Quick and Easy Chili — Big E’s Sunday Pot with Coffee and Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Last week of October. Halloween approaches, which is not my holiday — I am a Baptist man and we do not celebrate Halloween, or rather, we don't celebrate it officially, though I have been known to hand out candy to the neighborhood children because I am not a monster and because a big man in a doorway giving candy to little kids is, depending on your perspective, either festive or terrifying, and I choose to believe it's the former.

Rosetta bought three bags of candy — Snickers, Reese's, and Kit Kats — and put them in a bowl by the front door, and I moved the bowl to the kitchen because the bowl by the front door is accessible to me, and if the candy is accessible to me, the candy will not survive until Halloween. This is self-knowledge. This is why I am still married: because I know my weaknesses and manage them before Rosetta has to.

The mail route is beautiful in late October. The leaves are at their peak along my Midtown loop — the oaks going burgundy, the maples going orange, the sweetgums going everything at once, like they can't decide what color grief is supposed to be and so they try them all. I walk through it every day, crunching leaves under my shoes, and I feel the year tilting toward its end, the way a song tilts toward its final verse — still playing, still good, but you can hear the resolution coming.

Walter Jr. brought the kids to the house Saturday for a pre-Halloween visit. DeAndre was a superhero — which superhero I could not determine, because the costume involved a cape, a mask, and what appeared to be kitchen gloves, and when I asked, he said he was "Super BBQ Man," a hero he invented who fights crime with smoke. I have never been more proud. Aaliyah was a doctor, which surprised no one. Trey was a pumpkin, which surprised no one either because the boy is round and orange was already one of Tamika's approved wardrobe colors.

I carved pumpkins with the kids in the backyard — something Mama used to do with us at the shotgun house, though she called them "jack-o-lanterns" and said they were to scare away evil spirits, which is not exactly Baptist theology but is definitely Pearlie Mae theology, which has always been its own denomination. DeAndre wanted his pumpkin to look angry. Aaliyah wanted hers to look like a cat. Trey wanted to eat the pumpkin seeds, which he did, shell and all, before anyone could stop him.

After the pumpkins, I roasted the remaining seeds — the ones Trey didn't eat — in the oven with olive oil and salt and a dusting of smoked paprika, because everything in this kitchen gets smoked one way or another. And I made a pot of chili — not Texas chili, not competition chili, just Big E's Sunday chili: ground beef browned with onion and garlic, kidney beans, diced tomatoes, tomato paste, cumin, chili powder, a touch of coffee (coffee deepens chili the way it deepens short ribs — it adds a bass note that holds everything together), and a hit of cayenne because this is Memphis and heat is not optional.

The chili simmered for three hours while the kids played and Rosetta helped Aaliyah practice her stethoscope technique on Senator the poodle, who had escaped from Mrs. Watkins's yard next door and was submitting to medical examination with the resignation of a dog who has given up fighting the neighborhood. We ate the chili with cornbread and sour cream and cheese, and the house smelled like October and family and all the things that make this time of year bearable: the warmth of the kitchen, the noise of the children, the slow simmer of something good on the stove.

There’s something about a house full of kids, a stolen poodle getting a checkup, and three hours of nothing urgent that makes you want to write the whole thing down before it slips away — the smell, the noise, the particular quality of a Sunday that actually delivered. This chili is what that afternoon tasted like, and I’ve made it enough times now that I can give you the recipe the way I’d give you directions to my house: landmarks included, no wrong turns. Here’s how it goes.

Big E’s Sunday Chili with Coffee & Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Prep Time: 20 min | Cook Time: 3 hrs | Total Time: 3 hrs 20 min | Servings: 6–8

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 lbs ground beef (80/20)
• 1 medium yellow onion, diced
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans (15 oz each) kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can (28 oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
• 1/2 cup strong brewed black coffee
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or more, this is Memphis)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Sour cream, shredded cheddar, and cornbread for serving

For the Roasted Pumpkin Seeds:

• 1 cup raw pumpkin seeds, rinsed and dried
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika

Instructions

1. Roast the pumpkin seeds. Preheat oven to 325°F. Toss pumpkin seeds with olive oil, salt, and smoked paprika. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast 15–20 minutes, stirring once, until golden and crisp. Set aside to cool.
2. Brown the beef. Heat olive oil in a large heavy-bottomed pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it up, until browned and no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Drain excess fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon in the pot.
3. Build the base. Reduce heat to medium. Add diced onion to the pot and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more, until fragrant.
4. Add the body. Stir in tomato paste and cook 2 minutes, letting it deepen slightly. Add diced tomatoes, kidney beans, and coffee. Stir to combine.
5. Season and simmer. Add chili powder, cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Stir well. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce heat to low. Cover partially and simmer 2 1/2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally, until the chili is thick and the flavors have come together. Taste and adjust salt and cayenne as needed.
6. Serve. Ladle into bowls and top with sour cream and shredded cheddar. Scatter roasted pumpkin seeds over the top or serve them alongside in a bowl. Cornbread on the side is not optional.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories: 410 | Protein: 28g | Fat: 18g | Carbs: 32g | Fiber: 9g | Sodium: 620mg