Student food blog: Lars' slow-cooked chilli con carne

Hi there, Greetings from exam season.

Wish you were here . . . so you could suffer, trapped in the stuffy box that is the Central Library with the rest of us. If you do join me in the library, salutations from the ground floor opposite The Green Acorn Café.

I made this chilli con carne last week, so lets hope I can remember it!

Two or three weeks ago I had lunch with a friend of mine. He was like "Hey Sophie, I've been having a wee stalk of your blogs and I was wondering if you have a good chilli recipe", or something along those lines.

I was like "No bro, I do not have a particularly favourite chilli recipe. I will, however, make one up for you, name it after you and then blog about it".

So ladies and gentlemen, let me share with you my recipe for Lars' slow-cooked chilli con carne.

I wanted to do something in the slow cooker again. I still feel they are an underutilised kitchen appliance. Though be warned: They are not for the impatient or disorganised, and require you to sacrifice 20 minutes of your morning lie-in to throw everything into it and switch it on.

Fun fact of the day. Do you know why chilli and tonnes of other spices were added to meat dishes, such as chilli con carne (chilli with meat)? Well back in the day when fridges were a little absent, meats tended to go funky rather quickly. Which wasn't ideal.

Being a non-wasteful society back then, they needed a way to cover up the off tastes and flavours of the spoilt meat. What better way to do so than to add lots of chilli and cumin? Nom nom. So yes, appreciate your fridge the next time you eat chilli!

I did a bit of research to find the ideal chilli recipe. They were all about the same really, so this is hardly an original. In fact, it is more of a guideline than a recipe.

I really love the flavour of cumin so I tend to be a little generous on that front. I am also a bit liberal on the chilli front, so tame that back a bit if you're not so much of a fan.

You can use tinned kidney beans for this but I wanted to experiment with the dried variety that you find in the bulk bins. Totally up to you, they will both be soft by the end of the nine-hour cook.

I had some limp-looking vegetables hiding in my fridge. So, in true chilli con carne waste-not-want-not-style I threw them in so I didn't have to throw them out.

Haha joking. I'm a poor student - I'd eat a half-mouldy carrot if I was really hungry.

I used only 300g beef mince for this, partly because I wanted to save some for another meal and partly because I was bulking it up with so many beans that I felt I didn't really need it. You can add more meat if you want.

Right, let's get to it eh?

Lars' slow-cooked chilli con carne
Serves 5-6

300g beef mince
1 cup dried kidney beans (or 1 large can)
1 onion, roughly diced
4 cloves garlic, roughly minced
2 carrots, diced
2-3 stalks celery, diced
1 can whole corn kernels, drained
2 tins chopped tomatoes
5 Tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp beef stock powder
1 tsp chilli paste
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp cumin seeds (or 2 teaspoons cumin powder)
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cinnamon
sprinking of coriander seeds (if you have any)
1 tsp dried oregano
a good amount of salt (personal taste - add it close to the end of cooking)
a good crack of black pepper
2 Tbsp sweet chilli paste
Enough water to cover everything - 2-3 cups

To serve
Try chopped fresh coriander, sour cream and, of course, cheese, on top of some nice fluffy rice.

Break up the mince into small chunks. Throw those chunks in the slow cooker. Throw everything else in the slow cooker. Stir. Turn the slow cooker on low and walk away. Return nine hours later and consume.

I am purposely using short sentences to emphasise the ease of this preparation.

So really this is the perfect meal to make just before you migrate down to the library in the morning. Unless you are like me and get there at 7am . . .

If you want a shorter cook time just crank it up to high and leave for 4-5 hours.

If you find when you get home it needs thickening, crank it to high and leave to simmer for another hour.

Serve on rice and sprinkle with cheese and coriander, add a dollop of sour cream and you are ready to roll!

Once again, remember you can alter the spices to your personal taste and preference.

Enjoy!
Sophie