Introduction: Fussy Eaters Chilli Con Carne
Hello and welcome to my first Instructable!
I am a fussy eater (mostly carnivorous) and I often struggle to find things I can cook for myself and my two young boys.
I've never found a straight receipe for an adaptable chilli that can feed me, a 6 and 3 year old and still have plenty of leftovers for the freezer so here's my adaptation of a decent one from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food book.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/good-old-chilli-con-carne
It's got a nice level of flavour of heat from the spices but without being particularly hot.
I am a fussy eater (mostly carnivorous) and I often struggle to find things I can cook for myself and my two young boys.
I've never found a straight receipe for an adaptable chilli that can feed me, a 6 and 3 year old and still have plenty of leftovers for the freezer so here's my adaptation of a decent one from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food book.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/beef-recipes/good-old-chilli-con-carne
It's got a nice level of flavour of heat from the spices but without being particularly hot.
Step 1: Fussy Eaters Chilli Con Carne: Ingredients
Ingredients:
500 g quality minced beef
1 medium onion (very finely chopped, blitzed in a blender for preference)
1-2 medium carrots (chopped into small cubes about 5mm across)
1 stick celery (finely chopped)
1 red pepper (remove stalks & seeds, chopped into small cubes about 5mm across)
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 chicken stock cube (or similar)
400g tinned red kidney beans OR tinned Baked Beans
500g passata OR 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
olive oil
1 small bunch fresh coriander
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
The above will serve about 6 people.
Serve this with 400g basmati rice or jacket potatoes or couscous
500 g quality minced beef
1 medium onion (very finely chopped, blitzed in a blender for preference)
1-2 medium carrots (chopped into small cubes about 5mm across)
1 stick celery (finely chopped)
1 red pepper (remove stalks & seeds, chopped into small cubes about 5mm across)
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 chicken stock cube (or similar)
400g tinned red kidney beans OR tinned Baked Beans
500g passata OR 400 g tinned chopped tomatoes
olive oil
1 small bunch fresh coriander
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
The above will serve about 6 people.
Serve this with 400g basmati rice or jacket potatoes or couscous
Step 2: Fussy Eaters Chilli Con Carne: Method
Set up a large saucepan on a medium/medium high heat.
If you couldn't get good quality lean minced beef then lightly brown it in a little olive oil and drain it.
Peel and very finely chop or quickly blender the onion & celery (don't want the fussy eaters to be able to clearly identify them!)
Peel & crush the garlic, peel and very finely cube the carrots & red pepper
Put the vegetables in the pan with some olive oil, stirring regularly until soft and coloured.
Add in the chilli powder, cumin and cinnamon (and maybe a little salt and pepper) while this is colouring.
Then add the beef, pasatta, drained kidney beans (or baked beans in their juice) and chicken stock.
Nearly fill one of the empty bean tin with water and add this to the pan, if you used baked beans in juice you might want a little less water.
If you have some coriander leaves then wash them, chop the stalks and add them to the pan. Take the leaves and put them in the fridge for the moment.
Bring it all to boil then turn the heat down to a simmer for about an hour. Don't forget to stir it or it will likely stick to the bottom of the pan.
Garnish with torn coriander leaves and serve with rice or jacket potato.
You can speed up the cooking time to about 25 mins by lightly pre-browning the mince, leaving out the water and just keeping the heat up rather than boiling and simmering but this needs almost constant supervision including very regular stirring.
If you are microwave reheating a frozen portion of this be aware that it's also good with couscous, which makes cooking it somewhere like work a whole lot easier.
If you couldn't get good quality lean minced beef then lightly brown it in a little olive oil and drain it.
Peel and very finely chop or quickly blender the onion & celery (don't want the fussy eaters to be able to clearly identify them!)
Peel & crush the garlic, peel and very finely cube the carrots & red pepper
Put the vegetables in the pan with some olive oil, stirring regularly until soft and coloured.
Add in the chilli powder, cumin and cinnamon (and maybe a little salt and pepper) while this is colouring.
Then add the beef, pasatta, drained kidney beans (or baked beans in their juice) and chicken stock.
Nearly fill one of the empty bean tin with water and add this to the pan, if you used baked beans in juice you might want a little less water.
If you have some coriander leaves then wash them, chop the stalks and add them to the pan. Take the leaves and put them in the fridge for the moment.
Bring it all to boil then turn the heat down to a simmer for about an hour. Don't forget to stir it or it will likely stick to the bottom of the pan.
Garnish with torn coriander leaves and serve with rice or jacket potato.
You can speed up the cooking time to about 25 mins by lightly pre-browning the mince, leaving out the water and just keeping the heat up rather than boiling and simmering but this needs almost constant supervision including very regular stirring.
If you are microwave reheating a frozen portion of this be aware that it's also good with couscous, which makes cooking it somewhere like work a whole lot easier.