Mexican food has become very popular in New Zealand. The flavour profiles and freshness make it a favourite in many households. Chilli con carne is easy to throw together and is great with rice, corn chips or served up in a wrap.
Cook onions until they are translucent but with no colour.
The recipe can be found on page 154. The recipe is super simple. You just need to sweat off the vegetables, add mince and cook until browned. Then add the herbs, spices and other flavourings. Once that’s done it’s just a case of letting the mixture simmer away for a while before adding kidney beans and then letting it have another little simmer to let all the flavours develop a little more.
The finished product is not too bad at all. It has a rich tomato flavour without overpowering the fresh capsicum so you get little pops of freshness with each bite. However I have no idea why the recipe includes oregano because the amount is so little it doesn’t have any chance of competing with the chilli.
Sour cream is a must!
The level of chilli in a dish is a very personal thing and if you aren’t a fan of spicy food you may want to use less than the suggested amount – the amount of chilli is quite generous. Serving it with sour cream was a must. Also as I was making it I couldn’t help but think adding a teaspoon of ground cumin to the recipe would give it just a little more interest. I will definitely try that in the future. I served it with rice as I realised I didn’t have any plain corn chips in the pantry and I thought having cheese flavoured corn chips would not give the chilli con carne a chance to shine.
So I would recommend this recipe but as I have said you may want to add a smaller amount of chilli initially then add more to taste. That will lessen the risk of burning the taste buds off those people who prefer less heat.
Until next time. Happy Cooking 🙂