Good Food Chilli Con Carne

ULTIMATE CHILLI CON CARNE

Steps:

• The day before, cut all the meat into small chunks - this will take at least 30 mins. In a spacious, heavy-based pan, fry the pancetta in the oil over a medium heat until it is crisp and the fat has melted.
• Stir the onions and garlic into the crisping pancetta and cook, stirring often, for 10-15 mins until soft.
• Cut the lemon into quarters lengthways, then remove the pithy core and seeds. Chop into small pieces (each with a bit of peel). Remove the pan from the heat and scoop the contents into a sieve, letting any fat drain back into the pan - and give some encouragement with a wooden spoon.
• Return the pan to the heat and brown the pork in the hot fat, then stir in the beef and brown that too. Add the chilli powder and cumin, and cook over a low heat for 2 mins, stirring constantly. Add the flour and cook for a further 2 mins. Add the bay leaves, 1/2 tsp salt, the lemon, oregano, tomato purée, red wine and stock. Return the onions to the pan. Bring to a simmer, stirring often, then reduce the heat and cook, uncovered, and stirring occasionally to avoid sticking, for 2 hrs until the sauce is thick and the liquid has reduced. Add salt to taste. Cool, cover and chill overnight. Can be frozen at this stage for up to 1 month - defrost overnight in the fridge before continuing with the recipe.
• Add the beans to the chilli and reheat. Serve with rice or couscous, a dollop of soured cream, slices of avocado tossed in lime juice, a splash of chilli sauce, sprinkling of coriander, and lime wedges, if you like.

AWARD WINNING CHILI CON CARNE

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Cook green pepper, and onion, until softened. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Crumble over bouillon cubes, and stir in wine; continue to cook for a few minutes. Stir in chopped tomatoes, garlic, and tomato paste. Season with paprika, chili powder, cayenne pepper, basil, oregano, and parsley. Stir in salt and pepper.
• Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium low. Cover, and simmer for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Stir in kidney beans, and hot pepper sauce. You can add the reserved tomato juice if more liquid is needed. Continue to simmer for an additional 30 minutes.
• In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, corn meal, and water until smooth. Stir into chili, and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until chili has thickened up.

CHILI CON CARNE

Steps:

• Cook the bacon in a large saucepan or Dutch oven over medium heat until crisp, 6 to 8 minutes per side. Drain on a paper towel-lined plate and let cool, then crumble and set aside. Pour off all but 1 tablespoon of the bacon drippings from the saucepan (reserve the drippings). Increase the heat to medium high, add the beef and cook, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon, until browned, about 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate using a slotted spoon; wipe out the pan.
• Heat 1 tablespoon of the reserved bacon drippings in the saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and bell pepper and cook, stirring, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and 1 teaspoon salt and cook 2 minutes. Add the chili powder, cumin, paprika, oregano and tomato paste and cook, stirring, until the tomato paste is brick red, about 6 minutes (add a splash of water if the mixture begins to stick). Add the beer and simmer until almost completely reduced, about 3 minutes.
• Stir in the beef and any juices from the plate; add the cocoa powder, tomatoes, beef broth and beans and bring to a simmer over low heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the chili thickens slightly, about 1 hour, 30 minutes.
• Stir the hot sauce into the chili and season with salt. Add some beef broth if the chili is too thick. Ladle into bowls and top with the crumbled bacon, cheese, scallions and/or sour cream.

CHILI CON CARNE II

Steps:

• In a medium sized stock pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Saute onion, chile pepper and garlic until soft. Add ground beef: cook and stir until meat is browned.
• Pour in tomatoes with liquid, salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, paprika, oregano, cinnamon sticks, and cloves. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes.
• Stir in kidney beans, and cook another 15 minutes. Remove cinnamon sticks before serving.

SLOW COOKER CHILLI CON CARNE

Steps:

• Set the slow cooker to low. Heat 1½ tbsp oil in a large, non-stick pan over a high heat and fry the mince for 10-12 mins or until evenly browned. Tip into the slow cooker.
• Heat the remaining oil in the pan. Fry the onion, celery and pepper for 10 mins or until softened. Add the garlic, cumin and paprika and fry for 1 min. Tip into the slow cooker.
• Stir in the oregano, chipotle paste, tomato purée, tomatoes and stock. Season. Cover and cook for 6-8 hrs.
• Stir in the beans and chocolate during the final 30 mins of cooking. Serve with a bowl of rice or tortilla chips and a dollop of soured cream.

NEXT LEVEL CHILLI CON CARNE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 140C/120C fan/gas 1. Over a high heat, toast the whole chillies on all sides until you can smell them cooking, then remove and set aside. Keep the pan on the heat and toast the peppercorns, cumin seeds and coriander seeds until they just start to change colour, then grind to a powder using a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Mix with the smoked paprika and oregano (this is a standard tex-mex seasoning), then set aside.
• Return the casserole to the heat, add half the oil and heat until shimmering. Fry the beef in batches, adding more oil if you need to, until it's browned on all sides, then set aside. Fry the onions in the pan over a low heat for about 8 mins until soft and golden, then add the garlic and cook for 1 min more. Working fast, add the meat and juices, the spice mix, tomato purée, peanut butter and coffee to the pan and cook for 2-3 mins, stirring to coat the meat until everything is thick and gloopy, then pour in the vinegar and stock.
• Add the toasted chillies back into the casserole, along with the bay leaves, cinnamon and some salt. Bring to a simmer and stir well, then cover with the lid and cook in the oven for 3hrs, stirring occasionally, until the meat is very tender but not falling apart. Take the casserole out of the oven, put back on the stove and remove the lid. Simmer the sauce for 5 mins, then stir in the semolina flour and simmer for 2-3 mins more. Finely grate over the chocolate, stir through with the beans and simmer for a minute more to heat through. Fish out the chillies, then leave everything to rest for at least 15 mins.
• Bring the pan to the table. Serve with bowls of accompaniments and the chilli paste (see tip below) to add heat.

