Prepare this meal that lifts your spirits right now

(CNN) — If the post-holiday slump is hitting you a little harder in 2022, you’re not alone. It is cold and icy all over the country, and many of us would like to stay home until spring. It’s times like this when we all need comfort, and a good bowl of chili will cure what ails you: it could even be a antidepressant, according to a recent study.

Although several regions of the Southwest and Central America lay claim to being the birthplace of chili — San Antonio, New Mexico, northern Mexico — the food is as diverse as the population of North America, according to Robb Walsh, author of “The Chili Cookbook“.

The Aztecs and other Mesoamerican cultures prepared chili-flavored stews with turkey, lobster and frogs, while chili peppers have been cultivated in New Mexico since the 17th century.

In Texas, there are several competing chili origin stories, such as the Mexican-American War soldiers who adapted the country dish known as chili con carne; and that of the San Antonio Chili Queens, which sold chili from outdoor stalls in the late 19th century, long before food trucks came onto the scene. William Gebhardt, a German immigrant from New Braunfels, brought chili spices to a wider audience when he patented the first canned chili powder mix in 1899.

It’s that adaptability that makes chili so well suited to any palate, whether you’re an omnivore or a vegan; if you want to sweat from your scalp or feel a slow burn; or if you want to make your own with minced meat, pieces of lamb, five types of beans or even tofu.

As for the discussion of beans’ place in a bowl of chili, it’s not a recent phenomenon: They’ve been in the mix for at least a century. “Adding beans and other vegetables to chili was a response to meat rationing during the world wars,” explains Walsh. Austere home cooks used produce from their victory gardens to get creative with their chili recipes, and the new traditions carried on.

Regardless of your eating habits, there is a chili for you. Find your favorite chili from the suggestions below, or try a new variation and spice it up this month.

Texas Chili Con Carne

As any Texan will tell you, there are no beans in traditional chili con carne, instead the focus is on chiles and meat. “Texans don’t put beans in chili for the same reason Italian Americans don’t put spaghetti in red sauce,” says Walsh. “Cincinnati chili and Texas chili are essentially sauces served with other foods, often with beans on the side.”

Make it with pieces of roast or try the Lady Bird Johnson’s famous recipe, which has minced meat, and then feel free to dress it with all the ingredients you want. It’s also great for stuffing a burrito or enchilada, serving over fries or tater tots, or topping Fried Pie.

chicken white chili

The “white” chile gets its name from a few changes: instead of red meat and tomatoes, chicken and its broth are used, and instead of red chiles, green chiles take center stage. Many recipes also include white beans, such as cannellini or Great Northern.

prepare this chicken white chili on the stovetop or in an Instant Pot with mild or hot canned Hatch chiles, depending on how much spice you prefer. If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also roast Anaheim chiles or poblanos and add them to the chili to give it more flavor.

Cincinnati Chili

Cinnamon may seem like an odd ingredient for a chili recipe, but for Macedonian immigrants from the Midwest it made sense. The Greek dish of pasta with meat sauce known as makaronia i kima it resembled the chili of the Southwest, so the name became Americanized. “But they left the cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice and cloves, which give it a unique flavor. And they still serve it over pasta,” says Walsh.

Cincinnati chili is made with hot spices, spaghetti, and a generous dollop of shredded cheddar.

The cincinnati chili It is always served over spaghetti, but the toppings can be many. Eat it “three-way” with shredded cheddar, “four-way” with diced white onion and cheese, or go all out with the “five-way” chili with beans, onion and cheese.

Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili

“As long as it’s got chilies, I don’t mind if it’s a vegetarian chili,” says Walsh, and this vegan chili It’s loaded with chillies. Sweet potatoes replace the traditional stewed beef, slow-cooked in a sauce that features chopped fresh poblanos and ancho chili powder, along with smoked paprika.

This vegan chili, made with sweet potatoes and black beans, is topped with soy yogurt and avocado.

If you have leftover diced butternut squash or other hard winter squash, feel free to substitute some or all of the sweet potatoes in the recipe.

Bean Vegetarian Chili

Do you want beans in your chili? How about three different kinds of beans? East spicy vegetarian chili it’s loaded with red, pinto, and black beans. The classic chili spices are rounded out with a secret ingredient, red curry paste, to add more heat and depth of flavour.

Whip up a vegetarian chili packed with a rainbow of chopped veggies and serve with tortilla chips.

Or for another variation on beans, this recipe use refried pinto beans instead of canned whole beans to thicken chili.

smoked sausage chili

There’s a long (and confusing naming) tradition of dressing hot dogs and sausages with chili, whether we’re talking Detroit’s Coney Island hot dogs, New Jersey and Pennsylvania’s Texas sausages, or hot dogs of Rhode Island, also known as New York System sausages.

This spicy pork stew with chorizo ​​and black beans is perfect served with tortillas and orange slices.

Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington is famous for serving its chili over half smoked sausages, but you can take the chili over sausage idea and turn it into a one-dish meal. For an internationally inspired pot chili, use kielbasa or andouille sausage.

Casey Barber is a food writer, illustrator, and photographer, and the author of “Pierogi Love: New Takes on an Old-World Comfort Food” and “Classic Snacks Made from Scratch: 70 homemade versions of your favorite brand-name treats”; and editor of the Good website. Food. Stories.