Recipe: Chilli Con Carne
14th Sep 2020 Recipes
Chilli Con Carne is brilliantly versatile. It’s easy to scale up, and big batches are ideal for feeding a crowd.
Dress it up with an array of help-yourself sides: sour cream, guacamole, grated cheese and nachos. Leftovers taste even better the next day, and a bowl of chilli con carne with easy-cook rice makes a quick and comforting mid-week meal. My only warning? A rushed chilli con carne is a sad thing. Bestow a bit of time and love on your chilli and you’ll reap the benefits.
Ingredients
- 2tbsp olive oil
- 2 onions, diced
- 2 celery sticks, sliced
- 3 garlic cloves, crushed
- 500g quality minced beef
- 1tbsp ground cumin
- 1tbsp ground coriander
- 1–2tsp hot chilli powder
- 2 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
- 2tbsp tomato purée
- Beef stock
- 400g tin of red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
- 1tsp dried oregano
- 450g long-grain white rice
Optional extras
- grated Cheddar/Red Leicester
- sour cream
- guacamole
- crushed nachos
Method
- Preheat the oven to 160C.
- Heat the oil in a casserole dish. Sweat the onions, celery and garlic. Add the minced beef, and brown—stirring it with a wooden spoon until there’s no pink left. Add the dry spices, and cook for a further minute, until the spices become aromatic.
- Tip the chopped tomatoes and tomato purée into the casserole dish. Then make up one empty tomato tin’s worth of beef stock, and add it to the chilli. Finally, add the red kidney beans and dried oregano. Bring the chilli up to a simmer, put on the lid and transfer to the oven for 1–1.5 hours.
- Ten minutes before serving, start cooking the rice as per pack instructions. Take the chilli out of the oven, and simmer—lid off—so the sauce reduces. To serve, spoon the rice into a shallow bowl, and then top with the chilli. Put out bowls of grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole, and crushed nachos on the table, so guests can help themselves.
Tip
Struggling to get children to eat their vegetables? Peel and grate three carrots, then stir it into the chilli. It adds sweetness, and if you top the chilli with grated Red Leicester, then it’s impossible to identify the grated carrot anyway. Cunning, eh?
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