Chili?

Walking home tonight in the cold, I thought I smelled chili (I later figured out it was curry). Either way, my mind was made up. I had some dry red lentils, and bought some big butter? beans and black beans. I'm pretty sure chili doesn't exist in Japan, so I really am winging it.

I used:
2/3 C dry red lentils
1 3/4 C water
(Double the water portion of dried lentils plus some for good measure. You don't want it sticking to the pan, youc an always cook it down).

Bring to a boil, cover and simmer for about 25 minutes.

Then I added:
Probably 1 C chopped onion
Hand full of chopped tomatoes
pre-cooked black and big beans of some sort
1 tsp of garlic puree
1 Tbsp soy sauce (for salt)
2 Tbsp ketchup (I really needed tomato sauce)
1 C pre-cooked macaroni*

spices to taste:
cayenne
dried chilis
chipolte tabasco sauce
garlic tabasco sauce
thyme, parsley, oregano, basil

So simmer all your veggies and beans and spices and what not for about 5 minutes.
Don't burn your tongue scarfing it down!


I know it doesn't really look like chili, (it would if I had tomato sauce), but I work with what I got! As you can see, I bought a pointsetta tonight. Really fits the theme of "It's getting cold and I want to be warm with warm food"

*I may get some flack for putting pasta in chili. The "old country" theory is you put stuff, like pasta, in your food to stretch it out, so you get more without using more of the main ingredients. You pick up techniques from your family when you're learning to cook! REPREZENT.
(At least it's not ON spaghetti. Macaroni is the only acceptable pasta to use.)