The Best Chilli con Carne

This is a simple recipe for a classic chilli con carne but with a few additions to give it a lift! Perfect for warming you up in the winter.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 30-40 minutes
Serves 4-6

Ingredients
 
1 onion (red or white), finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
2 chillis (red or green depending on your taste), seeds removed and finely chopped
1 pepper (red, green, yellow or orange), seeds removed and finely chopped or sliced
500g good quality minced beef
1 beef stock cube
Worcestershire sauce
Tomato, garlic and/or vegetable puree
2 tins of red kidney beans in chilli sauce
Passata or chopped tomatos
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
Jack Daniels whiskey
Salt and ground black pepper, to season
Vegetable oil

Begin by slowly frying the chopped onion and pepper in the vegetable oil. Cook them until the onions have softened but are not browning, then add the chillis and garlic and cook through.
Turn up the heat and when the pan has reached temperature, add the minced beef and fry. Mix the beef up well in the pan ensuring there are no lumps of meat remaining.
When the meat has browned completely, crumble in the stock cube then add a good dash of Worcestershire sauce and a teaspoon of each of the purees to make the mixture rich and thick.
Next, add the spices and combine well. The quantities can be varied to your taste but cumin is the most important of the flavours here.
Pour in the kidney beans and the passata or tinned tomatoes, season and stir well then reduce the heat and simmer the chilli for 20 to 30 minutes until the kidney beans are cooked through and the sauce has thickened. If the pan gets too dry during this time, add a few spoons of water but not so much as to dilute the flavour.
Around 10 minutes before the chilli is cooked, add about 50ml of the Jack Daniels. This allows time for all the alcohol to burn away but leaves behind the smokey flavour which adds a further depth of flavour to the dish.

Serve the chilli with basmati rice and nachos. A dollop of sour cream on top will take away some of the spice if you need it! For a tasty, filling lunch, serve on hot jacket potato.

Chilli con carne always tastes better a day or two after it has been made. The extra time allows the flavours to develop and the texture to become richer. When you have cooked the chilli, allow to cool before refridgerating then heat through before serving. Any leftovers can be portioned and frozen for whenever you need it.