Miranda’s “Never the Same Twice” Chilli

Ingredients

500g Steak Mince (I get some with 15-20% fat and prefer course ground to mince)
Or
1 pork tenderloin – cut into 1.5-2cm chunks
(or any other meat you fancy – I’ve made it with cubed beef steak)

Vegetable oil – I use light olive oil or avocado oil- but whatever you prefer

1 large onion chopped fairly finely (sometimes I do white/red mix)

1 teaspoon (tsp) ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cumin
1-2 tsp hot red chilli powder (or cayenne pepper)
1 tsp Oregano (I use Mexican but the normal stuff is good too)
Freshly ground black pepper – probably around 10-20 turns

Some fresh chillis – I tend to use a selection of medium green jalapenos (1-2), 1 hot round chilli (say scotch bonnet)
1-4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 400g tin chopped tomatoes – or 4/5 fresh plum tomatoes skins removed, chopped
Tomato puree – around a tablespoon.

1 tin (400g) or packet of kidney beans in water – drained
(optionally any other pulses you fancy – chickpeas, cannellini beans, pinto beans, even lentils work well – but change the texture)

1 beef stock cube (or pork/chicken if using the tenderloin).
1 generous splash of Worcestershire Sauce
Optional – mushroom powder – I use porcini for the depth of flavour
1 glug of red wine

Optional ingredients:
Chestnut mushrooms (or any mushrooms of choice) – chopped/sliced fairly large
Red/Green Pepper – in julienne-type slices.

Method

1. I tend to make this as “one-pot” cooking – over medium heat, brown the meat in a heavy-bottomed casserole or Dutch oven.
2. Once it’s browned – move the meat to a bowl and set aside.
3. Add some oil to the pan – mix in any meat juices remaining
4. Add the onion and sweat down until translucent.  Add a little sea salt to prevent browning, if desired.
5. While the onions are cooking, chop the chillis and garlic. To avoid getting chilli fingers, whizz the chillies and garlic in a food processor with a drop of oil.
6. Once the onions are golden and shiny, add the ground cinnamon, ground cumin, chilli powder and oregano. Stir into the onions and cook off the spices.
7. Add the chilli/garlic mix and stir fry for a minute or so – watch the chilli fumes at this point!
8. You can add the black pepper now – I don’t add any more salt as I\’m using a stock cube, but you could do it.
9. Add the meat back into the pan and stir.
10. This is where I add in a stock cube (in about 250 ml of boiling water)
11. Add a generous splash of Worcestershire sauce and stir
12. Add the tomato puree and stir
13. Add the tomatoes, stir
14. Add the kidney beans, stir
15. Add the splash of wine
16. Add any optional ingredients – but leave the red/green peppers as they should be added towards the end of the cooking.
17. Taste it – check the heat levels – at this stage, it should be overly hot – the slow cooking will mute that.  Note the red wine will need ‘cooking in’ to complete the flavour depth.  I sometimes add a few drops of store cupboard chilli sauce (Encona, Tabasco, Franks – watch out for unnecessary carbs)  if you feel that the spice levels need to change.
18. You can cover and complete the cooking on the stove on a low simmer, or I tend to put it in the oven on medium heat (150-160 C) for an hour or so – checking after about 30 minutes.  This bit could also be done in a slow cooker.