What's your best chilli recipe?

[SueEllen]

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Raw

Not good when you go to the loo the later/next day.

Edited to say: Later if you were the cook and male, next day for everyone else.

[stek]

For me the thing is not just to chuck chillies in it, then it's just unbearably hot mince meat.

Also I see recipes with a bit of fennel, a tad of this, and smidgin of that. Never makes much difference.

So the base for me is mince, kidney beans, chopped toms. Onion and peppers for your five a day, garlic cos it's garlic, OXO for stock, and crushed chillies to taste to top it off. Oh, and a bit (a lot) of Soy sauce works wonders. Usually I let it all soak (marinade) in the casserole dish in the fridge for a few hours, stick it in the oven for 90/120 mins, enjoy!!

I thing I'm over my just make it dead hot stage, I like a bit of kick, but with some other flavours coming through too....

Starving now....

[FrontEnder]

Hold on there! You in Mole territory there!

Finally, someone who knows mexican food.

I'm not that bothered about being totally authentic, a bit of chocolate adds a nice twist, but it doesn't make it a mole (which is an incredible dish).

The English version of chilli with kidney beans and tinned tomatoes is completely different than a proper tex-mex chilli though. It's more like a spicy italian sauce with beans in it. Not bad, but proper chilli is a while new level.

[Pondlife]

This has served me well;

Flank steak cut into 3/4 inch cubes
tin of tomatoes, plum not chopped,
1 x Scotch bonnet (We like it spicy so use your chili of choice)
Tbsp of oregano.
Garlic (1,2,3 cloves to taste)
Squirt of tomato paste
onion finely chopped
1/2 bottle of dark beer/stout
worcester sauce (dash)
beef stock concentrate (or cube)


Brown the beef first then put aside
Sweat onions, add garlic, tomato paste & chili
Add tomatos & beer
bring to simmer, add worcester and oregano
add back in the beef.
bring back to simmer.
Add a tomato can's worth of water and let it simmer for as long as you can on a very low heat.
20 mins before serving throw in a large handful of rice.

Squeeze some lime and serve with tortillas in a bowl.

[d000hg]

Thanks all.

I saw a recipe today which included chickpeas (either as well or instead of kidney beans) which seemed unusual.

I'm not a fan of adding chocolate but will probably throw in a glass of red wine if some is lying around. Or if I have to open some, what a shame

Mushrooms? I find the flesh works great for infusing spicy flavours but you don't often see them used.

[DaveB]

I use stewing steak cut into thumbnail size chunks instead of mince.

Apart from the chilli's - Scotch Bonnet for heat, the fat green finger chillies for flavour - Cumin makes a huge difference. It's usually a curry spice but makes a huge difference to the flavour of a chilli. Smoked paprika works really well to give a smokey flavour as well.

I use a mixture of beans. Kidney and Black Eye.

Cook long and slow in the oven rather than in a pan on the hob.

[FatLazyContractor]

Stuff loads of chilli in a pie.

Stuff the pie in me gob.

[PurpleGorilla]

What's your best chilli recipe?

Ok my recipe;

Lamb mince [emoji33]
Onion
Garlic
Mild chilli powder (loads)
Lots of black pepper
Stock cube
Lots of Oregano
Cumin seeds
Tspn honey
Plum tomatoes (leave whole to break down slow)
Oregano
Kidney beans [emoji33]
Oregano

Sweat onion and cumin seeds brown mince you know the rest.

[VectraMan]

I don't claim any ability, but I had a few goes at a recipe I found (from the BBC I think) and it always came out really disappointing; just basically cooked mince with a very slight spicy flavour. But I realised I was making it way too liquid; the recipe said to dissolve an oxo cube in 200ml of boiling water. When I tried it without the water it came out slightly too dry but had that nice chilli flavour, so now I do it with a small bit of water. That's my advice: don't have it swimming in liquid, and red wine (which I've also tried) ruins it in the same way.

My recent goes I've used a tea spoon of jalapeno chilli powder, a tea spoon of paprika, and a squirt of chilli purée and garlic purée (per portion this is); dump that in after frying the onions and stir for a minute or two before turning up the heat and adding the mince. That seems to work pretty well. I never bother with the beans.

[56samba]

I always add cumin seeds, mexican oragano if I can get it, some vinegar and a little sugar, I usually use the vinegar from the jalapeno jar as it adds a little heat. Chipotle as someone already mentioned is essential, you can get them dried, tinned, or paste at the posh supermarket. Along with the minced beef I also simmer a beef skirt steak or ribs for a day, then shred the meat in and use the stock to add liquid to the chilli. I used to grow Habaneros and add a few fresh ones with the seeds and ribs removed, otherwise a bit too hot fantastic flavour though. Chilli is a serious business in my house.