Chilli Con Carne
I think I’m going to post more about what I cook and eat. So here’s another recipe for something you probably all know how to make already anyway. All quantities are approximate as I just guess, and chilli doesn’t depend too much on exactly quantities anyway — at least, not how I make it.
Serves 5-7 depending on how hungry you are
500g beef mince
2 tins peeled tomatoes
2 tins red kidney beans
1 large pepper (green is best I find, but I had to use red as it was the only colour I had)
1 large white or red onion
1 tablespoon of chilli puree
1 tablespoon of whole cumin seeds
2 beef Oxo cubes (or alternative beef stock powder)
1 tablespoon caster or granulated sugar
2 tablespoons tomato puree
Olive oil, for frying
Heat a large saucepan. When it’s hot, toast the cumin seeds for a couple of minutes (obviously stop if they start smoking), then tip them into a pestle and mortar and grind to a powder. If you’re feeling lazy, cumin powder would probably do, but I find the powder loses its potency incredibly rapidly so cumin seeds are better for storage.
Chop the onion into pieces about 8mm by 20mm. Fry gently in the olive oil for a few minutes, then add the beef mince and stir occasionally to allow the mince to brown.
Tip the beans into a seive and rinse under the tap, then add them to the pan. If you’ve got tins of chopped tomatoes, tip them straight into the pan, but if you have whole ones, pour the juice into the pan and chop the tomatoes before adding them too.
Add the chilli puree, tomato puree, sugar and cumin. Crumble the Oxo cubes into the pan and give everything a good stir, then lower the heat to a gentle simmer and allow to cook for about an hour.
Then eat it. It’s good served with rice, or garlic bread, or pitta bread, or anything else you fancy. Particularly with a nice green salad.
It also freezes superbly, and once reheated it tastes even better. Honest!