Chilli Con Carne with Homemade Desperados

This is a recipe courtesy of my sister in law. I made a little tweak, I hope she won't mind. I added these guys:

I love them, they just give a great smokey flavour that is hard replicate. You get them in boutique delicatessens in Australia but they were a bit harder to find in the UK. I eventually got them on Amazon. They keep in the fridge a couple of weeks once opened.

Be warned less is more with these little guys as they do pack a punch on the heat front. This recipe has a moderate level of heat, so add a bit more Chilli if you like it hot.

I made this in an Instant Pot but I’ll explain the method for this or a frying pan below.

Serves 4

Ingredients

Chilli ingredients

1 tsp of cumin

½ tsp of hot Chilli powder

700g of mince, a mix of pork and beef is the best

2 tbsp. of tomato puree

1 beef stock cube

1 tin of tomatoes

1 large onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, mince

1 can of red kidney beans

1 chipotle Chilli, finely chopped

½ red Chilli, finely chopped

3 tbsp. of olive oil

Salt & Pepper to taste

Salsa ingredients

2 chopped tomatoes or 10 chopped cherry tomatoes

1/4 red onion, finely diced

The juice of half a lime

1 avocado, chopped. You can mash it if you prefer that sort of texture.

small bunch of coriander, chopped roughly

1 tsp. Mexican spice mix

Salt & Pepper

Chilli Method

1. Heat half of the olive oil in a pan. If using an Instant Pot, set to sauté mode and wait to heat up. Add the mince and fry off until brown.

2. Add the onions and sauté until they are softened.

3. Add the fresh Chilli and garlic and sauté for 2 minutes.

4. Add the dried spices and stock cube and stir. Cook off for 2-3 minutes until you start to smell their lovely aromas.

5. If at this point, the food starts to stick to the bottom of the pan/pot some olive oil or water.

6. Add the tomato puree and the chipotle and stir well for 2 minutes.

7. Add the can of tomatoes and reduce for 5 minutes.

8. Stir in the red kidney beans.

9. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes on a cook top or in the Instant Pot on the Chilli/Bean setting.

10. Season with salt & pepper

Mix all the salsa ingredients in a bowl. Serve with the Chilli con Carne, some rice and whatever toppings you like such as sour cream and jalapeno peppers.

To make the Desperados; mix 1 shot of tequila with 50ml of ginger beer, juice of half a lime, a pale lager such Sol or Corona and ice. Enjoy. The taste very moreish.