Way back in April, when I visited the Real Food Festival, I came across Chillipepper Pete and their awesome range of dried chillis. There was such a variety, I found it difficult to choose and ended-up coming away with a huge variety pack containing 17 different types of chilli. The mix also includes the reputedly hottest in the world, the Naga jolokia, I don’t know what I’m going to do with that one yet!

I used four types of chilli in this recipe, the Mexican holy trinity of ancho, mulato and pasilla and a cayenne for a little extra heat. I’ve heard that adding a little chocolate adds depth of flavour, so I threw some of that in too.

Chilli con carne
Serves 4-6

700g lean beef mince
1 large onion, finely chopped
2/3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Dried chillis; ancho, mulato, pasilla, cayenne; as much or as little as you like, I used half of each.
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin kidney beans
2 tbspn ground coriander
2 tbspn ground cumin
1 tbspn tomato puree
1 pint beef stock
2 squares of Green & Black’s 70% dark chocolate
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

Soak the dried chillis in hot water for about 20 mins, (reserve about 100ml of the soaking water) then chop finely.

Brown the mince in some olive oil and remove from the pan.

Fry the onions and garlic, in the pan used to brown the mince, until softened.

Add the spices, chillis and tomato puree to the onions and fry together for a 2-3 minutes.

Mix in the tomatoes, beef stock and reserved chilli water, stir well and bring everything to the boil.

Cover the pan and leave to simmer gently for 1 hour.

After an hour, taste for seasoning, add the kidney beans and chocolate, mix well and leave to simmer, uncovered for 30 min.  If the chilli con carne is still very liquid at this stage, simmer for longer; if it reduces and thickens too much, add some water.

When it’s reached the consistency you prefer, remove from the heat and serve with rice and a little soured cream.

The dried chillis really added their own flavours and a good amount of warmth to the dish. I didn’t use any fresh chillis but I didn’t miss them either, the smoky, deep flavour from the dried chillis was just perfect. As for the chocolate, it definitely added a little something, I’ll be using it again.

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