Aronia & Black Bean Chili

Did you know you can use Aronia berries in savoury dishes such as chilis and stews?!

Aronia berry bushes grow quickly and offer bountiful crops once established. They're easy to grow (easier than blueberries in my opinion) and are lovely for use preserves and cooked dishes, although I don't typicially recommend them for fresh eating. Learn more about the plants themselves here, and on we go to the recipe:

I've made modified versions of this recipe several times now, including a "clean out the fridge/freezer" crock pot version (see notes section below).  The Aronia berries blend well with the rest of the flavours, adding their healthy vitamin and antioxidant qualities as well as some berry notes. They lose their mouth-drying effect, and it can be a fun guessing game for guests to try to figure out what your unique ingredient is!!

Here's the original recipe (serves 8):

• 2 c chicken or other broth
• 1 c Aronia berries (fresh or frozen)

Heat 1 cup of broth and pour over the Aronia berries in a small saucepan, set this and remaining broth aside. 

• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 1 c onion, chopped
• 1 TBSP garlic, fresh chopped
• 2 tsp jalapeño, finely chopped

In a large saucepan, sauté onion in oil for about 5 minutes, then add garlic and jalapeño and cook another minute. 

• 2 c cooked turkey (ground or chopped up)
• 1 red or green pepper, chopped 
• 4 tsp chili powder
• 1.5 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp dried mustard
• 1 tsp coriander
• 0.5 tsp dried oregano
• 4 c tomatoes, chopped
• 1 can (16oz) black beans
• 1/4 c cilantro, fresh chopped
• salt to taste

Add the turkey, seasonings tomatoes and remaining broth to the large saucepan. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for about 5 minutes before adding the black beans, Aronia mixture and cilantro. Heat thoroughly. If desired, you can reserve some cilantro for garnishing, along with tortillas, sour cream and shredded cheddar cheese. In our household, corn chips are also a family favourite to serve alongside chili.

Additional Notes:

I've created a vegetarian version of this in a crock pot as described below. I was doing a freezer clean-out and using a large crock pot. I just put everything into it and turned it on high for 2 hours, stirred it, and then left it for around 8 hours on low. Keep in mind I pretty much doubled the volume of the above recipe for this crock pot version, but I wasn't initially planning on a blog post; I didn't totally track quantities of everything so it's all approximations. I just wanted to provide an example of how versatile a chili recipe is for substitutions and modifications to suit your needs and what you have on hand! 

Instead of broth, I used some frozen homemade pumpkin soup (~2.5c) and watered it down with about 2 c water.  I added around 2.5 cups of frozen Aronia berries, doubled the garlic and used around 1 TBSP chopped jalapeño. I swapped out the turkey for quinoa (~1.5c, uncooked) and grated zucchini (~1c) and also chucked in around 1.5c frozen shredded kale. I skipped the coriander and cilantro because I don't like them, but I added all the other spices in larger quantities for the larger recipe, along with tomatoes and beans in larger quantities. I also found some frozen roasted chestnuts and chopped them up into it (they added a nutty sweetness), as well as 2-3 TBSP grated frozen ginger.  

Overall, the crock pot version turned out much better than I expected and I was actually sad that I hadn't kept track of any of the exact quantities to help me recreate it.

Fortunately when it comes to chili, the spices pull it all together and in a big batch you can easily hide bland ingredients such as the zucchini and kale if you need to use up old food. If you have other frozen fruit that needs using, don't hesitate to try out substituting other berries or even small amounts of chopped frozen peaches, American persimmons or other fruit harvests if you want!