Shadicats’ Chili Recipe
Shadicats’ Chili Recipe
Story time: At one time, Shadicats was a vegetarian missing out on a lot of the good foods out there until one day a friends mother gave her a chili recipe to hide the awful bland flavour of tofu. Through the years, as with any good recipe, it morphed and changed into something even better. Shadicats came back to eating meat after a 15 year hiatus and reworked her veggie chili into a work of art. And that is how this recipe was born.
Equipment needed:
- a fry pan
- a big pot
- can opener
- a medium size Tupperware
Spices needed:
- paprika
- onion powder
- garlic powder
- 4 garlic cloves pressed
- salt
- white pepper (or black or both)
- chili powder (if you have two different kinds, you can mix together for more unique taste)
- oregano
- cumin
- brown sugar
- chili flakes
- beef granules (in Canada, you are more likely to see this as beef bouillon found usually in the soup aisle – concentrated beef flavouring)
Food stuff needed:
- hot sauce
- bean medley
- red kidney beans
- dice tomatoes
- tomato sauce
- ground beef (or your choice meat; chicken, steak, turkey whatever you like)
- a small onion (diced)
Spice Mixes
1st round of spices (cook for 2 hours)
1 tbsp paprika
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp chili powder
1 package beef granules
4 cloves garlic (pressed)
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp cumin
1 tsp brown sugar (sprinkled evenly)
2nd round of spices (cook for additional 30 minutes … longer and the flavours wane)
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp garlic powder
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp chili powder
1 whole cooking onion diced (optional)
1 tbsp brown sugar (sprinkled evenly)
1 tsp pepper (white or black or both)
1 tbsp chili flakes (optional)
hot sauce to taste (optional)
Recipe
Pre-cook the ground beef (no seasonings added here as you usually drain all off.) Master chili cooks often rinse the cooked ground beef after cooking to ensure no greasy fatty goodness can ruin the chili (helps if you are watching calories and fat intake). I’m of the mind, a little grease flavour taste good, so I do not risen it but if you are looking out for your heart and waistline, please rinse with warm or hot water and drain.
While the ground beef is cooking, open the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes into the big pot. Leave pot at medium to simmer a little while you open the beans. RINSE THE BEANS. Both the red kidney beans and bean medley. (Short Story Time: Ever eat chili and you know after are a certain amount of time, your bowels do this funny thing and then you know you’ll be in the bathroom for a little while. Rinse the beans will cut back on this.) Rinse the beans will also reduce the sodium, which your future self will thank (not that it will make up for the fact you didn’t rinse the ground beef). After rinsing the beans put them in the tomato mix. (It is tomato soup until you add the spices.)
Once ground beef is cook, drained, also put that in the tomato mix – it is spices time. (See, I avoid the word play.)
Mix the 1st round of spice in a Tupperware contained, put lid on and give it a little shake. Do a quick salsa dance around the kitchen and then dump it into the tomato soup mix you got going on in the pot. Give it a quick stir, leave on low for two hours.
After 2 hours, mix the 2nd round of spices in Tupperware; this time do a cha-cha dance around the kitchen. Dump in the spices, give it a little mix and then leave for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes are up, voila, it is ready to serve.
ENJOY!