3: Chili Con Carne

Thank you to life123.com for the yummy picture!

  So the chili got a bit of that smoky flavor because the bottom got burned while I was writing my blog. You can actually avoid that by using a heavier bottomed saucepan and low fire. The thing is I only got low fire, a flimsy stainless steel saucepan and a forgetful mind. So attentiveness is also a precious asset in being able to cook well.


I love chili because they go with anything. Bread, rice, crackers, chips. Cook up some chili, stock it in the fridge and you can rest assured that you have something tasty and a bit sosy to feed friends who ambushed you for dinner. The thing with my chili, it doesn't have so much chili because I actually want to make it edible. Secondly, however which way you bend over backwards, it will not taste as Mexican as you want it to be without our featured ingredient: CUMIN! Sige, tama na ang satsat. (That's it, enough of the yackety-yack).

Chili Con Carne

Featured Ingredient: Cumin
Sosy Level: 3
Pawis level: 3
Feeds 5 hungry Mexicans


Ingredients:
1 tbsp oil
1 tbsp margarine or butter (but butter is better :-D)
2 medium onions, chopped 
    (it'll be cool for the onions to be one white   for sweetness and the other red for a more onion-y strength)
4 cloves of garlic, minced
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
1/4 kilo ground beef
1 1/2 tsp cumin (or add more accodg to taste)
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 cup uncooked red or white beans soaked in water overnight (because these are pretty tough babes)
2 green bell peppers, diced
1 medium carrot cubed
salt & pepper to taste
1 small pouch of tomato paste (150g)

This photo of the cumin seed
is from Menuko.net. Thank you!

3 cups of water 
       (or if you're feeling a bit generous, 2 cups of water and 1 pouch of spaghetti sauce 3-cheese    flavor)
1 1/2 tsps sugar
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
2 pcs siling haba
1 pc siling labuyo (if you want it hotter, keep the seeds of the sili but if you want it milder, scrape the seeds out)
1/3 cup cream
2 tsps vinegar or calamansi juice


HOW TO:
1. Heat your saucepan. When it is almost smoking, add the oil then the butter. Butter has the flavor but it turns brown or burns quickly. Before you get everything sauteed properly, usually, the butter went to cow heaven already that's why we mix it with oil.


2. Add onions, then the garlic. Saute until translucent. Add tomatoes.


3. When tomatoes are a bit wilted, add the ground beef, cumin, paprika, salt and pepper. Turn the heat to medium and wait for it to make katas... Joke lang! To render it's juices and brown a bit.


4. Then add the beans, bell peppers and carrots. Cook it for 3 minutes while stirring occasionally.


5. Lower the heat and add the tomato paste and spaghetti sauce. Stir continuously until everything is well-coated with the tomato sauce.


6. When the mixture starts simmering and oil is coming out from the lava-pops (be careful, they may pop at you) add the water and sugar. Season with some more salt, pepper, mix then turn to really low heat and let the baby stew for about an hour. Be sure to stir occasionally so you won't burn it's bottom (like I did once).


7. While we wait for our chili to become lovely and sumptuous, mix the cream with the vinegar or calamansi juice. Chill in the ref. Grate about half a cup of cheese. Ques-O will do. 


8. After an hour, check if the beans are ready and if it has a nice thick chunky consistency already. Adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper.


9. When the chili is ready, add the cayenne pepper, siling haba and labuyo. If you're scared of the heat, you can lessen the amount of chili. We're adding the chilis last because the heat can be cooked off during the stewing process. We want to make sure that we maintain the chili flavor and the heat. 


10. Serve in a bowl and top with a dollop of your chilled sour cream and grated cheese. Rrrraaawr! There's a war coming on the dinner table...


This dish usually gets a rounder and tastier flavor if you let it stand first for a day in the ref then serve it tomorrow. You can easily freeze this and it will keep for 2 weeks. This is nice with warm rice or toasted bread. Also great with nachos, just serve the sour cream, chili and cheese sauce separately. 


Enjoy amigos!