Chilli con carne

If you’re making a large bowl for party guests, it’s probably best not to dabble with the more daring authentic touches like cinnamon or making it too hot, but don’t skimp on the chilli too much, instead have a bowl of sour cream handy for those who like it super-mellow.
This recipe serves about 5 people so scale up for a bigger bowl.

• Finely chop onion, garlic, one red chilli and one red pepper and lightly fry in oil, then stir in a teaspoon of ground cumin and a teaspoon of paprika. (Add a teaspoon of chilli powder if not using fresh chilli.)
• Brown about 400g minced beef and then stir this into the onion and chilli mix. Cook this for a further 5 to 10 minutes but make sure it doesn’t dry out too much.
• When the meat is cooked through, add 300ml beef or vegetable stock and 400g chopped tomatoes. Add seasoning (including half a teaspoon of sugar if you want) then simmer for about 20 minutes.
• Add one tin of kidney beans and cook through for another 10 minutes.
• Stir regularly throughout to ensure the chilli hasn’t dried too much.
• Serve with rice.

SAVVY TIP
Using tinned kidney beans is much easier than using dried kidney beans. Tinned kidney beans are already cooked can be used straight from the tin but dried beans need to be soaked for a long time to ensure the skins are soft and safe to eat.