Chili con Carne á la Mel

On Saturday I decided to try my first Chili con Carne as the engineer and I were bitten by the travel bug again. Unfortunately we have some major things coming up and it’s not possible to get on holiday the next time soon. So I browsed the internet for some recipes, but didn’t quite find the perfect dish. While I read all the articles and writing down all the ingredients, I came up with my version of the classic Mexican dish. I tried to imagine how all the flavours will taste when they are mixed together. I knew before that it has cocoa powder and a lot of cumin and tomatoes. Coriander is also an important ingredient of the stew. I added a bottle of Trapiste beer from the Netherlands as I didn’t have any Guiness at home.

I think it’s important to try new recipes to enlarge your horizon. Standing still is something I don’t like at all and you have to let your mouth taste different styles of herbs and flavours. Additionally you get a feeling of foreign countries and holiday while cooking and eating the dish.

Now I let you know what I came up with. As I don’t know how a real Chili con Carne has to be like, don’t blame me, if I made it not the classic style.

Ingredients:

500g minced meat (half/half)
2 Onions
2 Spring Onions or 2 Shallots
1 Garlic Clove or 1 Tbsp grounded Garlic
2 Cans of Tomatoes
2 Stacks of Leek
1 Can red Kidney Beans
1 Can Sweet Corn
1 Cup of fresh brewed Coffee
1 bottle of Guiness or similar beer (I took Trapiste Beer from the Netherlands)
2 Bay Leafs
1 Lemon
1 Tbsp Tomato purée
Cumin, Brown Sugar, Smoked Pepper, Sweet Pepper, Ground Coriander, Oregano, Cinnamon Stick, Cocoa powder

Roast the minced meat. In the meantime finely chop the Onions and Garlic and roast it in the same pan as the meat. After the Onions are golden brown add the Bay Leafs and the tomato purée. Give it a good stir and roast it a little while.

Add the Coffee, Beer, the Cans of Tomato and all of your Herbs and the cocoa to your favour. I took one tablespoon of each. You can add more after it cooked for 5 minutes. Let it cook for 10 minutes without a lid. Add the herbs to your favour and put in a little salt if necessary. Now pour in the sweet corn and the Kidney beans.