Total DeliciousNess

Chilli with rice, cheese and creme fraiche

I have tried various different chilli con carne recipes over the years and for me, this is the best one. It is based on Rachel Allen’s Chilli recipe from her Home Cooking recipe book. It makes a good 6 portions or 4 for hungry people! Serve with rice, jacket potatoes or nachos and plenty of grated cheese (Cheddar or Monterrey Jack work well) and some sour cream or creme fraiche

Ingredients:

• Good splash of olive oil
• 700g (1 1/2lb) good minced beef
• 1 large onion, peeled & diced (or you can be like me and buy frozen ready diced onion to save eyes watering and the general faff of chopping them)
• 3-5 cloves of garlic (depending on how much you like it) peeled & grated or crushed
• 2 – 3 peppers de-seeded and chopped
• 3 red chillis de-seeded (if you don’t want it too hot) and finely chopped (again, I use Lazy Chillis saves the trauma of chopping chillis and potentially getting it in your eye or something) I use1.5 tablespoons
• 2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree or tomato ketchup
• Salt and Pepper
• 1 x 400g can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 x 400g butter or cannellini beans
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp brown sugar

Method:

• Pour olive oil into a large saucepan (it should have a lid) over a high heat
• Add garlic and onion and turn heat down. Cook for around 5 minutes stirring occasionally until they are soft
• Add the mince, peppers, chillis, chopped tomatoes, tomato puree or ketchup, salt & pepper seasoning and stir together till mixed well (you may need to add around 1/2 a chopped tomato can of water too)
• Bring the mixture to the boil, put the lid on and then turn to a simmer and cook for 45 mins – 1hr stirring occasionally to stop it sticking)
• After this time, add the kidney & butter/cannellini beans and the spices mix well and cook for a further 10-15 minutes
• Taste and adjust the seasoning if you feel it necessary
• Serve with your choice of accompaniments

Leftovers of this will freeze really well and just need defrosting in a fridge over night. I also think this would work being done in a slow cooker. Just put everything in together (without any extra water) stir well and leave for around 8-9 hours on it’s low setting.

Enjoy!