Chilli con carne

Chilli is a great Mexican family dinner and tastes great served with brown rice and grated cheese, although my brother loves his in taco shells. In this recipe, you can add a small (about the size of a thumb) piece of dark chocolate instead of the sugar which adds more depth. And I often freeze chilli and defrost about a day before cooking. Just put it in a freezer bag and it will last for a couple of months for a quick midweek dinner!

Ingredients -
1 tbsp oil
1 large onion, diced
1 red pepper (optional) 
2 garlic cloves, peeled
1 heaped tsp hot chilli powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp ground cumin
500g lean minced beef
1 beef stock cube
400g can chopped tomatoes
1/2tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 or 2 cans of red kidney beans


Cheese, rice, taco shells and sour cream to serve.


1. Heat some oil in a pan and fry the onions until soft. Add the garlic, red pepper, chilli, paprika and cumin. Stir and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Brown the mince on a high heat. Once fully browned, crumble a stock cube into the mix. Then add a can of chopped tomatoes and the marjoram and sugar, salt and pepper. Then squirt some tomato puree and stir.
3. Simmer gently, bring it to the boil and put a lid on the pan. Turn down the heat until bubbling and leave for around 20minutes. If it needs loosening up, add up to 1/2 pint of hot water. Then add the drained kidney beans and bubble in the sauce.  Season again if it needs it. 
4. Leave to cool and refrigerate if leaving it for the next day or leave on the hob if serving later that day. Reheat until boiling and serve with rice.