Chilli Con Carne

Chilli Con Carne, for me, is the ultimate comfort dish. Tasty, spicy, crunchy, cream and slow cooking is my type of meal. This is a combination of a few recipes and a bit of me that I’ve been making for a while now. I generally make it vegetarian. Just omit the mince and add another tin of kidney beans and a tin of corn sometimes.

For some reason, I forgot to add the refried beans this time, and was disappointed to discover it makes all the difference. The refried beans make it nice and saucy and thick, unlike mine, as you can see in the photo.

This recipe is a crowd pleaser, as you can add all the trimmings with chips, sour cream, guacamole etc and its relatively cheap compared to a usual dinner party menu.

If you have leftovers, it’s great in a toasted sandwich.

2 onions
4 garlic cloves
500g mince
100 grams sun dried tomatoes
2 tbs HP sauce
2 fresh red chillies
1 tsp dried chilli
1 heaped tsp ground cumin
1 stick of cinnamon
2 tins (2x400g) diced tomatoes
2 bay leaves
1 can (400g) refried beans
1 can (400g) red kidney beans
Salt & pepper

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 chilli powder and cumin and a little seasoning.

Add the mince to the pan, cooking it until slightly browned.

Place the sun-dried tomatoes and chill in the processor with the oil and blend to form a paste.

Add this to the beef with the tomatoes, cinnamon stick, HP sauce, bay leaves, refried beans and 250ml of water. Season a little more, if need be.

Bring to the boil and cover and 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.

Serve with rice or corn chips, sour cream and guacamole.

S