Fast and dirty chicken chili

My usual chili recipe is one I got from Penzey's Spices.  After the onions and garlic are tender, you stir in the chili powder, cumin, and other spices so that they get to bloom in the oil before you add the liquid and tomatoes.  The chili should simmer for 3 hours to develop the best flavor.  I use that technique for both beef and vegetarian chilis.

Years ago I developed a chicken chili recipe that's made thick and rich with a can of refried beans.

Last night I opened a package of boneless, skinless chicken thighs and started dicing them to make a sort of fried rice dish.  Since I had cooked 4 servings of rice, I wanted about a pound of chicken, and there were 2 lbs in the package.

I decided I might as well cook all the chicken, and freezer or refrigerate the leftovers.  As I finshed the chicken fried rice I had planned for dinner, I threw the extra chicken and onion into a saucepan and made what I thought was a sort of half-assed chili.  Not enough spices.  Needed more veggies.  Maybe I'll pick some stuff up at the grocery store and make it into a sort of tortilla soup...

But the roads were awful tonight, and we ended up having the half-assed chili all by itself.  It was pretty good.  This makes 4 rather small, but filling, servings.

1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
1 small onion, diced
1 T olive oil
10 oz. can Ro-Tel tomatoes and green chiles
15 oz. can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 oz. tomato paste
2 tsp Penzey's medium-hot chili powder
~ 1/2 tsp ground cumin
White pepper to taste

Trim the chicken thighs of any large blobs of fat and cut into 1/2 inch or smaller pieces, removing any stringy tendons or membranes as you work.  Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and cook the onion until translucent.  Add the chicken and cook, stirring occasionally until the surface is browned in patches, and opaque everywhere else.  The chicken will cook through in the next step.

Meanwhile, pour the Rotel into a 3 quart saucepan with a lid, and heat over medium until it begins to simmer.  Add the chicken, chili powder, cumin, beans, and tomato paste.  Stir until the tomato paste dissolves.  (Don't taste right now -- the chicken might still be raw in the center.)  Bring the chili to a boil, reduce the heat, cover the pot, and allow it to simmer for approximately 20 minutes.  Add pepper and taste -- you probably won't need any salt.

Serve with tortilla chips and shredded cheese.