We are all familiar with the epic comfort food that is chilli con carne, so why not make it even better by baking it!
I experimented a lot when it came to making this recipe, at times my friends thought I was mad, but I even tried ingredients like coffee, mayo and even oats just to see how it changed the taste and texture of this dish.
In the end we have underneath what I most preferred. The whole button mushrooms add something quite special when you bite into them after a long bake. The turmeric has an effect which dulls the chilli spice after the initial chilli hit. It means you can have super spicy, but it dissipates and doesn’t leave your mouth burning.
Details
6
20 mins
4 hours
Print
Ingredients
800g mince beef
1 onion
1 lime
1 lemon
5 chillies – or as little or many as you like
400g kidney beans
400g sweetcorn
400g button mushrooms
4 large carrots
100g bacon lardons
800g tin chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
50g basil
1 tbsp turmeric
1 pint beef stock
50ml soy sauce
1 heaped tbsp plain flour
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/355°F/Gas 4
You’ll need an over proof casserole dish or baking pot. For this recipe I always use a cast iron baking dish. - Put the dish on the heat and add a bit of olive oil. Then add the onions chopped, garlic and start to cook for a bit
- Add the bacon to the pan and cook until the flavour is coming through.
- Add the beef and start to cook this through, keeping the mixture turning so that you get all the beef brown but not dry!
- Throw in 1 heap tablespoon of plain flour and mix through.
- Add everything else apart from the kidney beans and sweetcorn and basil.
That means the chilli, lemon, lime, carrots, mushrooms, tomato puree, tomatoes, tumeric, soy, stock. - Put in the oven with a lid on the pot, for 2 hours and then add the kidney beans and sweetcorn.
- After another 2 hours this is ready. Talk about easy! Chop the basil and sprinkle it all over the top.
- Serve with rice, spring onions, cheddar cheese, guacamole, sour cream etc.
Quick note, you can do this dish in 90 minutes if you didn’t want it to bake for so long. I you are planning on that, just add all the ingredients at stage 5 instead of leaving the kidney beans for later.
