The Chili Con Carne Chronicles!

A few years back I remember eating the first Chimichanga I ate in Utah, I was with a friend, it was a very cold night (as I have never experienced warm weather in Park City as I was there in the winter) I don't know what we did prior to that but our first plan was to eat at a Japanese restaurant. the restaurant was closed and right beside it was a Mexican restaurant that only needed a spotlight and a choir of angels at the background singing aaaaahs as we did not expect the food their to be AHmaaazing! everything you want was in their! meat, chili, cheese, cheese, chili and more cheese! I will always remember that day as i found respect and a seriously dangerous craving for Mexican food.

When i got back to Manila, I never found a Mexican restaurant that was authentic and worth of money. So what better way to flush that craving? well make it your own i say! Googling and googling and googling i ended up 2 hours straight looking at pictures of Chimichangas and quesadillas! that i guess is what you call food porn as i kinda snapped out of it and felt quite embarrassed! Then I realized I had to make a bad ass chili as it was the "mother sauce" of some of the best Mexican food and the center of one of my favorite foods the Chimichanga (i just love saying that word maybe because of Kick Buttowski, a Disney channel program i used to watch. yes i love cartoons! thoughts on Phineas and Ferb? anyone? no? yes??) So I remember doing it once back when I was an intern and we had hot dogs and chili for our staff meal. And i only needed to know once as I got the taste i wanted to achieve. Chili is usually made with a lot of peppers (well duh it is chili after all) and monterey jack, cheddar or even mozzarella cheese. This chili might not be 100% authentic but its close to what you are familiar with. You can use it with a lot of things like sloppy joes, pizzas, bread fillings, salsas even on its own delish! I can say this is a fusion! PIN-MEX chili! So try it out the recipe calls for:

1/2 lb. lean ground beef

1 medium sized onion, white, diced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

4 tomatoes, roughly chopped

1 tsp of soy sauce or (knorr seasoning or magic savor! shortcut! heehee)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder (add 1 more tsp for mildly hot and for extra hot 1 1/2)

1 1/2 tsp paprika

1 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1 medium sized bell pepper, cubed
2 small green chilies, minced

1 can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 cube of beef bouillon (or can use the pinoy alternative the knorr cube, hella pinoy!)

300ml tomato sauce

200ml water

3 tablespoons roughly chopped coriander leaves (flat parsley)

salt and pepper to taste

cheddar cheese, lots of it! you can also use mozarella or mild cheddar. I'm using again a pinoy commercial cheese which is quick melt or your Ques-o or Eden cheese will do!

So first off in heat a medium skillet of stock pot or cauldron (if you have one!) and saute the ground beef. By this were rendering the fat, as if we dont we'll just get this greasy chili, but a great lip gloss (not!) once the beef is slightly browned take it out and drain the oil. leave some oil maybe about 10 ml of and saute your onions in it then the garlic, once the onions are a bit translucent you can add your diced tomatoes then bring back in the beef.

now once you got your beef in add the tomato sauce in together with your cumin, soy sauce, chili powder, paprika, red bell pepper, green chili and cayenne. Stir it til everythings is well incorporated. add the 100 ml water.

So were simmering this on low heat, you can cover it with aluminum foil or just with the lid. 5-10 mins in you can add the bouillon cube (knorr cube) stir then simmer for  20-25 mins. from time to time check on it and stir it so the bottom doesn't burn, then add the remaining water. taste the chili and adjust the saltiness of it. if too salty, you can just add water and a bit of sugar dont worry, thats the good part of cooking you can fix mistakes not like baking!. 30-35 mins check it out, give it a good stir then add the kidney beans, let it simmer for 15 mins. at this time your chili should be a bit thicker now, you'd notice it as you could see more of the ground beef and there no layer of liquid on top of it. One last stir and take it off the heat. add the coriander leave and also add some cheese to it as its still piping hot you would see the cheese just melt into it!

It should look somehow like this:

The more cheese the merrier!

Add more cheese for garnish and some coriander leaves for some fancy shmancy looking chili!

Close up of it! I like mine with a lot of kidney beans! But remember it is the Musical fruit, the more you eat the more  yah!

I am telling you this is dope! Drippin! Randys dawg or homie! Whatever swag slang you can think of! Everything is available at a grocery near you *salesman blink!

And thats my chili! All you need is a mariachi band while eating this (okay am i stereotyping enough. sarreehhh i'll STAHP)

But let me know if you'd tried it! I loooove this chili might as well make it now! Toodles!

xxx