Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

Largely cribbed from Deborah Madison's Green's Cookbook, but Deborah Madison is way more hard-core than I am, so she does things like make her own chili powder and peel tomatoes.  I mean really.  Peeling tomatoes?  Who has the time?  Also, I often forget the salt.

It seems that chipotle chilis come from a can.  You do not want to use the entire contents of this can.  Usually I'll open a can, take the chilis I need, and save the rest in the freezer in little plastic baggies.  If I'm feeling adventurous, I'll throw the leftover adobo sauce into the chili.  Though you want to be careful. If you use the cayenne, a strong chili powder, spicy paprika, two chipotle chilis, and pour in the leftover adobo sauce, you get something quite hot.  If you want a particularly mild version, use one chipotle chili and no cayenne.

2 cups black beans
1-3 bay leaves, depending on freshness
4 tsp cumin seeds
4 tsp oregano
4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp vegetable oil
3 yellow onions, diced
4 cloves garlic, minced or squished through a garlic press--man I need a garlic press
1/2 tsp salt
1 28 oz can tomatoes
1-2 chipotle chiles, chopped

Soak the beans overnight.  Or, if you're me and you've forgotten to soak them overnight, cover them by a couple inches with water, bring them up to a strong boil, then turn the heat off and let them sit for an hour while you chop the vegetables.  Drain them and cover them with fresh water, this time adding the bay leaves, and bring them up to a gentle simmer.  Check on them periodically to make sure they're still covered with water, and give them a stir to keep them from sticking to the bottom of the pan.

Toast the cumin seeds in a sauce pan over medium heat.  When they're starting to color a little bit, add the oregano.  Shake the pan to keep the oregano from scorching.  You're waiting for a strong smell that is not yet a burning smell.  Note: this smell exists for about fifteen seconds before the oregano actually burns--you do not want the oregano to burn.  Once the oregano is starting to smell, turn off the heat and add the paprika and cayenne, shake it all together in the pan for another few seconds, then dump it into a spice grinder (or coffee grinder) and give it four or five two-second pulses.

Heat the vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat and add the onions and the salt.  Cook the onions until they stop tasting like raw onions. Raw onions are gross. Now add the chili powder, ground spices, and garlic and cook for another five minutes.  Add the tomatoes and chipotle chilis, and if you have just opened a new can of chipotles, go ahead and throw in the adobo sauce.  Simmer this mixture for another fifteen minutes.  Then find some way to transfer this into the pot with the beans.

Continue to simmer the whole thing together until the beans are soft enough to be edible.  The longer the chili simmers, the more the flavors combine and the better it will be.  Deborah Madison suggests another hour or so, but you're probably pretty hungry by now, so let's compromise and call it fifteen minutes.