A friend of mine emails me in a panic, he needs a recipe for chili and he needs it now! I'm no where near a cookbook or even my spice rack and now I need to come up with something totally off the top of my head. Lucky for me he didn't ask me to tell him how to make a souffle. So here it is... I still haven't heard back how it was but when I do, you all will be first to know.
NOTE: Most recipes on the net that I found in a quick search did not meet the requirements of a quick and easy chili recipe, key for the novice cook that this recipe was intended for.
UPDATE: My friend said the recipe worked well, and people liked it. :)
Chili Recipe
Ingredients:
2 Green Pepers, large dice
2 Onions, large dice
3 large cloves of garlic, crushed, and roughly chopped
1 Smoked Habanero pepper (you can buy them canned) chopped
- remove seeds if you want to reduce heat
1lb ground beef
- for chunky style use 1/2lb ground beef, and 1/2lb stewing beef
1 large can of crushed tomatoes
1 large can of kidney beans
1 regular sized can of baked beans
1 carton of beef stock
1 glass of red wine
1 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoons pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
Directions:
Chop and measure all ingredients prior to cooking anything.
Brown the ground beef with some oil and a light dusting of flour, don't worry if things stick to the bottom of the pot-- its a good thing. After the meat is brown (doesn't need to be fully cooked) add the glass of red wine and scrape the bottom of the pan to lift up all the good bits that were once stuck to the bottom. Reduce the red wine until its pretty well gone. Transfer the meat to the crock-pot. Add the rest of the ingredients. Don't worry if its a little watery at this point; if its too think at this point add some water. Set the crock-pot to high and let it cook for 3hrs.
After 3hrs of cooking, taste for seasoning. If the chili is still too wet, mix a small amount of flour and water together in a 1:1 ratio and add that to the chili and allow it to boil and thicken -- repeat if necessary to desired thickness. Lastly if the chili is too spicy, add a little bit of lemon juice, it helps neutralize the heat, but if you add too much you will ruin the dish.
Serve with sourdough bread :)