Chili con Carne, made with SN1

A proper chili con carne built on fine spices. Meat full of savoury depth and nourishing beans in every mouthful — generous, and good for you too.

SPICE CURRY SPICE PACK (Spice Curry Spice Pack Symphony No.1 / SN1) — a chili con carne.

Chili con carne is a Tex-Mex dish, born in Texas, of beans and meat simmered with chilli and plenty of spice.

It is loved as a national dish in the United States — people say Americans always eat chili con carne while watching the Super Bowl.

The recipe is simple and easy to make, and it is superb cooked outdoors in a Dutch oven on a camping trip 🏕

Chilli and beans are essential to the dish, and SN1 itself contains no chilli, so add it to taste. That said, it does contain plenty of paprika powder — often described as the spice that keeps the flavour of the chilli without the heat — so it makes a convincing chili con carne as it stands 👨‍🍳

Chilli powder lets you set the heat yourself: more for those who like it hot, less for anyone who does not, or for households with children. Finish it to your own taste.

A pressure cooker or a Dutch oven softens the beans and concentrates their flavour, so it is well worth having one to hand.

Ingredients (serves 4)　　

• SN1 / starter spices (the whole-spice sachet): 1 sachet
• SN1 / powder spices (the ground-spice sachet): 1 sachet
• Tinned tomatoes (whole): 1 tin (400g)
• Onion: 1
• Sweet pepper / green pepper: 1.5 (use whichever peppers you like, to about 1.5 peppers in total)
• Coriander: as much as you like (optional, but worth it if you like coriander)
• Lime (or lemon): 1
• Garlic: about 1–2 cloves (chopped finely)
• Minced pork and beef: 300g
• Beans: about 300g (kidney beans, chickpeas and the like)
• Grated hard cheese: 30g
• Salt: 2 tsp
• Tomato ketchup: 1 tbsp
• Olive oil: 5 tbsp
• Water: 100ml
• Chilli powder: as much as you like (chilli, cayenne pepper or similar)

The peppers are entirely up to you, in type and combination. As a guide, about 1.5 peppers in total gives a good balance. The beans are up to you too. Mixed beans work, but red kidney beans are the classic, so they are well worth using.

What to serve with it

Chili con carne goes with rice, of course, and also with tortilla chips or naan; spooned over a hot dog it becomes something like a chili dog. It is a soupy dish, so serving it straight into a deep bowl and eating it outdoors is excellent too.

Preparation

• Chop the garlic finely.
• Chop the onion finely.
• Cut the green pepper / sweet pepper into fairly large pieces. (This changes the look and the texture, so cut them as you prefer.)
• Cut the lime (or lemon) into wedges.

Method

1. Put the “olive oil: 5 tbsp” into a pan over a low heat, and once the oil is warm, add the “starter spices (the whole-spice sachet)”.
   
   
   
   
2. When you hear the “mustard seeds (the small black ones)” start to crackle, add the garlic and fry for about 30 seconds, stirring it through the spices.
   
   
3. Once the garlic smells good, add the “onion”, stir it in, then turn the heat to high and cook for 3–5 minutes, until it is translucent and just starting to go golden.
   
   
4. Turn the heat to medium, add the “minced pork and beef: 300g” and the “salt: 2 tsp” and fry.
   
   
   
   
5. When the meat is nearly cooked, push the ingredients to one side to make a space, add the tinned tomatoes (whole): 1 tin (400g), crush the whole tomatoes down well, then stir everything together.
   
   
   
   
   
6. Once it is bubbling, add all of the “powder spices” and stir them in.
   
   

   Cook the powder spices through properly, frying them so they settle into the oil.

   
   
   
   
   
7. Add the grated hard cheese: 30g, tomato ketchup: 1 tbsp and water: 100ml, and stir everything together.
   
   
8. Add the sweet pepper / green pepper and the beans: about 300g, stir once, put a lid on the pan and simmer over a low heat for 20 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
9. Taste it, and check that the beans are pleasantly soft and that the salt is right. (If it needs more salt, adjust with a little ketchup or salt at a time.)
   
   

   Set the heat to taste at this point too. If anyone at the table does not like heat, or children are eating, it works well to let each person sprinkle their own once it is served.

   
   
   
   
   
10. Plate it up, top with coriander and lime, and it is done.

Inspice spice curry spice sets contain none of the usual sources of heat — chilli, cayenne pepper or chilli powder — so please add heat to your own taste.