Chili con Carne

Saturday I had a meat craving.  Bad.  I also had chipotle peppers in sauce, turtle beans, corn chips and a whole afternoon at home.  So I made Chili con Carne.  I'd never made it before so I looked up a bunch of online recipes and deduced that if I made it just like bolognese only kinda Mexican and spicy, then everything would work out for the best.  This turned out to be pretty sound logic.  I wolfed a plate and a half, fed as much again to two hungry men, and have half a pot full for lunches tomorrow.  I plan to be the envy of the office (vegetarians excluded)!

Ingredients:

• 800g lean minced beef
• two tins crushed tomatoes
• 4 chipotle chilis in sauce
• 1 large onion
• 2 garlic cloves
• bay leaves
• cinnamon quill
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup turtle beans
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 large tablespoon anchio chili powder (mild chili)
• coriander
• splash of tequila
• rice, grated cheese and corn chips to serve

Finely chop the garlic and onions and sautee until golden in a decent amount of oil.  Add the meat and brown thoroughly. 

Add the two tins of chopped tomatoes and all your chilis and spices* and stir through.  Then add your beans and do the same.  I also added about a shot of tequila, just because.  Cover and simmer for as long as you have - for me this was about 4 hours.  I checked on it periodically and added a cup of water to prevent it drying, then simmered it down finally until it was good and thick.  The colour will bleed from the black beans and turn the whole thing into a lovely dark stew.

20 minutes before serving, prepare your rice and grate your cheese.  Immediately before serving add the finely chopped coriander, and then serve over rice with the cheese and smashed up corn chips on top.  By this time the house will have smelled of Chili for hours and you may find yourself hoovering it into your face three times faster than your friends.  This is okay.

*Anchio powder is a wonderful thing.  It tastes hugely of chili, without the heat.  So by adding enormous quantities to dishes they taste wonderfully of chili, but you can still control how hot they actually are by adding additional hot chili or cayenne pepper to your tastes.  I highly recommend it!