Chilli

Hello internet people!  I was looking at my blog and I realised I've not yet posted any recipe involving meat, other than a few mentions of bacon, so I thought I'd do a beef chilli today.  This is a very easy recipe, I got the basic recipe from the hamlyn student cookbook which is the best student cookbook I've seen as all the recipes are so simple and achievable.  The only downside to chilli is that you have to be a wee bit organised when making it as you need to cook it over a low heat for about an hour to so all the juices are absorbed and it's really rich, so not the best meal to choose if you're really hungry.  You will need:

• 500g beef mince (I use lean mince to be healthy, or you could use quorn mince)
• 2 peppers
• 2 onions
• 3 cloves of garlic
• Can of kidney beans
• Can of chopped tomatoes
• Tomato puree
• Tomato passata (you can get this in little boxes at the supermarket for about 50p, mine had garlic and olive oil in it)
• 400ml beef stock (I used a stock cube)
• Chilli powder, cumin, paprika

1. Firstly, crush and chop the garlic, and finely chop the onions and peppers.  Fry them in some sunflower oil in a pot or a wok.

 2. When the onion is golden coloured and translucent, add the mince and fry until it is all brown.  I usually cut the mince into little cubes when it's still in the packet as it's easier to break it up this way when cooking.

3. Add the stock, the kidney beans and all the tomato related things.  I normally use only half a can of kidney beans but you can use the whole can if you like.  Also the amount of tomato puree is up to you, I use quite a lot though as it thickens the sauce a bit.

4. Next add the spices.  Again, I can't tell you amounts as this is a very personal thing, Hamlyn suggests 1/2-1 teaspoon of chilli powder but I like a lot more than that, so just sprinkle some in and then taste a little bit of the chilli to see if it's spicy enough.  Here are my spices, the mystery one on the end came with a set Tetley got for Christmas but it looked the right colour so I put some of that in too, it tastes like chillies.

 5.  Lower the heat under your pot/wok so that the surface of the chilli is bubbling only very slightly.  Don't worry if it looks watery because after 50 minutes or an hour the liquid will have reduced down.  Stir it every so often.

 Here is the finished chilli, it's not very photogenic but it tastes great.  These quantities serve about 4 people, so me and Tetley eat it two nights in a row.  It goes perfectly with rice or inside tortilla wraps, or try it in a baked potato or sweet potato with some grated cheese on top.  It's especially lovely with the sweet potato - put some holes in the sweet potato with a fork then put it in the microwave for 8 minutes, it's that easy!