Chilli Con Carne
One of the enduring pleasures of the Indianish kitchen is how easily it becomes the ‘Mexicanish’ kitchen, with so many ingredients in common. Especially cumin seeds, coriander (cilantro), chilli, red kidney beans, lime and rice, not to mention rose-water and almonds. Not only that, but plain yoghurt is a good (and less fattening) substitute for sour cream, and flour tortillas and rotis are pretty much interchangeable to the avowed non-purist. Apparently, Octavio Paz, the Mexican poet and activist, spent some time in India in the mid twentieth century as the Mexican Ambassador and wrote a book on the relationship between Indian and Mexican food, as well as on the similarities in culture between the two places. I will say more about this when I find a copy and read it. My mum’s response to this though, when I was waxing lyrical about the delicious globality of it all, was that in her experience, the most pronounced similarity between the two places was ‘talented pickpockets.’ Hmmm…
Anyway, here is a dinner I made a couple of days ago for my friend Vidya who told me about the book.
Chilli Con Carne
(to serve a tubby three, frugal four or two people who have just completed an eight day hike in the wilderness eating only nuts and berries)
1 tbsp cooking oil of choice
1 large onion (chopped finely)
1 red Capsicum (bell pepper) chopped into small, even cubes (or great ragged chunks if you’re so inclined, but I take no responsibility for the result!)
1 large or 2 small carrots, again chopped into small, even cubes
250g lean minced meat (I used ground beef but I imagine it would work with lamb or pork too)
½ glass of red or white wine (optional)
1-3 chillies, red or green, any kind, choose according to your own hot-o-metre. I used 1 birdesye chilli (super hot but very small) in this recipe
2 cloves of Garlic (chopped)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
Splash of Worcester Sauce (Soy would be an ok substitute)
1 tbps Tomato Paste
1 tbsp Harissa paste (optional)
Spices:
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon or a piece of cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves (you could omit this if you had none)
1 tsp Sweet Paprika (the smoked Spanish kind is most delicious, and comes in the nicest tins)
To Serve:
6 flour tortillas (2 per person)
Plain Yoghurt (I always use low fat but plain Greek yoghurt would be delicious)
Grated cheese (Cheddar, low fat cheddar, Monterey Jack or something like that)
Guacamole (I will post the recipe for this soon)
Method
Take a large saucepan. Heat the oil over medium heat, add the onions, fry and stir until they are soft and maybe a little brown in parts. (I usually just cook them while I chop the other stuff …) Add the capsicum and stir and fry while you chop the garlic and chilli (but don’t add them yet). Turn up the heat to high, add the meat and fry stirring constantly to brown it and break it up. Once it is brown, drain off the extra fat if there is any (there shouldn’t be if you have used the lean kind of meat), add the garlic, chilli and spices and stir well. If you are using the wine, turn up the heat and add the wine and stir and boil until it has mostly evaporated. If you are not using it, just skip that step.
Turn down the heat to the low side of medium and add the tomato paste, harissa if you are using it, Worcester sauce and stir. Add the tin of tomatoes (not drained), stir well and finally add the kidney beans and stir gently (don't smash them up). Cover and cook over low heat for at least 30 minutes, longer if you have time. If it gets dry, or you want more sauce, add some water. At some point before the end of the cooking time, season to taste (with salt but probably no pepper unless you want a double kick). You can finish it off with some fresh coriander if you want to (an ideal use for the frozen coriander mentioned in another posting).
Before serving, take the tortillas out of the packet and wrap them well in foil. Heat in a medium-hot oven for at least 10 minutes. You could microwave them or heat in a dry frying pan if you wanted to but don’t dry them out.
To serve, everyone should take a tortilla, spoon some chilli down the middle, sprinkle some grated cheese over the chilli and roll up the tortilla. Spoon some guacamole and yoghurt onto the plate and eat at once!
(I served this with asparagus roasted in lime scented olive oil just to make sure the meal was balanced, vegetable wise, and because it is the season for (gorgeous) English asparagus. I just heated my old black oven tray directly on the stove with some of the oil, tossed the whole asparagus spears (ends removed) around in it for a moment, sprinked it with some sea salt and put it into the oven. So while the tortillas were warming, it cooked perfectly).
Anyway, here is a dinner I made a couple of days ago for my friend Vidya who told me about the book.
Chilli Con Carne
(to serve a tubby three, frugal four or two people who have just completed an eight day hike in the wilderness eating only nuts and berries)
1 tbsp cooking oil of choice
1 large onion (chopped finely)
1 red Capsicum (bell pepper) chopped into small, even cubes (or great ragged chunks if you’re so inclined, but I take no responsibility for the result!)
1 large or 2 small carrots, again chopped into small, even cubes
250g lean minced meat (I used ground beef but I imagine it would work with lamb or pork too)
½ glass of red or white wine (optional)
1-3 chillies, red or green, any kind, choose according to your own hot-o-metre. I used 1 birdesye chilli (super hot but very small) in this recipe
2 cloves of Garlic (chopped)
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of red kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
Splash of Worcester Sauce (Soy would be an ok substitute)
1 tbps Tomato Paste
1 tbsp Harissa paste (optional)
Spices:
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon or a piece of cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves (you could omit this if you had none)
1 tsp Sweet Paprika (the smoked Spanish kind is most delicious, and comes in the nicest tins)
To Serve:
6 flour tortillas (2 per person)
Plain Yoghurt (I always use low fat but plain Greek yoghurt would be delicious)
Grated cheese (Cheddar, low fat cheddar, Monterey Jack or something like that)
Guacamole (I will post the recipe for this soon)
Method
Take a large saucepan. Heat the oil over medium heat, add the onions, fry and stir until they are soft and maybe a little brown in parts. (I usually just cook them while I chop the other stuff …) Add the capsicum and stir and fry while you chop the garlic and chilli (but don’t add them yet). Turn up the heat to high, add the meat and fry stirring constantly to brown it and break it up. Once it is brown, drain off the extra fat if there is any (there shouldn’t be if you have used the lean kind of meat), add the garlic, chilli and spices and stir well. If you are using the wine, turn up the heat and add the wine and stir and boil until it has mostly evaporated. If you are not using it, just skip that step.
Turn down the heat to the low side of medium and add the tomato paste, harissa if you are using it, Worcester sauce and stir. Add the tin of tomatoes (not drained), stir well and finally add the kidney beans and stir gently (don't smash them up). Cover and cook over low heat for at least 30 minutes, longer if you have time. If it gets dry, or you want more sauce, add some water. At some point before the end of the cooking time, season to taste (with salt but probably no pepper unless you want a double kick). You can finish it off with some fresh coriander if you want to (an ideal use for the frozen coriander mentioned in another posting).
Before serving, take the tortillas out of the packet and wrap them well in foil. Heat in a medium-hot oven for at least 10 minutes. You could microwave them or heat in a dry frying pan if you wanted to but don’t dry them out.
To serve, everyone should take a tortilla, spoon some chilli down the middle, sprinkle some grated cheese over the chilli and roll up the tortilla. Spoon some guacamole and yoghurt onto the plate and eat at once!
(I served this with asparagus roasted in lime scented olive oil just to make sure the meal was balanced, vegetable wise, and because it is the season for (gorgeous) English asparagus. I just heated my old black oven tray directly on the stove with some of the oil, tossed the whole asparagus spears (ends removed) around in it for a moment, sprinked it with some sea salt and put it into the oven. So while the tortillas were warming, it cooked perfectly).
Vegetarian substitute: At the meat step, use lots of finely chopped mushrooms and leave out the wine. Voila, Chilli con funghi (or however you say that in Mexicanish...)
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