Chili Con Carne

I finally cooked again, and it wasn’t disappointing. I made this chili 3 times before, and it’s the most delicious chili I’ve ever had. Granted, I don’t usually order chili at a restaurant, but out of the few I’ve tasted, nothing could beat this one. This is what I call “crunchy” chili as opposed to “soupy” one. The original recipe is inside the quote and my notes are at the end.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion
pinch of chili flakes
2 garlic cloves, crushed
4 oz mushrooms (1/2 of a container)
1 red bell pepper (or green or any bell pepper available)
1 lb ground beef (lean)
1/2 tsp cumin
14 oz canned tomatoes, crushed and keep the juice
1/4 cup red wine (or beef broth)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 can of Kidney Bean, rinced under cold water
2 tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped
Tabasco sauce if desired

First I’ve got to tell you that I always buy either lean or extra lean ground beef, even though it’s a bit more expensive then the regular. Just think of all of the fat you pay for when you buy the regular one, in the end it costs the same.

As for the tomatoes, well, a can is usually 19 oz, so just take a little bit out of the can. I usually freeze what I have extra, and put it in a soup.

Always rince any kind of canned bean under cold water, it removes the stuff that makes you get gas. And did you know that the more you eat beans, the less you have problems with gas, you system learns to break it down more easily.

Chop red bell pepper and sliced mushrooms and set aside.

Chop the onion and set aside.

Pour the vegetable oil in a pan and brown, at medium-high heat, the onion with the chili flakes. Add the garlic near the end of the step, it usually takes a few minutes to brown the onion, so put the garlic when the onion starts to look translucent. Garlic tends to burn very easily, and it gets bitter then. Also, for onion (and anything else) to brown properly you can’t stir it all of the time, you have to let it cook a bit and then move it around and let it cook again.

Add mushrooms and bell pepper. Cook for about 3 minutes, until the veggies are tender.

Add ground beef and cumin, and cook, this time stir often, about 5 minutes, until the meat is all cooked.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste, wine (or beef broth), Tabasco sauce (if desired) and kidney beans.
Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about 1/2 hour to 3/4 hour, but the more you let it simmer the better it is.

Add the cilantro.

A few things I did differently:

As always, I used shit load of garlic.

I added about 1/4 cup of sliced jalapeño peppers as well as lots Tabasco sauce.

I didn’t put cilantro and chili pepper flakes, but not intentionally. I just forgot to add them.

I used a can of diced tomato because I thought I had crushed tomato at home and didn’t buy one when I went shopping. I found I had a can of diced tomato, so I used it.

I put just a little bit of salt after it’s done.