My version of Chilli con Carne

I know everyone has their own version of this dish, but over the last year or so I've been refining mine and getting ideas from Mexican cookery books so this is a bit out of the ordinary.  First of all, I use a mixture of fresh tomato and tinned as I like the flavour better.  It doesn't have to be vine ripened or anything fancy so it doesn't cost that much more and it's better in the summer when tomatoes are cheap and plentiful.  The second difference is I roast the onions, chillies, tomatoes and garlic before using them, this intensifies the flavour really well.  Next I use a mixture of pork and beef - traditionally Mexican chilli is made with pork cubes but I prefer a mixture of pork and beef cubes.  I buy them from the butcher and mince them myself using the food processor, this way you can control how fatty the meat is.  Finally there's a lot of spices added - the recipe was originally from a Mexican chef, they know what they're doing and they do all add flavour.

You'll need a big casserole for this recipe, I always make a huge batch so I can freeze it for quick mid week meals - it's like curry, freezes really well.  You can always reduce the quantities for a smaller version though if you want!  Let me know how you make your chilli, it's always interesting to see how others do it.

Ingredients
5 medium onions
12 chillies
12 cloves garlic
1.3kg fresh tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
500g cubed beef
500g cubed pork
2 Bay leaves
1 tablespoon Vinegar
A large bunch of coriander, leaves and stalks together
teaspoon ground cinnamon
teaspoon ground cloves
2 teaspoons oregano
2 teaspoons marjoram
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 heaped teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons tomato puree
2 400g cans chopped tomatoes
2 400g cans red kidney beans

Method
Heat the oven to 220°C Peel and quarter the onions, top and tail the chillis,, crush and peel the garlic cloves and quarter the tomatoes.  Put them into a large baking tray lined with foil, add 1 tablespoon oil and a teaspoon of salt and bake until they are browned, 30-40 mins.  It should eventually look something like this:

While this is baking, make the minced meat in the processor, then add the tablespoon of vinegar and another teaspoon of salt.  Now heat the remaining tablespoon of oil in the casserole, add the meat and brown it all over.  If there's a lot of water in the meat at this stage, keep cooking it until all the water has evaporated.  Keep this warm if the tomato mixture isn't ready by this stage.

Back with the tomato mixture, take it out of the oven once browned and leave it to cool slightly,  Now add three quarters of the mixture, cooking juices and all, to the food processor and blend until it's chopped but still chunky and add it to the meat.  Finally add the last quarter to the processor and add the coriander leaves and stalks and process until smooth.  Add this to the meat and tomato mixture and turn the heat to full.  Now add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil, stir well then turn the heat down and cook at a high simmer to reduce the mixture down to the thickness you desire, it usually takes me 1-2 hours.

Once it's cooked, serve with boiled rice and a salsa or why not try my avocado and cucumber guacamole?