Chilli Con Carne
Serves: 2
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Ingredients
1 Onion Diced
1/2 Red Bell Pepper Diced
2 Cloves Garlic Minced
1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil
3/4 Teaspoon Hot Chilli Powder or 1 1/2 Teaspoons Mild Chilli Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Paprika
1/2 Teaspoon Ground Cumin
250g Lean Minced Beef
1 Beef Stock Cube
200g Tin Chopped Tomatoes
1/4 Teaspoon Dried Marjoram
1/2 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Tablespoon Tomato Purée
1/2 410g Tin Red Kidney Beans Drained
Long Grain Rice to Serve
Soured Cream to Serve
Directions
Put your pan on the hob over a medium heat. Add olive 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, hot chilli powder / mild chilli powder, paprika and ground cumin.
Give it a good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
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.
Crumble beef stock cube into 150ml hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince mixture.
Add chopped tomatoes. Tip in dried marjoram, sugar and add a good shake of salt and pepper. Squirt in tomato purée and stir the sauce well.
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.
Stir kidney beans 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 long grain rice.
CREDIT: bbcgoodfood.com