Chilli con carne with a twist

mexican chilli con carne with cinammon stick and fried potatos

Chili, maybe among my top ten of favorite dishes. Easy to make, great flavors getting better the longer you keep it. Actually the very best is to eat it only a day after you first made it, the flavors will really have developed so much more in the dish, you won't stop eating it But make no mistake, this dish is not for the fainthearted. It only is really good if it's hot and spicy. So don't go too easy on the hot stuff in this dish (I usually take 4 or 5 fresh small red chills, the hot ones)

Actually, I always make a HUGE pot full of it, it lasts us at least a few days after i made some. The only downturn, once the pot is empty, you want to go immediately about making another one :).
Ay caramba, a nice chili with a cold beer from the fridge, it's the cheapskate version of a trip to Mexico indeed. There is no one source original recipe for the chili con carne, but without doubt it is made out of beef cubes or chopped beef instead of minced meat. I am too lazy bum to stroll around for some good beef, but I always have some stock of minced (mixed) meat in the fridge so I will use that instead, tastes just as nice I tell you.

Ingredients:

• 500g of lean beef, I normally use minced meat  but some use beef cubes instead, I think in the end it's all the same. I actually read on Wikipedia that "The recipe used by American frontier settlers consisted of dried beef...", but I won't go that way I think
• 3 big onions
• 500 g. tomatoes (the ones from the tin, the pizza ones, got just more flavor)
• 500 g. kidney beans
• 1 tin of corn
• 3 bell peppers (red would be best for the color  but green / yellow works just as fine) - diced
• some oil, cayenne pepper
• 3 dice (I do not have a press but if you have one, press it rather then dicing it) garlic cloves
• chili powder / 3- 5 fresh diced chills
• 500 ml beefstock
• 1 tea spoon of paprika powder
• cumming
• salt and pepper to season
• One cinnamon stick

how to make it?

Put oil in a stock pot or a fire proof casserole and heat it up. Add diced onions, diced bell pepper and the garlic and fry everything until the pepper  starting to get soft, now the casserole should be pretty hot already. Then you add the meat and cook everything on high heat until the meat gets first grey, then turns to get brown and it will have now lost all its juices. Now it's time to add the stock, and everything else, exept the pepper and salt. Now cover your casserole and let the whole thing simmer for about 90 - 120 minutes on low heat. Don't forget to season to taste before serving. Again, i cook it a day before I actually eat it, all the flavors will mix nicely and the hotness will get into every piece of the chili..Best served with rice or even pure with a few pieces of bread. I remember that Heston Blumenthal once made his version of a "perfect" chili con carne one using corn bread to go with it. I will maybe in the future try that one out, stay tuned...