Ingredients
1 onion
4 Fuyu persimmons
10 or 12 tomatillos
3 cups of dried beans
3 jalapeño peppers
2 poblano peppers
2 teaspoons of ground cumin
6 cloves of garlic
1 bunch of cilantro - about 1/2 cup when chopped
2 handsful of crumbled TVP - about 1 cup
the juice of one lime
salt to taste
Procedure
Cook the beans until they are soft; in a pressure cooker, this should take about 30 to 40 minutes. Peel the persimmons and
cube them.
Chop the onion, and
mince the garlic. Peel the tomatillos and was the sticky goo off them (rinsing under warm water works well for me). Slice them into eighths or sixteenths.
Dice the peppers. When the beans are soft, add the onion and garlic. Stir in the persimmons and the tomatillos. After the tomatillos have softened, add the TVP. Then add the spices and peppers. Chop the cilantro finely, and add just before serving, along with the lime juice. The peppers should be allowed to cook from 5 to 15 minutes, and water should be added just to keep the mixture from scorching. If the peppers cook longer than 20 minutes, I've noticed that their spiciness fades. Also, you may seed them first or use fewer to adjust the spiciness to your preference.
This makes enough chili for four people, and I serve it with cornbread. The chili is at once sweet (from the persimmons) and quite spicy, while having an interesting set of textures: the Fuyu persimmons are still crisp when ripe, unlike the Hachiya variety, and so are still firm after cooking for only 20 minutes or so. The tomatillos are sometimes still crunchy, and they have a delightful tang to them. The TVP absorbs excess liquid, and provides a chewy base while taking on the overall flavor. This is one of my favorite dishes in the fall and early winter, when the chiles are hot and persimmons are in the stores.