Recipe: Chili Con Carne without the Cons.

Who doesn't love a bowl of chili during rainy season? It's so versatile that it can be a snack or a meal itself. Add it to a bowl of corn chips and you get Nachos. Use it as a filling in a soft tortilla with rice and you get yourself a Burrito. Arrange the burrito in a casserole and bake with tomato sauce and cheese on top, you get Enchiladas.....I know, I know you're hungry.

And I have a quick recipe that is as good as in those Mexican type restos. Forget measuring the chili powder-cumin-coriander-paprika-cinnamon and other what-have-you spice mixture and go get yourself a packet of McCormick brand Chili Con Carne mix at the grocery. This is an all in one "tamad" way to get the right amount of spices and flavor into your Chili. But we don't scrimp on the beans...though during lazy days, I use pork and beans as a short cut. You can get a small bag of dried red kidney beans, half a kilo of lean ground beef and a small can of tomato sauce as well. Don't get intimidated with beans. You can soak them an hour or so before cooking so it will cook faster. 

Cooking time: 1 hr 30 min

Serves 4 -5

Ingredients:

1 cup red kidney beans

1 packet Mc Cormick Chili Con Carne Mix

1 whole onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic chopped

1/2 kg lean ground meat 

1 can 200 g tomato sauce 

Directions:

Wash and soak the beans for an hour and drain liquid. Add fresh clean water to the beans up to about 2 inches above the level of the beans. 

Pressure cook the beans for 30 minutes. Drain cooking liquid. Set the beans aside. 

You may also cook the beans conventionally in the pot over the stove according to package instructions. 

Place the ground meat, chopped garlic and onions in a pan together and brown the meat. No need to add oil. I use this method to avoid extra fat when sautéing the veggies. The fat from the ground meat will render itself as it browns. 

Add the entire MCormick packet mixture into the meat and stir to mix. 

Add the drained beans and the tomato sauce. Though the mix itself has powdered tomatoes. I like my chili with a bit more tomato taste and darker in color.

Cook until the beans absorbs some of the sauce. You may add a bit of water if you want your chili to be more saucy or cook some more if you want it to be on the dry side. 

Serve in individual bowls with a piece of bread or some nachos. You may also use it as rice topping. Add sour cream and grated cheese on top. 

While waiting for the beans to cook, I fixed myself a bowl of nachos using the same ingredients. :)