Chili con carne

One of the most famous Mexican and inherently spicy dishes – Chili con carne. Ground beef and a juicy tomato-vegetable sauce with red beans are seasoned with hot and spicy spices, chili peppers, and garlic. All the ingredients are quickly sautéed in a deep frying pan over high heat, merging into a whole. If beef broth is added to the finished dish, a Chili con carne soup will result. The degree of spiciness depends on personal preferences and can be easily adjusted.

Cuisine: Mexican.

Yield: 4 servings.

Cooking time: 35 minutes.

Calories: 117 kcal per 100 grams of the dish.

Ingredients

• ground beef – 500 g;
• fresh tomatoes – 300 g;
• bell pepper – 2 pcs;
• white onion – 150 g;
• hot chili pepper – to taste;
• garlic – 4 cloves;
• red boiled or canned beans – 500 g (net weight without liquid);
• tomato paste – 50 g;
• cilantro – a large bunch;
• dried garlic – 1.5 tsp;
• paprika – 1.5 tsp;
• coriander – 1.5 tsp;
• salt, freshly ground pepper – to taste.

Preparation

1. Prepare the ingredients for chili con carne. Instead of fresh tomatoes, canned tomatoes in their own juice can be used. To obtain boiled beans, they should first be soaked in cold water (for about 2 hours), then cooked with salt for about 40-50 minutes until soft.

2. Since the dish cooks fairly quickly, it is important to ensure all the components are ready for heat treatment. It is undesirable for the sweet bell pepper to dissolve in the overall mass; it should be well felt in taste and more or less retain its structure. Therefore, after removing the seed pod and tail, cut the fruit into larger than average pieces.

3. Finely chop the hot pepper in the desired amount.

4. Prepare the tomatoes for grinding in a stationary blender or a regular meat grinder, cutting them into random pieces.

5. Grind the tomatoes into a liquid paste.

6. Cut the onion into thin quarter rings.

7. Very finely chop the garlic with a knife. Divide the resulting volume into two parts – one will be sautéed immediately, and the second will be added to the already prepared dish.

8. Finely chop the cilantro along with the lower bare twigs.

9. Now all the ingredients are ready for further processing, and the frying pan with oil can be heated over high heat. First, sauté the garlic.

10. As soon as the faint aroma of warm garlic is felt, add the onion and hold it in the frying pan until the first signs of softening appear.

11. Next, add the ground beef. Break up any clumped pieces with a spatula and sauté it over high heat for about 5-6 minutes. During this time, most of the meat juice should evaporate.

12. Season the meat with salt and dried spices. Mix well.

13. Then add sweet and bitter peppers. The peppers should be slightly stewed – 2-3 minutes will be enough for this.

14. Now you can add tomato paste along with crushed tomatoes. Lower the burner flame to medium and wait for the mixture to boil.

15. Finally, add the beans to the frying pan. To allow them to simmer a little and combine with all the ingredients, about 7 minutes will be needed. The mass should be stirred periodically and tasted. It may turn out that some seasoning or salt is missing. And if unsweetened tomatoes were used with a noticeable acidity, then 2-3 teaspoons of sugar should be added to the frying pan to balance the taste.

16. Next, turn off the heat and stir the fragrant cilantro into the mixture. Mix everything.

17. Immediately follow up with the remaining garlic. In the hot mixture, it will best reveal its taste properties and transform the aroma of the dish.

Chili con carne should definitely be served hot while it is particularly spicy and aromatic. Mexicans traditionally eat this dish with corn tortillas, but pieces of lavash cut into small parts and dried in the oven will also be appropriate as a base on which a small portion of Chili con carne can be placed. This dish is worth trying and loving.