Chilli Con (or non) Carne

CHILI CON (OR NON) CARNE

Chile con carne translates as chili with meat. This is a great dish for using up left over bits and pieces, not so fresh vegetables and half used jars of stuff. You don't have to put meat in (hence the NON carne bit) or the chilli...everything is up to you.

INGREDIENTS: serves 4 - 6 big bowls

  • 2 medium onions

  • 2 cloves garlic (of course I use more)

  • 2 medium carrots

  • 2 sticks celery

  • 2 red capsicums

  • olive oil

  • 1 heaped teaspoon chilli powder

  • 1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin

  • 1 heaped teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 1 x 400 g tin of chickpeas or black beans (or both)

  • 1 x 400 g tin of red kidney beans

  • 2 x 400 g tin of chopped tomatoes (or tomato soup or pasta sauce)

  • 500 g quality minced beef

Optional for serving

  • fresh coriander

  • sour cream

  • grated cheese of your choice

  • cooked rice

METHOD:

Peel and chop the onions and garlic. Chop the carrots and celery – don’t worry about the technique, just chop away until you are happy - fine or chunky bits, it's up to you. Halve the red capsicums, remove the stalks and seeds and roughly chop.

As you can see I have added corn and mushrooms. The mushroom and carrot on the plate are the ones I am snacking on whilst cooking! I also added chopped olives and chopped sundried tomatoes.

Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pot on a medium-high heat, add the chopped vegetables and cook for 7 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly.

Add the mince and cook until brown, breaking it up as you fry it.

*If you are making a vegetarian version, skip this step! I love Chili Non Carne (Chili without meat)!



Mince is all browned and broken up.

Add the canned tomatoes. Mix together.

I used left over taco salsa and left over pasta sauce.

Add the kidney beans, black beans and/or chick peas. Mix together.

The spices!


Add the spices and salt & pepper and mix.

*I also add 1 heaped tsp ground coriander.

Bring the mix to the boil. Turn off the heat and put a lid on the pot. Place the pot in a preheated 160 degree oven and cook for at least 1/2 hour.

*I usually cook it for a couple of hours. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes.

READY TO EAT!

This is what it looks like after a couple of hours of cooking. Thick and dark and delicious.

Serving Suggestions

*serve on a bed of rice

*serve with fresh coriander

*serve with grated cheese (I used the leftover lazy lasagne cheese)

*add sour cream

*add guacamole