Today we’ll teach you the iconic dish of TexMex cuisine. Chilli con carne has Mexican roots and is the official dish of the American state of Texas. In the Wild West, gunfighters there fired their Colts practically non-stop. And it may have been the red-hot barrels of their revolvers that inspired the manly recipe of beef (originally buffalo), which burns as well. Thanks to the peppers, this dish will never be the same without them.
Fat is the best friend of flavour
Before you start the recipe, we want to stress: the meat needs to be fried really well in fat. Otherwise, you won’t get enough flavour into the dish and you won’t make up for it with salt, spices or other ingredients.
In practice, this means: Only baste the meat in the casserole after it has had a chance to sear properly. Otherwise, you run the risk of bland taste and colour. After heating, the minced meat releases liquid, so instead of browning, the meat stews and the resulting taste is… bland.
So it’s definitely worth waiting until all the liquid has boiled off and then roast the meat properly until golden brown.
Give the meat enough time
Ground meat also contains less lean, leaner parts (which is fine). That’s why it needs more time, maybe an hour or two, to tenderize and almost fall apart. But don’t worry, you won’t spend your youth in the kitchen. You’ll spend ten or fifteen minutes of pure time at the stove.
Tip for choosing tortillas and cheddar cheese
Use unflavored tortilla chips, especially the strong cheese one. And as for the cheese, we recommend a medium-aged cheddar with the typical orange color. This particular type of cheddar pairs well with the flavors of the stew, the beans, and the mild tanginess.
Ingredients
for 6-8 persons or for 4 persons double
- 400 g medium-sized dry beans
- 2 onions
- 500 g ground beef
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried hot or mildly hot paprika
- 1 fresh red chilli (the degree of hotness is up to you)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- approx. 2 teaspoons salt
- 200 ml tomato puree
how to do it
- Pick the beans, rinse them in a colander and soak overnight in cold water so that it reaches about 3 cm above the beans. The next day, drain the beans, add new water again 3 cm above the beans and bring to the boil in a larger pot. Be sure to skim off any foam that forms during the first few minutes of cooking. Then turn down the heat, add one whole cleaned (but unpeeled) onion, cover with a lid and cook slowly until soft. Salt the beans just before they are soft.
- While the beans are cooking, peel the second onion and chop it finely. Rinse the chilli pepper, cut it lengthwise and cut out the white ribs with the seeds. Cut the cleaned flesh into small cubes. Be careful not to touch your hand to your eye! Chillies burn like hell.
- Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the meat and sear it. Separate the pieces from each other. When all the liquid that the meat has released has evaporated and the meat starts to sear in the fat again, add the chopped onions and chilli. Stir for a while and then set the meat aside.
- Crush the spices, herbs and salt finely in a mortar, add to the meat and stir. The spices will develop beautifully in the warm fat. Pour the tomato puree over everything, return to the hob, cover and leave to bubble very gently.
- If the beans have already softened, drain them. Discard the onions and stir the simmered meat mixture into the beans. Pour in a cup of hot water, cover with a lid and let everything simmer together for at least half an hour to an hour (minutes don’t count). The flavors will combine, the beans will cook a bit, and the meat will soften a bit more. Finally, season again with salt as needed.
- Serve with steamed rice or topped with tortilla chips and grated cheddar.
TIP: To prevent you from ‘killing’ your first homemade chili con carne with too hot a pepper, we’ve included a description of the Scoville hotness scale to help beginners navigate the chili pepper selection process.
A proper cowboy doesn’t ride without an eStravenka
And neither is a proper cowgirl. So before you head off to raid the nearest supermarket, check your food voucher stash on the Můj Up app. You can then buy all the ingredients with your favourite eStravenka card.
