I love to make this chilli in the week, especially when the weather is colder. I often cook it in the slow cooker, I’ve included two sets of instructions, but the ingredients are the same for both. There is nothing better than coming home in the cold and dark to a house smelling warming and spicy.
Ingredients
- 500g mince (as lean as you like I prefer a bit of fat on mine)
- 2 large onions finely chopped
- 2 fresh chillies chopped (or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes)
- 2-3 large cloves garlic chopped
- 2 tsp cumin
- ½ tsp chilli powder
- 2 tbsp tomato puree
- 1 tin chopped tomatoes
- ½ tin water
- 1 tin kidney beans (drained)
Slow cooker method
Put all the ingredients except the beans in the slow cooker and stir. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Add beans and turn up to high and cover for about 10 minutes until warmed through.
Serve with plain boiled rice, or crusty bread, or a jacket potato or a nice tomato salad!
Hob method
Add mince to a large pan and as soon as it is pretty much cooked add chopped onion (this is an easy recipe so no need to remove mince) cook on medium heat until onion is translucent – if it starts to stick don’t add any oil just add a bit of warm water from the kettle. Add chillies, spices, garlic and tomato puree and cook through for a couple of minutes. Add tinned tomatoes and half tin of water.
Easy Chilli
You can cook this for as long or as little as you like, it needs at least half an hour from when you add the tomatoes, but you can cook for 2-3 hours if you have the opportunity. It’s also really nice made the day before and left in the fridge overnight as all the flavours marinate.
So, you decide how long to cook it, then add the kidney beans ten minutes before serving to heat through. If you are refrigerating add the beans once the mince is cooled and then stick the pan in the fridge for a day (or two even).
Serve with plain boiled rice, or crusty bread, or a jacket potato or a nice tomato salad!
Chilli
Regardless of which way you cook this it serves 4 very big portions. Or you could save a bit for lunches, it’s great over jacket spuds or sweet potatoes with a little bit of cheese grated on top.
