Creamy Chili con Cricket
40 minutes
2 servings
Chili con Carne is a classic. Our simple but surprising variation uses a mix of fresh veggies, pantry staples and a few surprises in terms of crickets and dark chocolate. The beauty about chili is how customizable it is: it can be quick and dirty with canned beans and a sauce, or fancy but more time-consuming with fresh veggies and premium ingredients. We have found our favorite version somewhere inbetween, and present our latest comfort food.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 pieces of Naan Bread
- 30 g of crickets
- 2 carrots
- 1 can (400 g) of kidneybeans
- 1 can (400 g) of chopped tomatoes
- 100 g of lentils
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 15 g of dark (70-80%) chocolate (yes, really)
- 2 tsbp of tomato puree
- 1 tsp of miso paste
- 100 ml of veggie broth
- Vegan/coconut cream to serve
- Fresh coriander
- 1 tsp of chili powder, paprika powder, cumin, salt and pepper
PREPARATION
- Cut the onion and garlic in small chunks and the carrot in medium-sized chunks
- Put the crickets in a bowl and add 2 of olive oil and 1 tsp of chili powder, salt and garlic powder and let it marinade
- Start frying the onion and garlic in a large wokpan on low heat for 3 minutes
- Add the carrot and all the spices and fry for another 5 minutes
- Start to cook the lentils 1-2 minutes short of what's on the package
- Add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree and veggie broth and cook for a couple minutes
- Add the kidneybeans, miso paste and roughly chopped dark chocolate and let the bunch simmer for at least 15 minutes (longer is better though)
- In the meantime fry the marinated crickets in a separate pan for about 8 minutes
- Get the lentils out of their pot and put them in the chili for the last 1-2 minutes
- Heat up the Naan Bread in the oven or a toaster
- Top off with fresh cream and coriander, and serve everything together
What actually defines something to be a comfort food? If we think of comfort food, we think of something not too complicated but awesome that you can preferably absolutely devour with your hands like fries, pizza, burger or a burrito. And so we did some digging, and it turns out every kitchen has its own wide variety of comfort foods and Chili is definitely on the list in some of them.
And if a regular chili con carne isn't comfort food enough for you, we've made a creamier and less spicy version. Obviously the biggest difference lies in the fact we replace the meat with crickets, but we also add some vegan or coconut cream and a little bit of dark chocolate to give the chili a more heartwarming feeling. And because the chili itself is not so spicy but even has a little bitter touch from the dark chocolate, the spicy marinated crickets really stand out in the dish and perfectly complement the creamy chili.