Christmas Chilli

Serves 6 - 8   

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 2 - 3 hours   

You can serve this with whatever you like, my family tend to like it with sour cream, guacamole, wraps, cheese and salsa and some rice so they can pick and choose.

Ingredients
750g beef either chunks or mince.  I like shin but any cut works
200g onions, finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 red chilli, very finely chopped
2 tsp chipotle chilli flakes
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp smoked sweet paprika
4 tbsp tomato puree
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
1 tsp coffee
2 tbsp grated chocolate
2 tsp sugar
1 beef stock pot
2 cinnamon sticks*
8 cloves*
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tin of red kidney beans
Oil
½ cup water

*you can use 2 tsp of ground cinnamon and ¼ tsp ground cloves if you would rather not fish out the whole spices, just add when you add the chilli powders

Method
First you need to brown the meat in batches.  On a fairly high heat, heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pan and add a large handful of meat - the meat needs to be in one layer and have some space around each chunk, otherwise the temperature will drop too low and the meat will stew rather than browning nicely.  Cook the first batch of meat until nicely browned then put into a bowl to the side.  Add some more oil if needed and another large handful of meat, brown this batch and repeat until all of the meat has been browned, expect this to take at least 20 minutes. If you are using mince, add all together and cook until deeply golden. Remove the meat from the pan and put to one side.

Lower the heat to medium high and to the pan add an onion and fry for 5-7 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add the garlic and cook for a minute.  Add all of the spices and cook for a further minute.  Add the tomato puree and cook for a few minutes to cook out the raw taste. If your pan gets too dry, add a couple of tbsps of coke or wine. Add the meat back into the pot and stir until covered in the tomato paste.  Add the tinned tomatoes, coffee, grated chocolate, the sugar, stock pot, cinnamon and cloves, a touch of salt and freshly ground black pepper, stir everything thoroughly. Put the lid on.

Turn the heat to low/medium for a long slow cook for at least 2 hours.  You want the meat to break down and be soft enough to cut with a spoon and the sauce deep rich and full of flavour.

20 minutes before serving taste the chilli, if it is too sharp then add another tbsp of chocolate and half a tsp of sugar and adjust the seasoning, check the taste again.  Remember, tomatoes are acidic and, there are so many different brands all with slightly different acid levels so what you need to add will vary.  Your sauce should not taste sharp so you want just enough chocolate to take off the edge. Add the kidney beans , put the lid back on and gently cook for the next 20 minutes until the beans are warmed through. 

Just before eating check the seasoning and serve.