Chilli Con Carne

INGREDIENTS

By Cape Malay Cooking

1 tablespoon oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1 heaped teaspoon hot chilli powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground jeera
500g lean minced beef
1 beef stock cube
400g can chopped tomatoes
½ teaspoon dried mix herbs
1 teaspoon sugar (or more to taste)
2 tablespoon tomato purée
410g can red kidney beans

METHOD

• Put your pan on the stove over a medium
heat. Add the oil and leave it for 1-2 minutes
until hot. Add the onions and cook, stirring
fairly frequently, for about 5 minutes, or until
the onions are soft. Add in the garlic, red
pepper, chilli, paprika and cumin. Give it a
good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5
minutes, stirring occasionally.
• Brown the mince. Turn the heat up a bit, add
the meat to the pan and break it up with your
spoon . The mix should sizzle a bit when you
add the mince. Keep stirring and prodding for
at least 5 minutes, until all the mince is in
uniform, mince-sized lumps and there are no
more pink bits. Make sure you keep the heat
hot enough for the meat to fry and become
brown, rather than just stew.
• Making the sauce. Crumble your stock cube
into 300ml/1⁄2 pint of hot water. Pour this into
the pan with the mince mixture. Open the can
of chopped tomatoes and add these as well.
Add the mixed herbs and the sugar, and add
a good shake of salt and pepper. Squirt in
about 2 tablespoons of tomato purée and stir
the sauce well.
• Simmer it gently. Bring the whole thing to
the boil, give it a good stir and put a lid on the
pan. Turn down the heat until it is gently
bubbling and leave it for 20 minutes. You
should check on the pan occasionally to stir it
and make sure the sauce doesn\'t catch on
the bottom of the pan or isn\'t drying out. If it is,
add a couple of tablespoons of water and
make sure that the heat really is low enough.
After simmering gently, the saucy mince
mixture should look thick, moist and juicy.
• Bring on the beans. Drain and rinse the
beans in a sieve and stir them into the chilli
pot. Bring to the boil again, and gently bubble
without the lid for another 10 minutes, adding
a little more water if it looks too dry. Taste a
bit of the chilli and season. It will probably
take a lot more seasoning than you think.
Now replace the lid, turn off the heat and
leave your chilli to stand for 10 minutes
before serving, and relax. Leaving your chilli
to stand is really important as it allows the
flavours to mingle and the meat. Serve with
boiled plain rice or my kids love it with
cooked spaghetti.

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