Tofu and Four Bean Chili Topped with Banana and Mango

You guys have probably noticed a trend this week of me trying to trick my family into eating vegetarian dishes, and tonight was finally the night it blew up in my face.  Don't get me wrong, the chili was delicious - I had a heaping plate, my dad had 2, and my sister whined the ENTIRE time she ate her bowl of it!  My dad had no idea until my sister got suspicious and dug through the top of the trash bag to find the tofu container.  He then proceeded to act disgusted while she ate a muffin and stopped eating her chili.  They have put their feet down that vegetarian week is over, but unfortunately for them, I bought the groceries on Saturday.  They are at my and the kitchen's mercy until Friday!  I guess it wouldn't have bothered me so much if they weren't so mean about it.  I mean really...is one vegetarian dish a day that horrible?!  Nonetheless, dinner was really yummy, and I enjoyed it!

Tofu and Four Bean Chili Topped with Banana and Mango 
Yields 8 - 10 servings

To Prepare the Chili
1. Start to heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large frying pan.
2. While the oil is heating, grate your block of tofu on a cheese grater.  If you don't want to grate it, you can break it up by hand, and then break it up more when it is starting to fry. I like grating because it makes the size of the tofu consistent...there's some mild OCD at work!
3. Add the tofu to the hot oil, and fry it until it just starts to brown a little.

4. Add a hot chili seasoning packet to the tofu and cook for a little bit longer.  Remember, when you are cooking tofu, it takes on the flavor of what you are cooking it with, so the more you cook the spices into it, the less it is going to taste like tofu!

5. Once the spices and tofu have started to brown, add a can of tomato puree or sauce (approximately 30 ounces worth).
6. Add a mild chili seasoning packet to the pan and stir well! 

7. Add in 1 can of dark red kidney beans, 1 can of pink kidney beans, 1 can of black beans, and 1 can of cannellini beans.

8. Stir everything together and let it simmer over low heat.  Be sure to stir it every now and then so it doesn't stick to the bottom and burn!

9. While your chili is simmering, dice one banana, and an equal bit of mango.  Serve this on top of the chili!  For some reason these two fruits manage to compliment the red sauce really well.  If you don't want to go the route of chopping the fruit, you could buy a pineapple or mango salsa to use!