Chilli

[Goldberg]

Will this EVER be mastered....
I have been experimenting for years now and although they never taste as good as you think when you have made it (or any dish), I am getting rave reviews from friends and family.
I have totally scrapped Minced Beef now... (although I might add it as an additional ingredient in one batch soon) I have also introduced other ingredients from other recipes on line whilst researching.

The key to a chilli I have found is to slow cook it! very very slow..

Ingredients to feed roughly 4 hungry people:

800g of diced steak or braising steak cut into chunks. BIG chunks..
3 Onions
1 Stick of Cinnamon
2 Bay Leaves
As many Hot Chilli's - any type as you can handle
As much Garlic as you like. I normally put half a bulb in
1 or 2 Tin(s) Chick Peas
1 or 2 Tin(s) Tin Red Kidney Beans
2 Tins of chopped tomatoes.
Half a cup of strong coffee
4 Oxo Stock Cubes
Half to 3/4 tub of Bisto Gravy Granules (to thicken)
Coriander Powder
Smoked Paprika
Hot Chilli Powder
Ground Garam Massala
Ground Turmeric
Cayenne Pepper
Ground Cumin
Olive Oil (or any cooking oil).
Salt & Pepper


Method:

Firstly brown off the meat in the same pan you will cook the Onions, Garlic and Chilli's off in.
Using a splash of oil, not too much, with a tea spoon each of Corriander, Paprika, Cayenne Pepper, Hot Chilli Powder, Garam Massala, Turmeric, cumin
Brown is off on a medium heat, you only want to seal it, not cook it through nor burn it.
Move the meat to a plate/bowl to rest. Keep the juice (there will be a a decent amount) in the pan.

Next stage, finely slice the onions. Don't dice them too small, but certainly slice them. They will, when cooking in the Chilli, pretty much disperse .
Finely chop the Garlic and also finely slice the Chilli's
Add all of these to the pan with the juice from the Beef on a medium heat along with:
1 teaspoon of Coriander, Smoked paprika, cumin
2 Table spoons of Hot Chiili and Cayenne Pepper. You might want to keep adding the Chilli Powder and Cayenne depending on your taste.

The idea here is to get the Onions to wilt and go very soft. They will do this quickly. Add some salt to help the process.
You can put the lid on to 'steam' them a little, but we don't want to be left with too much juice at the end, nor do we want to brown the onions.

Whilst this is happening, make half a cup of strong coffee in a pint glass, add the stock cubes, cinnamon stick, bay leaves and top up with hot water. Give it a good stir.

Once the onions are done, stringy is what your looking for, add the contents of the pint glass.
Then add the two tins of Tomatoes, and the Chick Peas (rinsed).

Bring this to the boil and then turn on the lowest heat, or put in the slow cooker if you have one.
Ideally you want this to cook for 8 - 10 hours. The slow cooker method is to put on high for two hours, medium for 5/6 then high again towards the end.
If in a pan/pot, then just keep on the lowest heat.

Stir every 30 to 60 mins at the start where possible and then every hour. If your cooking over night then don't worry too much. It does help to move it around a few times.
When your in the final stages, add the Kidney Beans. If you cooked these for the duration they would goto mush.
In the final final stages, start adding the Bisto to thicken it up. Add a little at a time and stir it in. Get it to the consistency that you desire, I like it quite think and when it starts to cool it also thickens.
Using a wooden spoon, try to stab at some of the meat to break it up. It will flake very very easily, but you do want to keep it in chunks.
Take out the Cinnamon stick and Bay Leaves.

Serve with however you like you Chilli. I serve along side some Nacho's, sour creme and on a bed of Rice.

My Rice method is to use Basmalti rice cooked with a table spoon of Turmeric. This turns the rice yellow and is a talking point at the table. I use about 75g of uncooked/rinsed rice per person.

To serve on the table I put the pot if Chilli, Rice in serving a serving dish and let people dive in!


I have also used brown sugar and dark beer in some variations, also some dark chocolate at the end.
There is no right/wrong combination to any of this, but lately I have been extremely happy with the above.

Let us know if you try it and how it went down. You can also serve with fresh Coriander if you like it.
Do not be scared of using spices in the cooking if you don't like them. You will not taste Coriander just by adding Coriander powder as you would adding fresh at the end.
It is not the cheapest of dishes, but is certainly filling and gets your metabolism going

[ZX7R]

I shall definitely have to try this. Perhaps put the chunks of beef in my smoker with a bit of oak first. Mmmmmm

[Goldberg]

Nice

[akimba]

No Peppers?? also i have heard of chocolate in chilli but not coffee :-0

[Goldberg]

No peppers.

