//------------------------------// // Chili // Story: Twilight Tries... // by Peni Parker //------------------------------// Hi, everypony, and welcome to another episode of Twilight Tries! Today, I’m going to be trying something my friend Applejack practically insisted I have to try; chili! I’m sure you’re probably saying to yourself right now, ‘Geez, Twilight, how come you’ve never tried chili before?’ and the answer to that is because, well, I have a low tolerance when it comes to spicy foods. When I was a filly I tried some quesadillas that were loaded with a lot of red jalapeños and they…um, how do I put this without being graphic? . . Oh, I got it; they wreaked havoc with my digestion. Hehe. Anyways, ever since then I’ve tried to avoid spicy foods as much as I can, especially quesadillas, and thus I’ve never had chili before. So now I bet you’re probably saying, ‘Well if you don’t like spicy foods then why are you going to try chili, Twilight?’ and the answer to that is actually an interesting story. See, a few days ago I was having dinner with the Apple family after helping them with their Zap Apple harvest and Granny Smith offered me some chili. I politely declined but Applejack insisted that I had to try it, which is when I brought up my…sensitivity to spicy foods. It was then that Applejack said she could give me a recipe for a mild version of the chili so that I could still try it and I told that that would be fine. In fact, I told her it would be the perfect thing for an episode of Twilight Tries. So here I am, about to try chili, albeit mild chili, for the first time ever! Now if you’ll look over here you’ll see that I have a little kitchen area set up with everything I need to make chili; a hot plate, a heavy-bottom pot, a large stirring spoon, a blender, and all of the various ingredients that will make up the chili. You may have noticed that there isn’t any meat here, and that’s because that’s because the recipe I got from Applejack is for a vegetarian chili. But enough gabbing, let’s get started! Okay, first I need to turn on the hot plate, set it to medium heat, and warm some olive oil in the pot until it shimmers. Easy enough. . . Perfect. Now I need to add the onions, carrots, celery, peppers, and about a ¼ teaspoon of salt. Then, I need to stir all of the vegetables together until they’re tender. I should note that the Apple Family recipe calls for yellow hot wax and red cayenne peppers, but I’m going to be adding sweet bell and cherry peppers instead since they’re not as spicy. Sorry to deviate from the recipe like this, Applejack, but I’m not taking any chances of having a repeat of the quesadilla incident here. . . . Okay, I think they vegetables are good and tender. Now I add the garlic, cumin, paprika, oregano, and the secret Apple Family chili powder. Applejack said that Granny Smith’s chili powder is what makes her family’s chili so special, so I think as long as I include it I’m okay to use milder peppers and such. Anyways, now I need to stir all of this in for about a minute. . . Whew, I think the fragrance I’m smelling right now tells me I’m good to move on to the next step, which is adding the tomatoes, beans, and broth. Aaaaand, all added. I have to admit, this is starting to smell pretty good. So now comes the longest part of the process; I have to stir all of this for about 30 minutes while it simmers. Not only that, but I’m going to have to adjust the heat occasionally to make sure it doesn’t simmer too much. I’m sure none of you want to watch me stir chili for 30 minutes, so I’m going to time jump with the magic of video editing. Okay, it’s been 30 minutes and the chili has sufficiently simmered. Now, the recipe says to transfer about 1 ½ cups of it into the blender, making sure to get some of the liquid portion in their too. When I asked Applejack about this part, she said that doing this helps with the texture of the chili, which I guess is a pretty important aspect of chili. Whelp, into the blender you go, chili. . . Aaaaaand, 1 ½ cups exactly with plenty of liquid portion. Now we just blend until it becomes smooth. This part shouldn’t take long. . . Nope, not long at all. So now that it’s smooth, we pour the blended mixture back into the pot, add some cilantro, and stir it in. . . Now, for the final touch, we mix in vinegar and salt until we’ve got it just the way we want it. . . Hmm, I think I got the vinegar just right, but I think it still needs a bit more salt. . . Mhmmm, better! Okay, I think it's ready. . . Well, I’ve got my bowl of chili and am prepared for my first full taste of chili. Here I go! . . Oh, oh this is good, this is really good! And it’s not that spicy at all! . . Hmm, oh yeah! I can’t believe I’ve never had this until now. . . So as you can see I’ve finished my bowl, but that was so good I think I’ll have another! . . Oh, so good! You know, I made enough chili for about six servings and was planning on sharing some with Spike, but this is so good I think I’m going to save it all for myself instead. . . Whelp, that does it for my second bowl, and as much I would like a third one I should probably stop at two. So yeah, chili, not bad. Not only did it taste really good, but it was also pretty fun to make too! I’m going to have to thank Applejack for that recipe next time I see her. And with that, thank you all for watching another episode of Twilight Tries and I hope to see you ag… Oh, oh my stomach. Hehe, sorry about that, just a little gurgle. So like I was saying, I hope to see… Oh sweet Celestia, my stomach! Oh, it hasn’t felt like this since that time I had the quesadi…Oh no. Oh no, no, no, no, no! How could this happen, the chili was barely spicy! I even used the mildest peppers possible! How? How?! Wait a second…Granny Smith’s chili powder! Oh merciful Luna, what was in that stuff?! Ooooh, doesn’t much matter at this point, does it? SPIKE! CODE 12, GET THE IMODIUM! . . WELL THEN GO AND GET SOME! AND THEN GO FIND APPLEJACK, BRING HER BACK HERE, AND MAKE HER STAND OUTSIDE THE BATHROOM DOOR SO I CAN YELL AT HER! Sorry, everypony, gotta go. See you next time.