CHILLI CON CARNE RECIPE

Steps:

• 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.
• Tip in the garlic, red pepper, 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder or 1 level tbsp mild chilli powder, 1 tsp paprika and 1 tsp ground cumin.
• 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, 1 tsp sugar 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. 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.
• Serve with soured cream and plain boiled long grain rice.

CHILI CON CARNE

Steps:

• In a Dutch oven, cook beef over medium heat until no longer pink, 5-7 minutes; crumble beef. Drain and set aside. , In the same pot, heat oil; saute onions until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the green pepper, salt, chili powder, bouillon, cayenne, cinnamon, cumin and oregano. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring until combined. , Add tomatoes and browned beef. Stir in water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for about 1 hour. Add beans and heat through. If desired top with sour cream and jalapeno.

CHILLI CON CARNE

Steps:

• 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 the oil and leave it for 1-2 minutes until hot (a little longer for an electric hob). Add the onions and cook, stirring fairly frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until the onions are soft, squidgy and slightly translucent. Tip in the garlic, red pepper, 1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder or 1 level tbsp mild chilli powder, 1 tsp paprika and 1 tsp ground cumin. Give it a good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Brown the 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.
• Making the sauce. Crumble 1 beef stock cube into 300ml hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince mixture. Open 1 can of chopped tomatoes (400g can) and add these as well. Tip in ½ tsp dried marjoram and 1 tsp sugar, if using (see tip at the bottom), 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. You should 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.
• Bring on the beans. Drain and rinse 1 can of red kidney beans (410g can) in a sieve and stir them into the chilli pot. 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, and relax. Leaving your chilli to stand is really important as it allows the flavors to mingle and the meat.
• Serve with soured cream and plain boiled long grain rice.

GOOD OLD CHILI CON CARNE

Steps:

• Place a large casserole over medium-high heat, and add 1/4 cup olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the onions, garlic, carrots, celery and red bell peppers. Stir, and add chili powder, cumin, cinnamon and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Stir every 30 seconds for about 7 minutes, until softened and lightly colored.
• Add the garbanzo beans, kidney beans, tomatoes and ground beef, stirring to break up the meat. Fill one of the tomato cans with water and then add the water to the pan. Coarsely chop the cilantro leaves and refrigerate until needed. Finely chop the stems and add to the pan. Add balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper to taste.
• Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low. Simmer, partly covered, for about 1 hour, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Transfer to a warmed serving bowl or individual bowls, and garnish with cilantro leaves. If desired, serve with basmati rice, crusty bread, baked potato or couscous, accompanied by yogurt, guacamole and slices of lime.

EASY CHILLI CON CARNE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 150C/fan 130C/gas 3. Heat the oil, preferably in a large flameproof casserole, and fry the onions for 8 mins. Add the garlic, spices and oregano and cook for 1 min, then gradually add the mince, stirring well until browned. Stir in the tomatoes, add half a can of water, then crumble in the stock and season.
• Cover and cook in the oven for 30 mins. Stir in the peppers and sundried tomatoes, then cook for 30 mins more until the peppers are tender. Stir in the beans.
• To serve, reheat on the hob until bubbling. Serve with avocado or a big salad with avocado in it, some basmati rice or tortilla chips and a bowl of soured cream.
• If you want to use a slow cooker, fry your onions in a pan for 8 mins, then add your garlic, spices and oregano and cook for a minute. Gradually add the mince until it's brown. Tip into your slow cooker with the tomatoes, peppers, sundried tomatoes and beans, crumble in the stock cubes and season to taste. Cook on Low for 8-10 hours, then serve as above.

EASY CHILLI CON CARNE

Steps:

• Heat the oil in a large, deep frying pan. I use a wok, to feel exotic. Cook the garlic, onion and chillis until your kitchen smells wonderful. I prefer to keep the onion fairly crisp. The less oil you use the better but a tablespoon is a good guideline.
• Add the beef mince and fry until browned, then drain off as much oil as you can.
• Add the stock, tomato purée and tomatoes and mix well.
• Add the kidney beans, paprika, cumin and coriander and season well. If you like your bell pepper nice and soft, add it here.
• Simmer, stirring occasionally, for as long as you have. Time suits this recipe well but if you only have five minutes, so be it. Halfway through the simmering time, add the bell pepper if you haven't already. Now is also a good time to get rice cooking.
• Add a pinch of nutmeg if you like, I find it gives it a subtle undertone, but it's down to personal taste. More black pepper works well at this point too. Taste it, add more cumin and possibly chilli powder if it suits your taste.
• Serve with rice, tortillas or tortilla chips as you prefer. Goes great with sour cream.