Been there, done that. In the past I've had mushrooms, celery, carrots etc....

Like I mentioned I have been experimenting for years and now I'm back to basics focusing on the meat rather than veg.

The chick peas give it the extra satisfying bite. The onions disperse so you need something like it.

Again I did say will it ever be perfected

[Goldberg]

Guys, just realised I forgot ground Cumin. I have amended the first post

[greens117]

I always use stewing steak and put the whole chilli recipe in my pressure cooker for half an hour then take the lid off to reduce! I also use a handful of pickled jalapenos to add another dimension!, might have to give yours a go now

Sent from my HTC Desire using Tapatalk 2

[macmilm]

Have also moved from Mince to diced meats... initially as my mrs cant get on with the texture of mince but now prefer it myself...
Have adopted the diced meat (instead of mince) for shepherds or cottage pie and even lasagne... slow cooking the meat for about 6-8 hours in whatever seasoning is required before assembling the dish and finishing in oven e.t.c

Love slow cooking

[BertRoot]

Got to disagree with the over engineered this chilli. Minced steak and lose most of the spice. All I put in mine as far as spice goes is black pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, naga chilli, smoked naga chilli, birds eye chillis, chipotle sauce, flaked chilli and chilli powder. What you have there is diced meat cooked in mole sauce.

[braymond]

Chilli is whatever u want . My only concern is the crazy amount of Bisto (Urghhh ) and oxo cubes . I would use some proper beef stock instead.

[bobo06]

Got to disagree with the over engineered this chilli. Minced steak and lose most of the spice. All I put in mine as far as spice goes is black pepper, 4 cloves of garlic, naga chilli, smoked naga chilli, birds eye chillis, chipotle sauce, flaked chilli and chilli powder. What you have there is diced meat cooked in mole sauce.

I would keep the bog roll in the fridge after eating a bowl of that

[si-amigo]

I have naga puree in the fridge and its lethal even in small amounts. Chipotles give the best flavour with moderate heat i find.

[BertRoot]

Naga rules. Cleanest tasting chilli ever but don't abuse it. I tend to throw half a teaspoon in the oil while it is warming and the Mrs goes mental when everyone starts coughing. Also the only additions, liquid wise, that I add are tomato purée and water if needed. Stock is wrong for chillis and Bisto FFS? Chilli flavoured gravy?

[Hippie on hill]

Cheers Goldberg, I loves a good chilli so I might try it your way with a bit of injun spice for a change.

Starting the frying off with some chopped smoked bacon and rendering down the fat is a great way to get more smokey flavour in the pot, and I do like a bit of oregano in my chilli atm.

[Goldberg]

Yeah I often put some dried oregano in if I have some. The Spanish smoked paprika does a job as good as the bacon, but I have often used bacon too.

[Goldberg]

Naga rules. Cleanest tasting chilli ever but don't abuse it. I tend to throw half a teaspoon in the oil while it is warming and the Mrs goes mental when everyone starts coughing. Also the only additions, liquid wise, that I add are tomato purée and water if needed. Stock is wrong for chillis and Bisto FFS? Chilli flavoured gravy?

Only to thicken if if it needs it.

[Goldberg]

Taking all of this on board. Plenty to experiment with here and I have to admit that it does sway towards the Mole(minus the chocolate). I can assure you however it's nothing like the Mole I had in the Dominican recently. That was disgusting.

Whilst I will eat the hottest spicy food all day every day, unfortunately most of the people I often cook for are pussys...

I have manage to get the wife addicted to hot stuff over the years but you do have to accommodate others.

[si-amigo]

One of the best chipotle pastes is the strangely named "Trees cant dance" stick a nice tablespoon of that in and its smoky warmth will make your mouth water (and possibly your eyes too)

[Mule]

Only to thicken if if it needs it.

Cornflour.

[DJ OD]

Chilli is whatever u want . My only concern is the crazy amount of Bisto (Urghhh ) and oxo cubes . I would use some proper beef stock instead.

I agree, but actually sod the stock alltogether. The salt content must be ridiculous with all the bisto and oxo for sure... Flour would thicken it.


DJ OD