Chile

With the help of a food processor, this tasty, no-cook soup will be ready to eat in minutes. Serve with stone-ground tortilla chips or warmed flour tortillas.

A one-dish meal, spiced with chili peppers and served over noodles.

This hearty curry becomes the centerpiece of a satisfying meal served over hot cooked grains, and accompanied by Chapatis (page 158) and a simple, palate-cooling salad of cucumbers and tomatoes.

I recommend steaming the green beans separately, and adding them once the asparagus is tender-crisp. The result is a satisfying Asian-flavored stew with the green vegetables all done just right.

For those who like hot stuff, the hot chilies add a fiery kick to this soup. If you’d like a toned-down version, use mild chilies. This makes a big pot of soup, perfect for feeding a crowd. This is delicious served with a big salad and nachos or quesadillas made with Vegan Gourmet nacho-style nondairy cheese.

A vegetarian version of Brazil’s famous national dish, feijoada, this stew is abundant with nourishing ingredients. Serve with steamed fresh greens (you can dress them with garlic sautéed in olive oil) and slices of mango and/or papaya.

This easy, robust soup, contributed by Marti Hall, has several elements of a certain style of traditional African soups—chilies, sweet potato, and a creamy peanut base. The grain of choice in an African soup like this would likely be millet, but here, quinoa, the nutritious South American super grain, makes for a delightful fusion.

This colorful stew is an autumnal cousin to chili, using Native American ingredients. It’s a good dish to try out on older kids and teens who have begun to appreciate more complex combinations of flavors and ingredients.

While fresh local corn is abundant in early fall, the most tempting way to eat it is right off the cob. But cooking with fresh corn can be equally appealing. Its sweetness and crunch can’t be matched by frozen corn kernels. Serve this with Hearty Bean Bread (page 146) and a green salad for a filling meal.

Here’s a great soup to make in the early fall, while fresh corn and tomatoes are still available.

Modeled after the traditional cheese- stuffed, deep- fried green chiles that I adore so much at Mexican restaurants, this lighter, healthier version is almost as much fun to eat. I like to use a mixture of mozzarella and Spanish Manchego cheeses, but you should use what you like. Often, I’ll use soy cheese substitutes instead of real cheeses to make this a nondairy dinner that’s lower in saturated fats and easier to digest.

Although the edges will puff and brown appealingly, the center of this dish may remain moist because of the amount of green chile sauce used. Green chile sauce is not salsa (although salsa could easily be substituted here). I’ve been pleased to see more companies offering jarred or canned versions that seem to be making their way out of the Southwest and into the rest of the country The amount of green chile sauce you use determines the heat level of your meal. Add another spice dimension with fresh or roasted green chiles, seeded and chopped. Although this is a vegetarian recipe that calls for meat-substitute crumbles (find these in your grocer’s freezer), you could easily add sausage, ground beef, pork, or turkey without changing anything else—likely not even the cooking time. Add chopped Canadian bacon and call it “green eggs and ham”! Consider whisking in 1/4 cup milk with the eggs for a slightly more quichelike effect.

The eggs in this recipe emerge intact, similar to poached eggs. Hearty whole-grain bread or bread with sunflower or other seeds will add texture to this dish.

This recipe is 100 percent adaptable to whatever ingredients you have on hand. Try it with chicken pieces or strips, beef stew chunks, or turkey tenderloin (whole or in strips). I like to add some Brussels sprouts, yellow squash, any color bell pepper, or almost any vegetable found hiding in our fridge. After serving, be sure to scoop up all the sauce for maximum flavor. The complex flavor of this marinade, with hints of sweet and spice, lends an Asian tang with a tinge of heat. Adjust the chili sauce to your desired level of hotness. You can also use chopped fresh or canned chiles or even a teaspoon of red pepper flakes.

This is a hearty vegetarian meal. The barley emerges al dente and a bit chewy, adding textural dimension to the meal and some of that meaty chewing satisfaction. The more processed the barley, the softer it will be; that is, pearled barley will be softer than hulled barley I prefer to use hulled barley as it is a whole grain; pearled barley is more refined.

You can control the amount of heat in this meal with the types and amounts of chile peppers. I like the spectrum of flavors that results from mixing roasted with fresh chiles. To roast a chile pepper, you can treat it as you would a marshmallow when camping, using tongs or a long fork to rotate it over a low flame on a gas burner. However, a safer chile-roasting method is to place the chile on a baking sheet and slide it under the broiler for just a few minutes. When charred on all sides, place the chile in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. The steaming will loosen the skin, making it easy to remove. Peel, stem, and seed roasted peppers before using. See page 168 for a discussion on preparing tofu.

A vegetarian dish brimming with Indian flavors, this recipe reminds me of a meal I ate in a London restaurant after enjoying a rip-roaring rock musical in Soho. I hope you have as much fun eating this one as I did that night! For an even healthier meal, use parboiled and precooked brown rice (labeled “instant”) with the same amount of liquid.

I became a green chile addict when I lived in New Mexico. Home in Colorado, I buy them by the freshly roasted bushel in the fall and freeze them in one-quart plastic bags so I can always get that green chile fix when I need it. This is a great meal to make when you don’t have any fresh vegetables in the house. Stock up on the canned or frozen ingredients and you’ll be able to whip up this Southwestern staple in a jiffy. You can use bone-in or boneless, skin-on or skinless, fresh or frozen chicken pieces; they will still take the same amount of time to cook. You can control the amount of spiciness by the type and amount of chile peppers or salsa you decide to use. My personal favorites are Hatch green chiles, but any chile works. Or use your favorite salsa.

Larb is traditional Thai comfort food. The mint adds a clean jolt of flavor to this casserole-type meal. My cousin Abi lived in Thailand for a time and helped me fine-tune my version of this classic dish. Typically, the meat and rice are served over raw cabbage, but we think this style is pretty tasty as well. You can use serrano, Anaheim, or almost any other kind of chile pepper if you can’t find a jalapeño. Of course, your meal will be as spicy as your chile. Consider adding 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh basil or cilantro to the mint mixture for a slightly different taste.

Quinoa is not only a complete protein, providing all the essential amino acids, it’s also gluten-free. This light and delicate grain has a delicious nutty flavor that is perfect for summer weather. The type of chile is up to you. For a milder flavor, choose an Anaheim green chile; pasillas or jalapeños will give more of a bite. You may use spinach rather than kale or chard. If you find that your greens emerge browner than you’d like, move them down a layer and top with the bell pepper instead.