Sunday, November 18, 2007

Chili


Mmm, chili. As some of my coworkers know because they see me bringing it to my desk often, I love chili! When my sisters and I were kids, our mom would make a chili recipe that didn't have tomatoes in it because we were picky and didn't like to have chunks of tomato in our food. I think the base of hers was tomato juice and tomato paste. So for a long time I have used the chili recipe off of the can of tomato juice, but decided recently that I'd like to try to find a different recipe that is more like what they serve at the cafeteria at work. It's thicker and chunkier... less soupy. This was a recipe I found on recipezaar.com (my new favorite recipe site) and it was really tasty. The flavor was actually really similar to my mom's chili.
(By the way, if the measurements seem a little strange (such as "1/2 can") it's because I scaled it down to have fewer servings than what was originally called for.)
1 pound ground beef
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 can tomato sauce
1/2 can tomato paste
1/2 (15 ounce) can tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 can chili beans
1. Saute meat, onions and garlic until done.
2. Add remaining ingredients and simmer for 2 hours.
I also made a quick bread that you can see in the picture but it was nothing spectacular.
When I was searching for the chili recipe, I found another one that I'd also really like to try someday. It had some unconventional ingredients (coffee? brown sugar?) but got a lot of rave reviews. I decided to go with that first recipe instead because it seemed like a safer bet. I also someday would like to try Bruin's chili recipe, which Sue gave me after I tasted it at their Halloween party, but since that one makes enough to feed an army I'm saving it for a special occasion, I guess.
Here is that second recipe:
1 teaspoon oil
1 onion, chopped
1-1/2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pound lean ground beef
3/8 pound beef sirloin, cubed
1/2 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
1/2 can dark beer
1/2 cup strong coffee
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 can beef broth
1/4 cup brown sugar
1-3/4 tablespoons chili sauce
1/2 tablespoon cumin
1/2 tablespoon cocoa
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans
2 chili peppers, chopped
1. Heat oil.
2. Cook onions, garlic and meat until brown.
3. Add tomatoes, beer, coffee, tomato paste and beef broth.
4. Add spices. Stir in 1 can of kidney beans and peppers.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for 1-1/2 hours.
6. Add remaining can of kidney beans and simmer for another 3o minutes.

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