Chilli Con Carne

• 份量: 10

食材

Beef:

Vegetable oil, for cooking

Beef mince 1000g or Bolognese 1000g

(If using Bolognese, ignore Chilli Con Carne below)

Chilli Con Carne:

Vegetable oil, for cooking

Chilli Con Carne Spice Mix - 25g

Garlic cloves , minced - 8 pieces

Brown onion, diced in large bowl of food processor - 3

Tomato paste - 50g

Tinned diced tomato - 400g

Black beans, canned - 400g

Red kidney beans, canned - 400g

Beef bouillon cube, crumbled - 2 pieces

Water, as needed

Cow's milk - 50ml ~approx.

Coriander leaves, roughly chopped - 1 bunch

Salt and pepper, for seasoning

步驟

Beef:

Heat oil in a large cast iron frypan over high heat.

Add a portion of beef, say 250g so that the beef mince is NOT crowded in the pan. If we add too much beef to the pan when it releases its juices the beef will cook in liquid rather than frying. The beef cannot brown this way and we want to end up fried brown beef mince.

Bring the heat to high, while the beef is releasing its juices, turn the beef over and over, breaking it up into ever smaller pieces as it does.

Continue cooking the beef until all the juice has evaporated, continually breaking it up as it cooks. When this happens the beef will start to render, which means it will release its oils instead of juice and begin to fry and brown. You want to fry the beef mince to allow it to brown, which causes the beef to increase its flavour incredibly.

When fully and evenly browned, put the portion of cooked beef mince into a bowl and set aside. Then repeat with the next small portion of beef , adding more oil if needed. Continue to repeat until all the beef has been browned. Set beef aside.

Chilli Con Carne:

Pre-heat a large pot to medium heat on a medium sized burner. Add 3 tablespoons of chilli spice mix and add enough oil to wet all of the spice. We want to create a heavily spiced oil mix in the pan.

Cook the spices quickly in oil, this is called 'blooming' to release their maximum flavour and aroma, but only for 30 seconds to 1 minute as we do not want to burn them. The moment the oil begins to simmer and create bubbles the spices are done.

Immediately add the garlic and onions. Adding them will prevent the spices from burning. If you wait you risk the chance of the spices burning which will ruin the recipe.

Add the garlic until it begins to soften, about 30 seconds. Add the onion and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes until the onion begins to soften and turns more translucent.

Add the tomato paste and mix through and cook until it begins to darken in colour, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the browned beef and mix through thoroughly. Add the tinned tomatoes, tinned black beans and the tinned kidney beans (INCLUDING their water from the can, this is rich in flavour!) and mix through thoroughly.

Add the crumbled beef bouillon into a bowl with a small amount of water and then add it and stir through.

Add the chilli con carne mix to the slow cooker, this is spectacular made in the slow cooker.

Cook in the slow cooker on a medium heat for 2 hours.

Test the beef mix and season with salt and pepper. If needed add more BLOOMED spices and tomato paste and allow to continue cooking into the mix for 15 minutes.

30 minutes before it is finished, pour in a drizzle of cow's milk and stir through, allowing it to simmer and be absorbed fully by the mince. The milk will make the mince softer.

Shortly after adding the milk, season with salt and pepper.

When seasoned properly, add the chopped coriander leaves and mix through. Adjust with a little more water if needed to make sure it is not too thick and gluey. Turn off the heat and put the lid back on and allow to sit until serving.

Taste and adjust seasoning if required just before serving.

Plant Based Option:

Preparation:

Wash and rinse the brown lentils and set aside. Brown lentils do not need to be soaked prior to using. We are adding them dry to the pot in this recipe. They will cook in the chilli con carne mix.

Dice the king mushrooms in the large food processor bowl so that they are rough chopped. Make sure to scrape down the side of the bowl and blitz again to ensure the mushroom is chopped evenly. The mushrooms do not need to be chopped into tiny pieces, we are using king mushrooms because they will give us bite, and not be too mushy.

Bring a fry pan to a very high heat. Add the diced mushrooms and some oil and cook until the mushrooms are hot and beginning to brown. Add a small amount of water to the centre of the pan. The pan should be hot enough that the water immediately beads (forms little bubbles one the pan surface) and then turns to steam. This will help the browning process when the water evaporates.

Turn the mushrooms through, and when the water evaporates and the steam disappears, add more oil and continue to fry on a high heat until the mushrooms start to brown. Once browned, remove and set aside.

Plant Based Chilli Con Carne:

Pre-heat a large pot to medium heat on a medium sized burner. Add 3 tablespoons of chilli spice mix and add enough oil to wet all of the spice. We want to create a heavily spiced oil mix in the pan.

Cook the spices quickly in oil, this is called 'blooming' to release their maximum flavour and aroma, but only for 30 seconds to 1 minute as we do not want to burn them. The moment the oil begins to simmer and create bubbles the spices are done.

Immediately add the garlic and onions. Adding them will prevent the spices from burning. If you wait you risk the chance of the spices burning which will ruin the recipe.

Add the garlic until it begins to soften, about 30 seconds. Add the onion and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes until the onion begins to soften and turns more translucent.

Add the tomato paste and mix through and cook until it begins to darken in colour, about 3-4 minutes.

Add the tinned tomato, lentils and tinned beans (including their juice) and mix thoroughly. Bring to a simmer.

Move the pot to a small burner on the lowest heat setting. Put the lid on and cook on a very low heat for 1 hour. Check the mix and ensure there is enough liquid to cook the lentils. It shouldn't be allowed to go too dry. Add more water if needed.

Add the cooked king mushrooms and continue to simmer for 30 minutes with the lid off.

Season with sale and pepper. Test the mix and if needed add more BLOOMED spice mix and tomato paste and allow to cook into the vegetable mix.

When seasoned properly, add the chopped coriander leaves and mix through. Adjust with a little more water if needed to make sure it is not too thick and gluey. Turn off the heat and put the lid back on.

Tomato Rice:

Blend the tomatoes, passata tomato sauce, onion, garlic, vegetable bouillon, cumin, coriander and salt in a blender.

Turn on the rice cooker. When the cooker is hot, add the rice and fry until it starts to brown a little, about 5-6 minutes.

Add the water to the rice in the rice cooker. Pour the tomato blended mix into the rice cooker through a fine sieve. Allow the rice to cook on a normal cooking setting.

Turn off the rice cooker when the rice has cooked and turn the rice through, fluffing it with a rice spoon. Allow the rice to stand, or sit in the rice cooker, for about 30 minutes prior to serving.

Tomato, Onion and Coriander Salad:

The fine diced tomatoes and onion can be made ahead of time.

However, all other ingredients should be made as close to serving as possible.

The oil, lime, salt and green Tobasco sauce will interact with the coriander and tomato, so we want to hold off adding these until just prior to serving.

To Serve:

Add the rice to the serving bowl first.

Add a generous serving of chilli con carne on top of the rice.

Spoon the tomato coriander salsa on top of the chilli con carne, spreading it smoothly over the top so that it covers it completely.

筆記

When cooking the chilli con carne, taste it and adjust after an hour or so. The things to consider when seasoning is adding salt, black pepper, tomato paste and spice mix. If adding extra spice mix or tomato paste it MUST be allowed to cook and be absorbed into the chilli con carne for at least 10 minutes.

This dish is even better the next day so it can be pre-made the day before and put in the slow cooker to cook overnight.