White Lightning Chicken Chili

Over the last twenty years I’ve made White Lightning Chicken Chili countless times following a recipe originally published in Southern Living magazine in the early 90’s.  The recipe calls for 2 cans of chopped green chiles.  It is fine, not great.  Utilitarian of sorts, but not anything I’d tout in my blog.  Just recently I came across another white chili recipe in The America’s Test Kitchen Cookbook (the Cook’s Illustrated folks).  This recipe uses fresh chili peppers (poblano, anaheim, jalapeno) instead of canned.  The fresh peppers made an astounding difference in the chili.  It gave it a freshness pop and depth of flavor I had been missing all these years.  Here is the rendition to tout!

White Lightning Chicken Chili
(adapted from Southern Living and America’s Test Kitchen)

Ingredients
3 jalapeño chile peppers: stemmed, seeded and cut into pieces
3 poblano chile peppers: stemmed, seeded, and cut into large pieces
3 Anaheim chile peppers: stemmed, seeded, and cut into large pieces (if hard to find use extra jalapeno and poblano)
2 medium onions , papery skin off and cut into large pieces (about 2 cups)
6 medium cloves garlic, peeled
2 TBSP olive oil

1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoons ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp white pepper

3 (14.5-ounce) cans cannellini or great northern beans , drained and rinsed
6 cups chicken stock
4 cups roasted chicken, bones and skin removed and shredded
(I roast my own whole chicken or bone in chicken breasts but in a pinch use a store bought rotisserie chicken)
Finish with (if desired)
3 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 2 to 3 limes)
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro leaves
4 scallions , white and light green parts sliced thin
Serve with

tortilla chips
shredded cheese
dollop of sour cream

Method
3 each Poblano, anaheim and jalapeno chili peppers, 2 medium onions, 1 head of garlic

Into the Cuisinart: chili peppers stemmed, seeded and cut into large pieces.  Onions skinned and cut into large pieces.   Head of garlic crunched then six individual cloves of peeled garlic added.

Pulse 10-15 times until minced.  (Don’t  wash the food processor bowl and blade yet.  We will use it again in a few minutes.)

I had to show this cute picture!  My friend Iwona gave me fresh cumin and coriander seeds for a Christmas present.  I crushed them in a spice mill to use in the chili.  Of course you can use already crushed store bought spices in this recipe.

Add 2 TBSP olive oil to Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the  minced chile-onion garlic mixture from the food processor bowl along with the spices (cumin, coriander, ground cloves and white pepper).  Salt to taste.  Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables soften, about 10 minutes. Remove pot from heat.

open 3 cans of white beans, rinse and drain

open 2 boxes of chicken stock (or broth is fine).  Each box is 4 cups so you will use 1.5 boxes

Now here is a trick to make scrumptious chili and soups.  Transfer 1 cup of the cooked vegetable mixture to the now empty food processor bowl.  Add 1 cup of the beans and 1 cup of the stock.  Process until smooth, about 20 seconds.

When added back to the dutch oven this puree will add extra flavor, depth and texture to the chili.  It will also help thicken it.

Add the pureed vegetable-bean mixture, the remaining 5 cups broth, and rest of beans back into the Dutch oven.

Reduce heat to a simmer and cook for about an hour.  This gives a chance for all the flavors to develop.  Feel free to add a few dashes of hot sauce if you want it spicier.  Salt to taste.  The chili will get thicker and the flavors will intensify as it simmers.  For even thicker chili feel free to take more of the chili from the dutch oven, puree it in the food processor and add it back.  About ten minutes before it’s time to eat add the shredded cooked chicken.  (If you add the chicken too soon it will get overcooked and tough).  Once off heat finish with fresh cilantro, lime juice and scallions if desired.  Enjoy!!

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