Chili Con Carne

Mon, 25 January 2021

 

Ingredients

1 Large Onion

1 Carrot

2 Celery Sticks

2 Garlic Cloves

1 tbsp Oil

500g lean minced beef

1 or 2 tsp Chilli Powder

1 tsp Cumin Seeds

1 Beef Stock Cube

2 tbsp Tomato Purée

1 can Chopped Tomatoes

1 Bunch of Coriander

1 Fresh Red Chili

50g Dark Chocolate

1 can Red Kidney Beans

To serve

Boiled Rice, Crème Fraiche, Tortilla Chips, Avocado & Lime Wedges

 

Method

1. Finely chop the onion, carrot, celery & garlic.
2. Put your pan on over a medium heat, add the oil and leave it for 1-2 minutes until hot.
3. Add the onion and cook, stirring fairly frequently, until the onion is soft and translucent.
4. Add in the carrot, celery & garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes.
5. Add the minced beef. Turn the heat up a little and break it up with your spoon. Make sure you keep the heat hot enough for the meat to fry and become brown, rather than just stew. This should take about 5 minutes.
6. To make the sauce add in the chilli powder, cumin seeds, crumbled stock cube, the tin of tomatoes, tomato purée and about half a tin of water (200ml).
7. Season well with salt & black pepper.
8. 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 and simmer gently for 20 minutes.
9. Check occasionally to make sure the sauce doesn’t catch on the bottom of the pan or isn’t drying out. If it is, add a dash of water. After simmering gently, the mixture should look thick and juicy.
10. Drain and rinse the kidney beans in a sieve and stir them into the chilli pot.
11. Finely chop the fresh chili & coriander and add into the mixture along with the dark chocolate.
12. 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.
13. Taste a bit of the chilli and season.
14. Now turn off the heat and leave your chilli to stand for 10 minutes before serving. This is important as it allows the flavours to mingle.
15. Serve with boiled rice, crème fraiche, avocado, lime wedges, & tortilla chips.