 1 tablespoon beef bullion
1 teaspoon cumin
1 bay leaf
1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes or hot sauce (see quick tip 2)
Vegetables (see quick tip 3)

Heat up a soup pot to medium-to-high heat. Add the oil. Season the ground beef with salt and pepper. Dice the onion and garlic. When the oil is hot, add the garlic, onion and ground beef. Make sure the ground beef is browned; it does not necessarily have to be cooked through. Add the cocoa powder and stir, making sure it picks up all the fatty juices.

Add the kidney beans, tomatoes, water with bullion and bay leaf. Allow to come up to a simmer. Add in the cumin and pepper flakes. Allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
Add any desired vegetables. Allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes. Serve hot, with rice or cous cous if it’s super-spicy.

Quick Tip 1: This recipe is great if you have leftover fatty meat such as a chuck roast. You can skip the browning section of the recipe. Just make sure that the meat heats enough to release the fat. At that point the cocoa powder can be added.

Quick Tip 2: I’m not a major spice freak, but I will definitely turn it up when it comes to chili. Other people don’t feel like I do. My suggestion, like with any spices, is to season the dish to your liking.

Quick Tip 3: The beauty of chili is that you can add whatever you want to it, as long as it’s got the tomatoes, beans and is spicy. However, since this is chocolate chili and you don’t want it too sweet, I recommend that you stick to vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower and zucchini and stay away from sweeter veggies like red peppers and carrots.