Chili con Carne Recipe with Beef Chunks and Red Beans
Who remembers the great movie “K-9” with James Belushi and Jerry Lee, the German Shepherd drug-sniffing “specialist” with his own opinion on absolutely everything? Remember the kennel where Agent Michael “gets” the dog? At feeding time, all the dogs, being normal dogs, got ordinary dog food, while headstrong Jerry Lee got a bowl of chili con carne.
Chili, or rather chili con carne (Spanish for “chili with meat”), is a dish of Texan and Mexican cuisine, commonly just called “chili”. The main ingredients are hot chili peppers and meat. Everything else in chili is local creativity, which is nonetheless considered classic there, and the locals are ready to go to war and lynch anyone who doubts it.
Common additions to chili are onions, tomatoes, green and red bell peppers, garlic, red Mexican beans, and even brown sugar, cocoa or honey in small amounts. Chili is seasoned with coriander, cumin, ajwain, caraway and oregano. It is usually served with corn chips, tortillas, rice, cheese and herbs, or topped with sour cream.
Nobody can say for sure where chili came from. Some say immigrants invented it and brought it to America, others that it was created in the army; there is even a book 150 years old, and even a story that it came from the “visions” of a nun in a religious trance.
Either way, chili is a famous dish, and when it's done well, a very tasty one! In some movie I saw a diner called “Atomic Chili”. Since 1977, chili con carne has been the official state dish of Texas, although I thought it was tacos.
Let me say right away, for those afraid of starting a “fire”: only the first two spoonfuls are hot, and after that you won't be able to tear yourself away. By the way, serve the chili with cornbread and guacamole. This chili con carne recipe will stay in your cooking collection for good.
Since chili is meat with hot peppers, and we are just not ready for that much heat, we'll replace most of the chili peppers with sweet, fleshy bell peppers. A light version.
If you want the real thing, use hot chili peppers instead of bell peppers.
Ingredients
2 servings
- Beef 500 g
- Chili peppers 2-3
- Bell peppers 2
- Red kidney beans 1 can
- Tomatoes 2
- Red onion 2
- Garlic 4-5 cloves
- Crushed tomatoes or tomato juice 100 ml
- Lard 30 g
- Dark chocolate or cocoa 1 tbsp
- Salt, coriander, cumin, oregano, caraway to taste
Step-by-step recipe
- Chili con carne, or chili, is made with beef. You need the kind of meat usually used for goulash: boneless, with no sinews. Rinse the meat and cut it into pieces. Many local recipes actually use ground meat, but chili with chunks of meat is much nicer to eat.
- Add chili peppers to taste, remembering that Mexican food is quite hot and not everyone will enjoy the fiery flavor. Mexican recipes often say “8 chili peppers”. That's scary. But it turns out the general rule goes like this: put in 7 peppers whole and cut one, and the dish will be mildly hot. Put in 5 whole and cut three, and the chili con carne will be hot. Cut all 8, and the dish will be atomic.
- So how much chili to add, and in what form, is up to you. I used two small hot chili peppers. I cut one in half and left the other whole, and the chili turned out moderately hot and very tasty.
- Red kidney beans are probably the hardest part. They don't grow here. Local beans will do, though, and some of them are purplish red too. Stores sometimes carry canned red kidney beans, and that is what I use. Drain the liquid, rinse the beans and use them in the meat dish.
- Cut the bell peppers into large pieces. Peel the red onion and slice it into rings. Chop all the vegetables in advance.
- Red onion, garlic and red bell peppers are always easy to find.
- Canned crushed tomatoes are sold in any store, but I prefer natural tomato juice made from fresh tomatoes rather than reconstituted from tomato concentrate or paste.
- Cut a small piece of pork fat into thin slices and render the fat in a frying pan. You need very little, literally 1 tbsp. You can use lard, which is actually what classic chili con carne recipes call for.
- Fry the beef pieces in the pork fat until browned. It's best done over high heat, stirring the meat constantly.
- A browned crust is very important: as the meat cooks further, the pieces will hold their shape well and turn tender.
- Once the meat is browned, add the chopped bell peppers, red onion and chili pods. Add water or meat stock and simmer the meat and vegetables covered over low heat until the meat is done.
- Grate the garlic or chop it finely with a knife. Add the red kidney beans and garlic to the meat.
- Add the spices: coriander, cumin, oregano and caraway, plus salt, all to taste.
- Peel and seed the tomatoes. Cut them into large pieces, about the same size as the bell peppers, and add to the meat.
- Stir everything gently. Add the crushed tomatoes or tomato juice and a little water. The chili should have some liquid.
- Simmer uncovered over medium heat until the meat is done. By then the liquid should have almost boiled away and the chili should start to thicken.
- Then taste and add more salt if needed. If it isn't hot enough, add some coarsely ground chili. Some recipes suggest adding 1 tsp of cocoa powder or a piece of dark chocolate. Surprisingly, cocoa or dark chocolate gives chili a special flavor; I recommend trying it.
- Let the chili simmer for another 5 minutes.
| Serves: | 2 servings |
| Calories: | 140 |
| Prep: | 20 mins |
| Cook: | 1 h 30 mins |
| Total: | 1 h 50 mins |
| Category: | Main Dishes |
| Cuisine: | Mexican cuisine |
| Rating: |
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5
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