# General > Recipes >  Chilli Con Carne

## cuddlepop

Has anyone got a really good recipe.Mine just doesn't seem to have the depth of flavour it should.
Its got half a teaspoon of chilli and i put three gloves of garlic aswell as a teaspoon of oregano.Extra tomatoes as well ::

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## Angela

I've been using this recipe from The Student's Cookbook by Jenny Baker (slightly adapted) for years:

Serves 3-4 depending on your appetite

2 tablespoons oil
1 onion, chopped
1 small green pepper, diced
225 (8oz) mince
2 tsps chili powder
1 tablespoon tomato puree
few drops tabasco sauce
1 can (415g) chopped Italian tomatoes
1 can (415g) red kidney beans, drained
salt & pepper

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion for a few minutes. Add the green pepper and fry a little longer. Then stir in the mince and fry until it's brown all over.
Stir in the chili powder, tabasco sauce, tomato puree, can of tomatoes and red kidney beans.
Mix it gently together.
Season with a little salt & pepper.
Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes on the hob -or you can cook it in the oven if you prefer.

You can use mild or hot chili powder depending on how hot you like it.
Add chopped coriander leaves before serving if you like.
I've always found this an extremely easy and popular recipe...any leftovers reheat well for a baked potato filling.

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## cuddlepop

Thanks Angela,your recipe sounds more like it.Mine is from a traditional farmhouse cookbook.Yours is a student recipe so its bound to  have a kick. ::

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## squidge

My brother in law puts in a touch of cinnamon too.  it makes a difference to the whole thing

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## Jeemag_USA

Some serving suggestion, Chilli is a big thing in the states, they have cook offs and champinoships everywhere. Always when you go to a chilli house they offer side servings of grated cheese and finely chopped green onions, both can be sprinkled on top and allow the cheese to melt a little. Also Chilli in the states is never served with rice (ptuhhhh!!!) you eat it like soup in a bowl, or serve it on a bed of spaghetti.

Here is a very good link to a crazy american chilli guy (just drop the silly Con Carne thing and call it Chilli  :Smile:  ) there are some great recipes, and always done in large measures because you are never supposed to make a small pot of Chilli, you make a gigantic pot and eat out of it for about three days and then if there is any left refrigerate it until the weekend. There is some great recipes here and a history on the dish

http://www.io.com/~wallen/chili.html

Chilli is a great dish to experiment and have fun with, make up your own recipes and give them weird names like Boot Hill Butt Burner. 

And remember its Texan not Mexican  :Wink:  And if it doesn't have Cumin in it its not Chilli!

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## cuddlepop

Wow,thanks for that.
cant beat a good chilli,it blows away sinuses problems good style :Grin:

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## Jeemag_USA

Also I forgot to mention, try making chilli sometime with diced meat instead of Mince, there are a lot of places in the states that use ground beef, but traditional Chilli was normally made with beefsteack cut into small cubes, I think it makes the flavor so much better and you get less fat in your recipe. Cumin is my own favorite thing to put in Chilli, its my favorite spice, I been to quite a few cook off competitions and most of the best Chillis these days use Cumin, fresh ground or powder in their recipes, fresh ground cumin is always better, get the seed and use an electric coffee grinder to powder it. The aroma of it is awesome and the flavor of Cumin is fantastic!

I never make Chilli the same way twice, I tend to always use some sugar, a little tip, if you accidentally make your Chilli too hot, add a few spoons of sugar to the pan, it takes the edge off it, I think because it confuses the different taste buds into thinking this is not as hot as it really is. Also you can add water and more ingredients to take some heat off.

I always love to use fresh Chillis rather than powder, I will use several different kinds including ones I like myself like Annaheim and Jalapeno, but any peppers will do, be careful with them, because one pepper of the right species can make a lot of hot! ( I generally use 3 to 4 thumb sized chillis to a large pan)  I have several different ingredients I experiment with, mainly because I have a background in Indian cooking, I tend to use a lot of Freshly squeezed lemon, fresh chopped ginger and garlic and sometimes will add traces of Coriander and also Paprika to enhance the color. I use canned tomatoes, but I never use Tomato Puree, instead I use simply Heinz Ketchup, it tastes much better. And I squirt oodles of it in with my canned tomatoes, it gives the sauce a good even consistency, I always thought Puree was rank stuff!

I am a big fan of HOT Chilli dishes with a hint of sweetness, and I like it in a big soup bowl with lashing of cheddar and green onions on the top. Thats the way to eat Chilli, I don't even eat mine with Sphagetti, more treat it like a soup, Chilli should be kind of thin like soup too, like a cream soup not a broth, sometimes people make the mistake of making Chilli too thick, usually by putting too much ground beef in which detracts from the chilli flavor too much.

I LOVE CHILLI, specially on a cold day!  ::

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## LRM

I put heinz sweet chilli beans in mine instead of kidney beans. The kids love it

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