Now this is the first chilli I tried 3 years ago and I’ve never used another recipe! This is the 3rd highest rated recipe on the BBC Good Food site for good reason although I have made a couple of small changes to the recipe
Ingredients
500g lean minced beef
1 tsp oil
1 medium onion, diced (180g)
1 medium red pepper, chopped (180g)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped
2 tsp hot chilli powder
2 tsp paprika
2 tsp ground cumin
1 beef stock cube
1 beef oxo cube
400g can chopped tomatoes with garlic
1 tsp dried marjoram
Small piece dark chocolate (thumb nail size)
2 tbsp tomato purée
410g can red kidney beans
Method
1. Heat the oil, cook the onions until soft and slightly translucent. Tip in the garlic, chilli, red pepper, half the chilli powder, paprika and ground cumin. Give it a good stir, then leave it to cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Turn the heat up a bit, add the meat to the pan and break it up with your spoon or spatula. Crumble over the oxo cube and stir and break up the meat until it is 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.
3. Crumble the beef stock cube into 300ml hot water. Pour this into the pan with the mince mixture before adding the chopped tomatoes. Tip in the dried marjoram, chocolate along with the other half of the chilli powder, paprika, ground cumin, and add a good shake of salt and pepper. Squirt in about 2 tbsp tomato purée and stir well.
4. 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.
5. Drain and rinse 1 can of red kidney 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. Now replace the lid, turn off the heat and leave your chilli to stand for 10 at least minutes before serving.
Nutrition per portion*
Calories 400
Protein 36g
Carbohydrate 25g
Fat 18g
Fibre 5g
Leaving your chilli to stand is really important as it allows the flavours to mingle with the meat. I will normally make a day or more in advance as the flavours do intensify.
I stupidly picked up the wrong tin of beans in the supermarket (kidney beans in a chilli sauce) so stuck with them this time but would normally just use regular kidney beans.
For dinner portions I split into 4 but half that portion if having for lunch like I plan to tomorrow with a sweet potato jacket. Although be sure to add the calories for your side option and toppings of choice.
You can serve this with rice, pasta, tortilla wraps, a jacket potato the possibilities are endless!
I will generally top with 15g mature cheddar (60cals) and about 20g jalapeños (5 cals) Nom! X
*Please remember that nutritional information stated in these recipes depend on weights and actual products used so yours may vary.
Nom Nom Nelly's 