COCOA-COCONUT CHILI

Cocoa-Coconut Chili is a perfect day-after-Thanksgiving-light-dinner recipe.  Originally I planned to make it as part of the T-day meal (easy method of wide exposure to how tasty vegan can be), but that proved illogical, what with all Black Friday research I was busy conducting.  Also, I lost momentum when the local market in North Eastern PA did not have coconut milk - check-out girl and customer-service girl responded with identical looks of bewilderment when I asked about this apparently exotic product.  But my dad was able to scrounge some up when he did a store-run elsewhere on Thanksgiving morning.  Ironically, the author notes that coconut milk does not have to be used, in which case one should add some agave nectar to supply sweetness.  That is crazy talk though, coconut milk is one of the top 3 ingredients in any kitchen and critical to this dish.  Another ingredient the local market did not have was Dutch-processed cocoa powder, so I made do with the regular kind.  Nonetheless, the result was lovely and unique.