The Best Home Made Chili Con Carne

Making your own home made chili is a breeze. Chili con carne means chili with meat. It’s a simple and easy as cooking gets. Everything gets thrown in a pot and left to cook for a while.

Home made chili is a hundred times better than a store bought meal. You know what went into it and you can adjust the heat to suit your families tastes. This particular version is fairly mild, but if you prefer a hotter chili, just increase the amount of chillies and spices. This recipe serves 6 people. A good family meal with some leftovers. That’s another great thing about chili: it makes wonderful leftovers. I prefer to make my own chili powder and use fresh chillies, but if you are using ready-made chili powder, that will work just fine too.

You will need:

Equipment:

• A sharp knife
• A cutting board
• A large saucepan
• A wooden spoon
• A garlic press

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 ½ lb ground beef
• 1 lb of chopped fresh tomatoes
• 3 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 red chillies, thinly sliced ( or 2 tablespoons dried chilli flakes )
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 stick cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 beef stock cube
• Salt and fresh ground black pepper
• 2x tins red kidney beans, drained and washed
• 1 large bottle of red wine ( a cup for the chilli, the rest for the chef )

For the garnish:

• 1 large bunch coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• Sour Cream

First open the wine, pour a glass and sip. Don’t worry, some of it will go in the chili.

Next, prepare the onion, garlic and chillies. Add the oil to a large sauce pan and heat. Fry the garlic and onion in the oil until they start to soften. Add the fresh, chopped chillies and fry for a further couple of minutes. Now, add the spices and fry for another 2 minutes, stirring well. Add the ground beef and brown. Now add the wine and reduce for another 2 minutes.

Now add all the other ingredients, stir and season with a good helping of salt and fresh ground black pepper. Bring to a boil, turn the heat down low, cover and cook for an hour, stirring occasionally. Sit down and have another glass of wine – you deserve it after all that hard work. Serve with grated cheese and a good handful of fresh, chopped coriander, rice and a green salad.

Much like curry, I think this tastes better after leaving for a day or two, so I tend to make this a few days before I plan to serve it, but you can eat it immediately. It freezes well and keeps well in the fridge.

Bon Apetit!