Chilli con Carné

My mother taught me this dish before I went away to university. I have improved it since then, but the base of the recipe is still the same... This meal is very easy to experiment with. See the variations at the bottom for some of the possible changes you can make.

You will need
Ingredients
500 grams minced beef (Vegetarians see the variations list at the bottom)
one large onion
a handful of mushrooms (200-400 grams)
half a clove of garlic
one green capsicum (pepper)
one or two fresh red or green chillies (how many depends on how hot you like it)
one medium sized potato
around 250 grams pumpkin
3 tablespoons of tomato paste (or a jar of passata)
one tin baked beans
one tin kidney beans
one tin chopped tomatoes
2 stock cubes (vegetable chicken or beef work well)
one teaspoon of chilli powder
salt and pepper
vegetable oil
crème fraiche
Equipment
A large frying pan
A large saucepan
Chopping board
Knife
Tin opener
Two gas (or electric) hobs

The first thing that you want to do is to wash the potato and cut it up into roughly 1cm squares. Chop the skin from the pumpkin and dispose of the seeds. Chop the pumpkin into similarly sized lumps.

Put the potato, pumpkin, the tins of baked beans, kidney beans and tomatoes, the stock cubes, the tomato paste and the chilli powder into the large sauce pan. Add more water (about a cup will probably be enough) to keep everything moist and place on a high heat. Add pepper and a little salt at this stage too. When you are preparing the rest of the ingredients keep an eye on this pan. If it starts to boil then reduce the heat and allow it to simmer. If it is drying out (it will start to burn to the pot if it gets too dry) add a bit more water.

Next chop the mushrooms into large pieces. Slice about half of the garlic up and add the garlic and the mushrooms to the frying pan with a bit of oil (50-100 ml). Put this frying pan on a high heat. Keep the mushrooms moving, especially when the pan gets hot. When the mushrooms are browned all over add the beef mince. Stir in the beef mince, breaking it up as it cooks. When it is browned all over turn the heat down to medium-low.

Chop the onion and add it to the frying pan. Stir it in and then chop the chillis and add them. Chop the rest of the garlic and add it. Finally chop up the capsicum (green pepper) and add it to the frying pan. Stir the frying pan regularly as you are doing all of this.

When all of the ingredients are in the frying pan turn the heat back up and stir them all together as they get hotter. Once you think everything looks done (this is a matter of taste and experience, but as long as nothing is burnt too much then it will be ok) add the entire contents of the frying pan to the sauce pan.

Now you stir the sauce pan and then leave everything to simmer. The longer you leave it the better everything will taste. At a minimum make sure that the potatoes and pumpkin are cooked (stick a fork in them. They should be easy to pierce).

Serve the chilli in a bowl with a tablespoon of the crème fraiche on top. Toast or a French stick makes a good accompaniment to this dish.

Variations

For vegetarians, you can enjoy this meal but take out the minced beef and add more of the pumpkin and potato. Technically it won't be chilli con carne any more... just chilli! :p

Use steak meat instead of mince. Cut it into thin strips and then treat it exactly the same as the mince. This is more authentic.

Instead of using a green capsicum you can mix up your capsicum colours, maybe using half a green, and a quarter of a yellow and red.

Add more or less chilli powder to taste.

Add grated cheese to the top of the chilli as well as the crème fraiche.

If you can't find crème fraiche (it is rare in Australia for example) you can use sour crème or even Greek yoghurt.

Instead of the kidney beans you can use a 3 or 4 bean mix.

Almost all of the ingredients are removeable or replaceable. The only thing you need are the beans and the chilli powder! Other possible ingredients would be sweet potatoes, carrots, cabbage or spinach (add with the potatos at the start).