Chilli

Chilli is a great dinner to make. It is delicious, filling and very economical. It can be served with rice, baked potatoes, crusty bread, wedges or homemade oven chips. You can use leftover roast beef or slow cooked beef cubes to make chilli but I tend to use minced beef.

Altering the amount of chilli powder or fresh chilli will alter the spiciness of the chilli so make sure to take this into consideration and use the appropriate amount for your tastes.

Chilli always tastes better the next day so if you can make it the day before you will get even better flavours. I always make double  or even treble what I need and freeze some. There is always an evening when I’m so glad to have it to take out of the freezer for a super quick dinner.

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Chilli

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings 6 people

Ingredients

• rapeseed oil
• 2 medium onions
• 1 stick celery
• 1 carrot
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tsp chilli powder heaped
• 1/2 tsp cumin powder
• 500 g minced beef
• 2 tins plum tomatoes
• 1/2 tsp chipotle paste
• 1 tsp tomato puree
• 1 tbsp sundried tomatoes chopped
• 60 g red lentils
• 2 tins kidney beans
• salt
• ground black pepper

Instructions

• Finely chop or blitz the onions, celery, carrot and garlic
  
• Heat some rapeseed oil in a large saucepan and saute the onions, celery and carrot until soft - 5 to 10 minutes
  
• Add the garlic, chilli and cumin powder and fry for another 2 minutes
  
• Add the minced beef and brown the meat
  
• Next add the tinned tomatoes, chipotle paste, tomato puree and sundried tomatoes and mix well. Add some water (maybe 200ml) and bring to the boil
  
• Add the red lentils and turn down to a simmer.
  
• Simmer for at least an hour with a lid on, making sure to add water if needed. After 30 minutes, add the kidney beans and season with some salt and pepper
• Serve with some rice, baked potatoes, crusty bread or homemade wedges or chips