Chilli-Con-Carne Recipe – “Chipotle-Con-Carne” (AKA C3)

This Chilli-Con-Carne recipe was born from the idea that I really liked the taste of chipotle but rarely had it outside of various sauces in my cupboard. So, I decided to change that with another slow cooked chilli recipe.

It’s also an ideal meal to make for both my family and myself as it isn’t that hot but still has lots of excellent chilli flavouring.

Now, full disclosure – This isn’t technically *my* own work from scratch, I sort of based it on Dan Mays “The Seriously Tasty Traditional Texas Chilli” from “The Red Hot Chilli Cookbook“.

I’ve made changes for slow cooking and for my own personal preference. And this is a lot, lot milder and smokier to concentrate and enhance on the Chipotle flavour.

The ingredients for this one are all readily / mostly available in UK Supermarkets, though you might need to visit more than one to get them all, to this end I’ve noted in brackets where I normally find these things. You of course free to use them from where ever you can find them.

Unusually for me, I use a hot sauce when I’m cooking this. I favour Devon Chilli Mans Gibbering Smoke as it’s one of my favourites, (oh, God, is it!) but I’ve made it other more generic ones from the Supermarket and not been disappointed. I’ll also switch out the Tomato Puree for Chipotle Ketchup as well, just to pack the flavour in!

As always, feel free to have a play with the amounts of each ingredients to your own tastes, I quite often do and you might find something better that works for you. When I say “a teaspoon” of something then you decide what that is.

I quite often pour my spices over the top of the pan onto the teaspoon which means that some will also go into the pan so it’s probably a little bit more.

Also, different supermarkets have different sized jars of spices, some are 25g, some are 35g, just use the jar / bottle if you wish – There are no hard and fast rules to any of my recipes.

What you’ll need:

1.  1.5lb Diced Beef Steak
2. 2 Large Onions
3. 6 Cloves of Smoked Garlic (Morrisons)
4. 1 Red Pepper
5. 1 Yellow Bell Pepper
6. 800g Chopped Tomatoes (Normally 2 cans)
7. Vegetable Oil
8. Bottle of Chipotle Hot Sauce (Devon Chilli Man, Tesco, Asda or Morrisons)
9. Tomato Puree (or Chipotle Ketchup) (Morrisons for the Ketchup)
10. Pack of Jalapeno Chillies (Asda or Morrisons) (Use Green Chillies if you can’t get Jalapeno)
11. 25g of Ancho Chilli (or flakes) (Tesco)
12. 25g of Chipotle Chilli (or flakes) (Morrisons)
13. Smoked Paprika Powder (Tesco)
14. Dried Oregano
15. Kidney Beans
16. Sea Salt
17. White Pepper
18. Black Pepper

We’re going to be slow cooking this one, so – I’d advise that you make this in two sessions, we went to be throwing some of the vegetables in later on in the day to avoid them getting to mushy!

Prep – Part One:

1. Finely chop the Onions
2. Finely chop the Garlic

Method:

1. Put the diced onions, chopped garlic and two tablespoons of Vegetable Oil into a large pan or wok (my slow cooker lets me take the metal “crock” part out which I use to fry)
   
2. Fry off until the onions are soft and golden, be careful not to burn them
3. Add both of the Ancho and Chipotle flakes to the pan and stir in
4. Once the flakes have been well mixed in it’s time to add the Diced Beef, cook until sealed
5. Once you’re happy it’s ready, it’s time to add the Hot Sauce, I use four tablespoons worth which roughly translates as half of the bottle 😉 – Stir this in and let it cook for a couple of minutes.
   
6. Add the Chopped Tomatoes.
7. Add 2 tablespoons of Tomato Puree (Or Chipotle Ketchup)
8. Add 6 teaspoons of Smoked Paprika
9. Add 3 teaspoons of Oregano
10. Add 3 teaspoons of White Pepper
11. Add a good sprinkle of Sea Salt
12. Add a good sprinkle of Black Pepper (Fresh ground is best)
13. Give it all a good stir in
    

And that’s it for now, you need to transfer all of this to a Slow Cooker. If you’re like me you can simply put the pan back into the Slow Cooker, or if you’re transferring it from a pan then do your best to get it all in there so you don’t lose anything.

I cook this on the low setting, but we’re not done with it yet – Come back in about 6 or 7 hours.

Back already? Blimey, that went quick!!

Ok then, back to it;

Prep – Part Two:

1. Roughly chop the Red Bell Pepper
2. Roughly chop the Yellow Bell Pepper
3. Roughly chop the Jalapeno’s
   
4. Bung it all in the pan and, wait for a few more hours, we’ll call it two…
5. AND, DONE!

I serve this with rice, soured cream and a sprinkle of cheese;

Well, I say a “sprinkle of cheese”…

Ridiculously easy, but also ridiculously tasty!

This one is a firm family favourite, and even though it’s not a hot one, I’ve got to say I’m not disappointed when I’m asked to make it.

If you do want to give it a bit of a kick then Devon Chilli Man also does an “XXX” version of his Gibbering Smoke, and I’ve found Arbol Chilli Flakes in supermarkets which will replace the Ancho flakes, neither will make the world end for anyone but will give it a little something extra.

If you do make this then please do let me know in the comments what you think of it, I’m also interested to know what people think.

Enjoy!