How do you make the ideal Chillie Con Carne

[Digweeds Trousers]

For some reason I really fancy a great chillie tonight but although happy to cook, I have always fallen foul of the jar approach which frankly is a bit bland.

Any tips as to how to make the perfect chillie - an critically with a DVD to watch tonight, I want to know preparation times so that I can start the televisual feast at 8.30pm.

On the dot. Wine breathing, phone off, missus out, and pure joy of an evening watching a film of my choice in peace and quiet.

Thank you for your help

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

fry the mince with some onion and garlic until it starts to go brown

in a different pot, whack the now fried stuff in there, with some chopped tomatoes, fresh tomatoes, peppers (use as many colours as you want), and fresh chillies (take the seeds out if you don't want it to be too spicy),

leave it to simmer

oh, whack some tomato puree and a beef stock cube.......and put some fresh coriander in

and squeeze some lime juice in, mmmmmmmmm

make loads and then freeze it, it tastes well good after a few days as the spices have time to MINGLE

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

if you have any pots of herbs lying around, whack some of them in aswell

 

[Tooting Gull]

Good call. Bit of garlic, chopped onion, mince, small bit of beef stock, tinned tomatoes, paprika, chilli powder, mushrooms, red kidney beans. Serve with rice, maybe a few tortilla chips and sour cream/guacamole, beer. Sorted.

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

oh yeah i forgot the kidney beans

 

[Alex Alex Dawson oo! oo!]

This one's good but takes a while:

2 medium onions
1 clove garlic
Olive oil
2 level teaspoons chili powder
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin (or crushed cumin seeds)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound (455 grams) chuck, minced or ground beef
7 ounces (200 grams) sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 fresh red chile, deseeded and finely chopped
2 (14 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes (400 grams)
1/2 stick cinnamon
5 ounces water
2 (14 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained (400 grams)

If you are going to use the oven method, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Chop up the onions and garlic in the food processor and fry in some olive oil until softened. Add the chili powder and cumin and a little seasoning.
Chop up the meat in the processor and add to the pan, cooking it until slightly browned.
Place the sun-dried tomatoes and chile in the processor with the oil and blend to form a paste. Add these to the beef with the tomatoes, cinnamon stick, and a wineglass of water. Season a little more, if need be.
Bring to the boil, cover with greaseproof paper and a lid, then either turn the heat down to simmer and cook for 1 1/2 hours or transfer the pan to the oven for about 1 1/2 hours.
Add the red kidney beans 30 minutes before the end of cooking time.

 

[withdeanwombat]

Do try the Lazy Chillies.............ready prepared,and truly warm.

 

[Harold]

Plenty of good tips on here.

For me Cumin is a must. Fire it up with hot chilli powder, paprika and fresh chilli's.

Substance wise, I have recently taken to dicing sweet potato into mine. Always add cherry toms, shrooms, mixed peppers and sliced courgette. Nice and healthy.

Tesco's do a kidney beans in chilli sauce which is good.

Many people add powdered chocolate (cocoa) as well (although personally this has never appealed to me).

 

[The Merry Prankster]

Fry a mixture of beef (70%) and pork add garlic, onion, whole scots bonnet chilli pepper (remove before eating). Little red wine. Toms with added balsamic and sugar. Soy. Coriander stalks and roots chopped. Low simmer for hour and a half add a little beef stock if needed. Taste, season, squeeze of lemon. add black-eyed peas or kidney beans. Twenty more minutes. Sprinkle with chopped coriander. Serve with soured cream and a salsa. Makes great enchiladas the next day and freezes very well.

 

[Harold]

Do try the Lazy Chillies.............ready prepared,and truly warm.

Never without a pot of Lazy chilli in the fridge (Lazy garlic too). We throw it in pasta's and all sorts of dishes. Top quality and so convenient.

 

[m20gull]

I thoroughly recommend the inclusion of cinnamon and chocolate.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

This one's good but takes a while:

2 medium onions
1 clove garlic
Olive oil
2 level teaspoons chili powder
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin (or crushed cumin seeds)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound (455 grams) chuck, minced or ground beef
7 ounces (200 grams) sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 fresh red chile, deseeded and finely chopped
2 (14 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes (400 grams)
1/2 stick cinnamon
5 ounces water
2 (14 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained (400 grams)

If you are going to use the oven method, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Chop up the onions and garlic in the food processor and fry in some olive oil until softened. Add the chili powder and cumin and a little seasoning.
Chop up the meat in the processor and add to the pan, cooking it until slightly browned.
Place the sun-dried tomatoes and chile in the processor with the oil and blend to form a paste. Add these to the beef with the tomatoes, cinnamon stick, and a wineglass of water. Season a little more, if need be.
Bring to the boil, cover with greaseproof paper and a lid, then either turn the heat down to simmer and cook for 1 1/2 hours or transfer the pan to the oven for about 1 1/2 hours.
Add the red kidney beans 30 minutes before the end of cooking time.

