Vegetarian Three Bean Chili / Chili Sin Carne | Vegan Chili

This post is due for a while now. Remember I told about my Valentine's day menu plan in my Orange Blueberry Cake post? Our Dinner was Onion Garlic Foccacia with this Vegetarian Three bean Chili. Since we did not make any plans to go out, I decided to make what I though DH would love for a good dinner. I had done all the chopping the previous day and kept in the refrigerator, soaked the beans overnight and cooked them in the morning. And when I had made the foccacia bread in the afternoon, this rarely took an hour to be finished. Dinner on the table without too much stress. Nothing elegant but it was hearty and home-made.

Ingredients:
Serves - 6-8; Preparation time - 8 hours; Cooking time - 1 hr.
Adapted from Cooking light - Way to cook vegetarian cookbook
Measurements in standard cups and spoons
Olive oil - 3 tbsp
Onion - 1 cup - chopped
Celery - 2 stalks - approx 1 cup chopped 
Carrots, medium sized  - 4 - cubed
Garlic cloves - 4 - sliced thin
Red bell peppers - 2
Cumin powder - 2 tsp
Paprika - 1 tsp (see notes for substitution)
Red pepper flakes - 1 tsp
Salt - 1 tsp or to taste
Vegetable broth (Low sodium) - 4 cups - click here for homemade stock recipe
Crushed tomatoes - 1-28 oz can
Dry Kidney beans - 2/3 cup (see notes)
Dry Black beans - 2/3 cup
Dry Pinto beans - 2/3 cup
Spring onions / Green onions - 1/4 cup

Method:
Pick over and soak all the beans together for 8 hours or overnight. Cook with 6 cups of water and 1 tsp of salt in a pressure cooker for 1 whistle. Alternatively the beans can be cooked in stove top until cooked through. Preheat the broiler. Slice the red bell peppers in half lengthwise and place cut side down in a foil lined baking pan. Broil for 12-15 minutes or until the skin is charred. When done place in a glass bowl with a tight fitting lid for about 15 minutes. This lets the bell peppers to sweat and helps easy removal of skin. After removing the skin cut into bite sized pieces. 
In a heavy saucepan, heat oil and saute the chopped onions and celery until cooked through, about 12-15 minutes. Add the garlic cloves, cumin, paprika, pepper flakes and salt. Cook for another 2 minutes. Add the bell peppers, carrots, vegetable broth and canned tomatoes. Mix well and check for salt. Cover and cook in medium heat until the carrots are cooked, about 15 minutes. Add the cooked beans and mix. Cover and continue to cook for 10 minutes. Remove the cover and cook for another 10 minutes or until the desired thickness is achieved. Serve hot topped with green onions.
Notes:
Instead of dry beans, use canned beans, one of each kind. Kashmiri chilli powder can be substituted for paprika. 
Linking this up to Priya's Vegan Thursdays.