Chili con carne

Ingredients:

• 500gr minced meat (2/3 beef and 1/3 pork) – all beef is also fine and traditional recipe
• 1 carrot
• 1 stick celery
• 1 onion
• 1 tin (400gr) black beans
• 2 spoons of Worcestershire Sauce
• 70gr tomatoes paste
• 1 glass of water
• salt
• olive oil
• black pepper

Optional:

• 1 tin (140gr) corn
• 1 red pepper
• 1 tin (240gr) tomatoes sauce

Steps

1. Peel and chop onion, carrot and celery. If you want to add the red pepper, cut it in small cubes
2. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large pan, add the vegetables previously chopped and cook for 5/7 minutes (the bigger the pieces, the more it will take to get softened)
3. Add the minced meat and break it with the back of the spoon to have small peaces of meat. Cook for 5 minutes on high heat
4. Add Worcestershire Sauce, lower the heat to medium and cook for around 10 mins until the meat looks brownish well cooked
5. Add the black beans, the tomatoes paste, the tin of corn (if you want to), one glass of water and a good pinch of salt and black pepper. Cook for 10 minutes
6. If you prefer a juicier chili con carne, add a tin of tomatoes sauce with step 5 and let it cook for about 20/25 minutes instead of just 10 (more time is required for properly cook the tomatoes sauce – depending on the quality of the bran used, you might need less time). Also add another good pinch of salt

Note that the dish should be spicy: if you like, you can can add spices or chili oil at the end of the preparation. In other versions there are different spices added such as garlic, cumin, cayenne etc. I prefer a simple version but don’t be afraid of spice it up!

It can be topped with fresh leaves of cilantro or coriander, sour cream or grated cheese.

You can serve this dish with basmati rice (my favourite), crusty bread, corn chips, jacket potatoes, avocado or anything you like!