[RECIPE] CHILI CON CARNE

noviembre 14, 2019

What is ‘Chili con carne’?

Is very well known classic tex-mex dish dish. There are a lot of versions but the original ingredients are beef or pork meat, black beans, tomato and chili (hot dried pepper).

It is a dish you could eat almost every day. Is very warming, full of flavour and easy to do. It is worth to make a big amount and keep it in the fridge or freezer ready to eat… if you manage not to eat all of it at once.

Our chili con carne.

Even though we love the original version, in this recipe we have changed the black beans for sweet potato chunks to make this chili a bit lighter and plus we add the nutritional benefits from the sweet potato.

Sweet potato has much more fiber than other potato types and us high in A vitamin, beta carotene and minerals.

IMPORTANT: meat is the most important ingredient to make good chili. We highly recommend not to buy minced meat trays from the supermarket. That minced meat usually is full of preservatives and additives and is mixed with starch. The best option is asking your butcher to mince your meat in front of you. In this way you can choose your favourite cut and the amount of fat you want to add.

This is a recipe you will cook again and again so you could be very playful with the meat and the ingredients to make different versions: turkey, pork, mushrooms, vegetables…

This time we have add a few chopped Chorizo Sticks for an extra flavour punch.

Ingredients:

500g minced beef
1 onion
1 garlic clove
1 red pepper
400 g tomato (it can be canned, not fried)
1 teaspoon of chili or hot paprika (sweet if you do not like spicy)
1 boiled sweet potato (250g)
8 Cherky Chorizo sticks
Olive oil
Sea Salt
Black Pepper

How to make chili con carne.

1.- Finely chop the onion, the garlic and the red pepper.

2.- Cook the vegetables with 2 olive oil tablespoons during 10 minutes approximately until the onion is softened in a pan at medium-high heat avoiding it to get brown. Add the chili or paprika and cook it for a minute.

3.- While the vegetables are cooking, you can bake the sweet potato during 30 minutes at 180ºc cut in half with the flat side down in a baking tray covered with aluminum foil a bit olive oil. You can also cook it whole in the microwave covered with cling film for 12-14 minutes at maximum power.

4.- Add the meat to the pan and break in small chunks with a wooden spoon while browning. It is not necessary to overcook it because it will while continue to simmer with the tomato.

5.- Add the tomato. The best option is to use ripped peeled tomatoes but you can perfectly use a tin of peeled tomatoes. Add a some water if necessary.

6.- Season and let the liquid reduce until it has some consistency.

7.- In the last moment or even with the heat off, add the sweet potato, peeled and cut in thick chunks and the chopped chorizo sticks.

You can combine this chili with a basmati rice bowl, guacamole, burrata cheese or even some yogurt.

Chili con Carne Nutritional Values