Cincinnati Chili

Ingredients

1/4 - 1/2 cup olive oil	2 large onions, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced	6 cups water
2 cups SoSoya (ground)	3 bay leaves
1/2 t cumin (ground)	1/2 t cayenne pepper
1 t cinnamon	2 t salt
2 t black pepper	1 1/2 T ground allspice
2 T chili powder	1 t Worcestershire
12 oz can tomato paste

Directions

For vegetarian version: Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil. Add all other ingredients. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. (Crock all day on low).

Notes

This recipe came from an old fundraising cookbook from Guardian Angels (a church in Cincinnati). The contributor said it was from the original Empress chili store in Cincinnati. I did reduce the salt in the original recipe from 1 T to 2 t.

SoSoya is a sodium and fat free meat substitute. It's not easy to find but worth it! We order ours online at www.so-soya.com.

Variations

For original MEAT version: use 2 LB ground meat (turkey or beef) and 1 qt. water. Omit olive oil. Crumble RAW meat into COLD water. Add all ingredients and bring to a boil; cover and simmer 3 or more hours.

For lentil version use 2 cups lentils rinsed and 8 cups water.

Serve over spaghetti.