I had a whole day to myself last Saturday so I decided to cook up Trish’s all day chili. I used my slow cooker to use for the first time in ages. If the slow cooker is out, it must be Autumn.
This is not my slow cooker, but I wish it was…
Chiliiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii
As per the previous post, I was trying out the Mexene Chili, which turned out to be very mild, so the chili didn’t have much of a kick, but it was still tasty, and there was a huge amount of it. I get nervous if there isn’t at least 7 portions of chili in my freezer at all times, so this makes me happy.
Here’s Trish’s recipe:
Trish Van Devere’s All-Day-Chili-In-The-Pot
3 cups dry kidney or pinto beans
3 tablespoons fine grade olive oil
3 large white onions, peeled and chopped
2 large cloves garlic, pressed (crushed)
3 lbs lean chopped beef chuck (I used beef mince)
1 tsp salt
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more if desired)
3 Spanish chilis pepper pods (or 3 tablespoons fresh chili powder)
3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes
1 cup undiluted canned beef stock (I used one can of Campbells Beef Consommé)
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
METHOD
NB – Trish doesn’t mention this, but if you are using dried kidney beans these should be soaked overnight. I used tinned beans. According to the Bean Institute (!) 3 cups of dry kidney beans will yield around 9 cups cooked beans and according to Cook it Simply, 1 cup of cooked kidney beans weighs about 62g so 9 cups would be about 560g. If you are using cooked beans you can skip the first part of the recipe…
Wash and pick over beans, cover with cold water in a vast pot and bring to the boil. Reduce heat, remove from the heat, let stand one hour. Add water to cover, bring to boil again, lower heat, simmer slowly. Stir from time to time.
Meanwhile sauté onion in olive oil with pressed garlic until onion is golden, in large Dutch oven or stock pot. Remove onion from Dutch oven with slotted spoon. Add meat to pan drippings and cook slowly over low heat, stirring with spoon until meat is crumbly and light. Add meat and pan drippings to large cooking pot with beans. Add remaining ingredients including sautéd onions.
Cook over very low heat stirring with wooden spoon to blend and mix well. Keep on low simmer stirring often to prevent burning. Add more liquid (beef stock) to keep beans covered, continue cooking until beans are tender but not mushy. Just before serving, taste to correct seasonings.
Serve in bowls, garnished with minced, raw, sweet white onion, shredded lettuce and/or grated aged sharp Cheddar cheese if desired. Chilli can be served over hot, cooked rice.
Serves 10 to 12.
Note: I cooked mine in a slow cooker (crock pot) for about 6 hours on high. As liquid doesn’t evaporate when cooking this way, my chili was quite runny. I added a couple of squirts of tomato puree which firmed it up a bit. I’m getting hungry writing this. I love chili!
