My Arizona/Southwest Chili

I'm posting this only because family and friends always beg me (salivating, with eating utensils in hand, banging on the table demanding, summer camp style "Chili !!!! Chili !!!! Chili !!!!") to cook it.

Which I do quite willingly. It's a labour of love


Ingredients:

4 cans chili/kidney beans (drained)
3 lbs cheap cut of steak (don't worry, it WILL tenderize, meat always does when cooked over low temps for hours)

Or...alternatively, if money is an issue, try substituting 1/2 of the steak for turkey breast. Just as yummy, trust me. I've used both options.

4 tablespoons chili powder
3 tablespoons cumin
4 tablespoons dried oregano (although fresh is definitely better, but use twice as much, since dried is more potent)
2 teaspoons salt (or to taste. you'll probably adjust towards the end of cooking).

1 large green bell pepper
1 extra large sweet onion (red or walla walla, or any of the sweets, if you can't find these in your area, (as I couldn't in England), just use plain yellow onion)

15 tomatoes, chopped and cored

3 Jalapenos (or less if you want a mild chili)

3 large garlic cloves, minced

1 can beer (a stout, such as Guiness tastes best)


Ok...here's the quickest and easiest way to a kick-ass bowl of chili:

Prepare and chop all ingredients beforehand and place in individual bowls.

Chop and brown your steak and turkey in 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Set aside.

In the biggest pot/pan you can find (think Big- soup pot), saute, green peppers, garlic, and onion for around 7 minutes over medium-high heat.

Add steak/turkey mix and the rest of the ingredients and stir REAL #in' good.

Put the heat at med-low and let simmer for like 3 hours, stirring every half hour or so to prevent burning on the bottom of the pan. Oh, and leave the lid askew as well, too. It's important. If you don't, your chili will be too watery. It needs air to evaporate the liquid a little.

When it's done, add fresh grated cheese and cornbread on the side and voila...you've got a killer dinner that will provide seconds for days to come (nice lunches for work).

It's not as complicated as it sounds either. I've made this gazillions of times and once you got it cooking, no worries

Enjoy !!!

Throw in habaneros in place of your jalapenos, ya got me.

i use two cans of black beans and two can of kidney beans (black beans dont hold up AS well but adds variety to the pot)

flank steak is usually pretty good, pretty cheap, lean in fat and works well with long simmering.

but 15 tomatoes... i use a small can of tomato paste...its like i'm not using tomatoes at all! (i like a bold chili and tomatoes seem to cut the flavor IMO)

and i use a whole bulb of garlic AT THE MINIMUM...i'm a garlic freak. i also use white onion. its stronger in flavor and really packs a punch.

with my chili you'd think a grenade went off in your mouth. and of course the longer it simmers the hotter it gets!

i have a whole book of chili recipes...

Uh oh...better watch out or BTS will be hosting a chili cook-off soon

I like the idea of the black beans, I think I'll try those next time. And yes..I usually put in TONS of garlic as well. You can never have enough.

And yes, I do use lots of tomatoes and I'll tell you why. I'm all about freshness and I use fresh veggies and herbs whenever possible. Dried herbs and tomato paste just leave me cold. I like all those tomatoes because they cook down. It's not as much as it sounds like really. Plus you end up with a really nice tomato-ey flavour.

And I tend to use a goodly amount of Jalapenos too. My chili usually ends up in the medium-hot range. It all depends really. It's a crapshoot when buying peppers. All batches are different and you never know for sure if you're gonna get mild ones or ones that are gonna rip the skin off the inside of your mouth, and these vary even among the same pepper too.

But NO...I won't touch Habaneros. On a scale of 1-10, they're a ten and I love spicy but will NOT go there.