That looks pretty good - Chilli should always have cumin and cinnamon in it and be cooked for a long time. I would personally always serve over rice and top with cheddar so it melts.

 

[Mendoza]

Tuesday night I made Chilli,

Put some oil in a wok, put in a stick of cinnamon and chopped up red onion and garlic. Added a splash of soy sauce and worcester sauce.

I then chucked in some mince beef, fried it off for a little with some cumin, salt and pepper. I added in some chopped up red and yellow peppers, as well as come diced courgettes and mushrooms, and chopped up red chilli. I then added a can of chopped tomotoes and kidney beans and let it simmer for a while.

Once it had simmered, I added some chopped up coriander leaf and sprinkled over the top, then served in a bowl with a dollop of soured cream on the top, served with basmati rice and dry fried tortilla wraps chopped into quarters.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

Tuesday night I made Chilli,

Put some oil in a wok, put in a stick of cinnamon and chopped up red onion and garlic. Added a splash of soy sauce and worcester sauce.

I then chucked in some mince beef, fried it off for a little with some cumin, salt and pepper. I added in some chopped up red and yellow peppers, as well as come diced courgettes and mushrooms, and chopped up red chilli. I then added a can of chopped tomotoes and kidney beans and let it simmer for a while.

Once it had simmered, I added some chopped up coriander leaf and sprinkled over the top, then served in a bowl with a dollop of soured cream on the top, served with basmati rice and dry fried tortilla wraps chopped into quarters.

Soy sauce in chilli ?? Two different continents ! But then you've also included the mediterranean courgettes, so maybe this is the "global" version.

 

[Jahooli]

This one's good but takes a while:

2 medium onions
1 clove garlic
Olive oil
2 level teaspoons chili powder
1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin (or crushed cumin seeds)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 pound (455 grams) chuck, minced or ground beef
7 ounces (200 grams) sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
1 fresh red chile, deseeded and finely chopped
2 (14 ounce) cans chopped tomatoes (400 grams)
1/2 stick cinnamon
5 ounces water
2 (14 ounce) cans red kidney beans, drained (400 grams)

If you are going to use the oven method, preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C).
Chop up the onions and garlic in the food processor and fry in some olive oil until softened. Add the chili powder and cumin and a little seasoning.
Chop up the meat in the processor and add to the pan, cooking it until slightly browned.
Place the sun-dried tomatoes and chile in the processor with the oil and blend to form a paste. Add these to the beef with the tomatoes, cinnamon stick, and a wineglass of water. Season a little more, if need be.
Bring to the boil, cover with greaseproof paper and a lid, then either turn the heat down to simmer and cook for 1 1/2 hours or transfer the pan to the oven for about 1 1/2 hours.
Add the red kidney beans 30 minutes before the end of cooking time.

Don't think you can go wrong with that although I manage to get by without a food processor. A few suggestions that might enhance are using red wine instead of / as well as water and (although this may seem odd) for the quantities given a very level teaspoon of sugar. Don't know why it helps but it does.

Good Luck

 

[footychick]

Chocolate?

 

[turienzo's lovechild]

f*** it, i'm making a chilli tonight

chilli tonight and a homemade curry tomorrow

WICKED

 

[Mendoza]

Chocolate?

chocolate and chilli go well together - FACT. more so cocoa as opposed to chocolate like Dairy Milk or Galaxy

 

[bhafc99]

Some good suggestions here. Some personal tips:

I'd go for finely diced steak, rather than mince, and lightly dust it in flour before you brown it.

A little bit of chopped chorizo sausage as well is a nice touch.

Once you've chopped your chillis, of whatever heat/variety, keep a small amount aside when you add the rest to the mix. Only put this last lot in right at the end. The heat/flavour from the first lot you put in will spread evenly and nicely throughout the mixture (rather than being hot in themselves so much), then the last lot will retain a little extra localised kick.

Ture Mexicans use smoked jalapenos for chillis (also called chipolte chillis). I like these, but don't find them quite hot enough and like my food to kick ass, so often add in a few birds eye chillis as well to spice it up even more. I know that's more Asian, but I find it works ok.

If you find your mixture's coming out too liquidy (some US recipes can be more like soup than our idea of chilli con carne), I've heard of adding crushed tortilla chips to add texture, though I've never tried it myself.

A swirl of sour cream and some fesh coriander on top looks lovely!

 

[Northstander]

Cook with a bottle of Real Ale in it, add cocoa chocolate.....LUSH!