A Banging Chilli Con Carne.

You can't beat tucking into a good bowl of Chilli Con Carne to warm you up once you've frozen your socks off at bonfire night, or on a cold & wet winters evening infront of the tv with a cold beer or large glass of red wine.

This will serve four.

Ingredients:

Tea spoon of olive oil

500g of minced beef

4 tea spoons of cumin seeds

4 tea spoons of chilli flakes

4 tea spoons of dried garlic 

2 tea spoons of plain flour

2 tea spoons of sea salt

2 tea spoons of black pepper corns

2 tea spoons of BBQ sauce

8 splashes of Worcestershire Sauce

6 splashes of Tabasco 

2 tea spoons of brown sugar

1 onion 

1 clove of garlic, crushed

1 green pepper

1 420g can of mixed beans including red kidney, pinto, cannellini, borlotti & black eye. (Or a handful of each beans)

1 400g can of chopped tomatoes

200mls of beef stock

2 squares of chilli chocolate 

Add 2 tbsps cumin seeds, 2 tbsps chilli flakes, 2 tbsps dried garlic, 1 tbsp of sea salt & 1 tbsp black pepper into a pestle & mortar & crush/grind together.  

Then place in a separate bowl.  Now repeat with the remaining cumin seeds, chilli flakes, dried garlic, sea salt & black pepper.  You can do all in one hit, but I find it makes for a better mix to do it in two hits.

Now in a good non stick frying pan, add a tea spoon of olive oil & whack the pan on a high heat.  Now brown off the mince, you want to keep hearing the mince sizzling otherwise it'll end up boiling in its own juices, so keep the heat up high. 

Once the mince is browned off, then turn the heat down to low add all the flour & cover the mince. After a minute then add your crushed mix of cumin, chilli, garlic, salt & pepper & mix into the mince.

Now finely chop up your onion & green pepper & add to the mince.

Once they are mixed in add your Worcestershire Sauce, Tabasco, Brown sugar & stir together. Now add your chopped tomatoes, 200mls of beef stock & your can of mixed beans.

Stir together & then transfer to your slow cooker & set on low.

Now add your BBQ sauce & crumble in your chilli chocolate & stir.

Now leave on a low heat for 5/6 hours.  (Though I like to check on it every hour or so for a taste, as you can always add more chilli etc as you please. Plus it'll smell so good it's hard not to try it!) 

I then like to half take the lid off, so that some moisture can leave the bowl & reduce for another 30/45 mins cooking.

Then serve either with rice or on top of a buttered crispy baked potato.  Grate a nice strong cheddar cheese on top, then garnish with sour cream & guacamole.

And ENJOY!