Chilli con carne
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings: 4 servings
This great chilli recipe has to be one of the best dishes to serve to friends for a casual get-together.
It is by no means a 'definitive' recipe, or one to satisfy the purists. It is a great flavour however and will satisfy (almost) all who try. Make it as spicy or mild as you prefer.
Serve over rice, over nachos or in your favourite burrito mix.
Try adding the chocolate with the beans for a hint of Oaxacan mole.
For a vegan chilli sin carne, use red lentils in place of the beef. For an idea on how to adapt this recipe to do this, see the vegan bolognese recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 large onion
- 1 red pepper
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 tbsp oil
- 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder (or 1 level tbsp if you only have mild)
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 500g lean minced beef
- 1 beef stock cube
- 400g can chopped tomatoes
- ½ tsp dried marjoram
- Optional thumbnail-sized piece of dark chocolate
- 2 tbsp tomato purée
- 410g can red kidney beans
- plain boiled long grain rice , to serve
- soured cream , to serve
Method
Prepare your vegetables. Chop 1 large onion into small dice, about 5mm square. The easiest way to do this is to cut the onion in half from root to tip, peel it and slice each half into thick matchsticks lengthways, not quite cutting all the way to the root end so they are still held together. Slice across the matchsticks into neat dice.
Cut 1 red pepper in half lengthways, remove stalk and wash the seeds away, then chop. Peel and finely chop 2 garlic cloves.
Start cooking. Put your pan on the hob over a medium heat. Add 1 tbsp oil and leave it for 1-2 minutes until hot (a little longer for an electric hob).
Add the onion and cook, stirring fairly frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onion is soft, squidgy and slightly translucent.
Give it a good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Brown 500g lean minced beef. Turn the heat up a bit, add the meat to the pan and break it up with your spoon or spatula. The mix should sizzle a bit when you add the mince.
Keep stirring and prodding for at least 5 minutes, until all the mince is in uniform, mince-sized lumps and there are no more pink bits. Make sure you keep the heat hot enough for the meat to fry and become brown, rather than just stew.
Make the sauce. Crumble 1 beef stock cube into 300ml hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince mixture.
Add a 400g can of chopped tomatoes. Tip in ½ tsp dried marjoram and add a good shake of salt and pepper. Squirt in about 2 tbsp tomato purée and stir the sauce well.
Simmer it gently. Bring the whole thing to the boil, give it a good stir and put a lid on the pan. Turn down the heat until it is gently bubbling and leave it for 20 minutes.
Check on the pan occasionally to stir it and make sure the sauce doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan or isn’t drying out. If it is, add a couple of tablespoons of water and make sure that the heat really is low enough. After simmering gently, the saucy mince mixture should look thick, moist and juicy.
Drain and rinse a 410g can of red kidney beans in a sieve and stir them into the chilli pot. Add the chocolate at this stage if using. Bring to the boil again, and gently bubble without the lid for another 10 minutes, adding a little more water if it looks too dry.
Taste a bit of the chilli and season. It will probably take a lot more seasoning than you think.
Now replace the lid, turn off the heat and leave your chilli to stand for 10 minutes before serving. This is really important as it allows the flavours to mingle.
