Pumpkin Chili

I got this recipe from a friend of mine from college named Donna.  When I went shopping for the ingredients, I had trouble finding pumpkin.  I went to three different grocery stores and none of them had it.  Two of them were out and the third didn’t even have a place on the shelf for it.  When I mentioned it to my grandma, she happened to have a can, so that took care of that. 

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 1 medium green bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
• 2 jalapeños, ribs and seeds removed, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 pound ground turkey
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes, with their liquid
• 1 (15-ounce) can pumpkin purée
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 1 (15-ounce) can kidney beans, drained

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium high heat. Add onions, bell peppers, jalapeños and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes, or until tender.
2. Add turkey and cook until browned.
3. Add tomatoes, pumpkin, 1 cup water, chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil.
4. Reduce heat to low, then add beans.
5. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes more.
6. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and garnish with cilantro.

Substitutions:

When my friend posted this (I would link to it, but it’s behind facebook), she noted that she leaves out the jalapenos and adds a can of rotel instead.  I should have done this, but I forgot to check her substitutions when I made out my grocery list, so I ended up just leaving out the jalapenos instead.  Also, I despise cilantro, so I left that out, and I forgot about the sour cream, so maybe next time I’ll add that.

Verdict:

This chili came out very good.  If I didn’t know there was pumpkin in it, I would have never known.  I think between the turkey meat and the can of pumpkin, this is probably a pretty healthy chili recipe.  I’ve already bought the stuff to make this again (even the pumpkin, which was back in stock) since we liked it so much.  The only changes I’ll make are to add a can of rotel (like I meant to do the first time) and put in two cans of kidney beans instead of one.