This is not an authentic recipe for chilli con carne, but a dish I cook that has lots of flavour, is spicy, contains, beef, tomatoes, beans and chilli.
This dish serves 4-5
500g steak mince the 5% fat kind. You can use cheaper mince, but I find I often need to drain the excess fat after cooking off the mince.
Tin of tomatoes. We did for a while use cheap tins of tomatoes, but found that they lacked flavour so generally now use a quality brand. I use a blender to break down the tomatoes into a passata style base. If I had a carton or bottle of passata in the cupboard I may just use that instead of the tin.
Tin of kidney beans. For this dish I find the budget range fine.
Tomato puree. Like the tin of tomatoes, I have found budget brands of tomato puree okay for some dishes, but this I want that real hit of tomato, so got for a better quality version.
Two onions, diced. Sometimes I use brown onions, other times I use red onions, depends what’s in the fridge.
Red pepper, diced.
One carrot, diced. This is about “hiding” some more veg in the chilli, as well as adding texture and a little sweetness.
Cajun spicing (optional)
Chilli powder
Garlic powder, though you could use fresh.
A beef stock cube
A splash of Balsamic vinegar.
To cook the chilli I do the following steps.
Heat a large pot (or pan) and then add a little sunflower oil.
Cook off the mince in the pan, ensuring that it is evenly cooked through. If you have used a mince with 10% or higher fat content then drain off the excess fat.
Add the onions, pepper and carrot and stir into the mince.
Cook for five minutes, stirring every so often.
Add the Cajun spicing, chilli powder and garlic powder, stir into the mince. I generally use half a teaspoon of each. If you like your chilli spicier then add more Cajun spicing, if you like it hotter than add more chilli.
I might try using fresh chilli in a future version, this I would chop (and deseed) and add with the onions and pepper.
Cook for another minute.
Stir in the tomatoes and tomato puree. Sprinkle in the beef stock cube and the splash of Balsamic vinegar.
Stir, put on a lid and cook on a low heat for thirty minutes.
Add the tin of kidney beans and cook for five more minutes.
Serve.
I serve it either with rice or tortilla chips. Sometimes I use the chilli to fill soft (gluten free) corn tortillas, which I cover with cheese and then bake in the oven.
