Chili Con Carne

6-8

Prep 30 mins
Cooking time 2hours + 1-2 days

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1kg/2¼lb lean minced beef
2 glasses red wine
2x400g cans chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato purée
2 red chillies, thinly sliced, or 3-4 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 stick cinnamon
good shake of Worcestershire sauce
1 beef stock cube
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2x400g can red kidney beans, drained
1 large bunch coriander leaves, roughly chopped
wedges of lime, to serve

1. Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based saucepan and fry the onion and garlic until softened. Increase the heat and add the mince, cooking quickly until browned and breaking down any chunks of meat with a wooden spoon. Pour in the red wine and boil for 2-3 minutes. While waiting, pour a glass for yourself.
2. Stir in the tinned tomatoes, tomato purée, fresh chilli or chilli flakes, cumin, ground coriander, cinnamon, and Worcestershire sauce and crumble in the stock cube. Season well with salt and pepper. Bring to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook over a gentle heat for about 50 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally until the mixture is rich and thickened. Add the kidney beans and fresh coriander. Cook for a further 10 minutes, uncovered, before removing from the heat, adding any extra seasoning if necessary. This is ideal served with the lime wedges and also rice, crusty bread or jacket potatoes, guacamole, sour cream and a big green salad.

Free range beef will always give the biggest flavour improvement over mass produced beef, organic if you can. Don't be tempted to buy extra lean mince as the fat in this as with many dishes is the medium which carries the flavour of both the meat and the spices, pick a different dish if you want low fat.

For the Cumin it is best to start with wholes seeds and toast them on a hot frying pan until they crackle and then grind them with a pestle and mortar or grinder, if time does not permit this then make sure the powdered cumin is very fresh.

Take two frying pans and start cooking in parallel, in one add the olive oil and start cooking the onions slowly until translucent. In the other pan turn the heat up very high ( the best pan for this is a cast iron pan ) we are going to sear the mince in small batches. This is an important process, a bit like searing meat for a casserole, the exterior of the mince is to be caramelised (or burnt a little) because later it is to be slow cooked on the hob which will break down this crust and create sublime slightly sweet browning to your chilli sauce. Now sear the mince on the high heat in small batches, season on all sides with salt and pepper, stir until cooked on all sides. Transfer to a plate when cooked.

When the onions are cooked, add the paprika, cumin, chilli powder, and garlic, and stir fry for 2 minutes then add the wine, tomato puree, tomatoes and mince. stir and simmer on a low heat for one hour. You should only be getting 1 or two bubbles in the sauce if you have more turn it down.

After 1 hour add the kidney beans and simmer for a further hour. The slow cooking brings out all the flavours of the meat and breaks down the acidity of the tomatoes.

Add the whole chillies finely chopped for ten minutes at the end and then serve garnished with the coriander leaves and cream on the side.

Tip: Make this dish 2 or 3 days in advance and keep in the fridge, the extra time allows the flavours to really mingle and mature.