This is one of my most asked for recipes. I make it during the winter months and have won the chili cook-off for our block. Yeah, not a big deal, but, since then, I have not entered, since I figured I’d win every year. I’ll add more pictures, the next time I make this, including some step-by-step directions.
The reasoning behind the chocolate, cinnamon and coffee is the Mexican mole sauces often contain these ingredients. These are my “secret ingredients”.
Ingredients
- Crushed tomatoes
- Tomato sauce
- Tomato paste
- Vegetable oil, I prefer olive
- beef, depends on how long you cook it, and the texture you prefer. ground beef if short cooking time. Chili (coarse) grind for longer cooking times, and diced beef for longer cooking times. I prefer lean cuts, but, if fat is not a concern, then go for a mix of chuck, sirloin and round
- Worcestershire
- chili powder – I prefer to freshly grind dried peppers, but, you can get it out of a bottle too. I tend to do a variety of chipotle, ancho, arbol, guajillo.
- chipotle in adobo sauce
- Salt
- Pepper (fresh ground)
- Smoked paprika
- Unsweetened cocoa powder (do not used a sweetened cocoa powder, you’ll ruin the batch)
- coffee – brewed
- cinnamon – just a dash, a little goes a long way
- cumin (from whole seeds that are freshly ground to a powder)
- garlic, fresh if possible; I use the kind that comes in a tube
- onion, my family are not big onion eaters, so I use a box grater to get it to a pulpy state, adding the onion juice and the pulp
Optional Ingredients:
- Beans – I typically use black beans from a can, drained. Purists can skip this
- corn, frozen – not a lot, more for color than anything
- Sour cream for topping
- cheese, shredded – Mexican or cheddar or cheddar jack
- onions, diced
Directions
- Heat a large pot, or dutch oven, add some oil
- Brown the beef, in batches, if it’s a large pot. Remove the beef from the pot or dutch oven and reserve.
- Add a bit more oil, and brown the onion and garlic
- Add the tomato products, Worcestershire, and spices
- Bring to a simmer at least, and taste.
- Add at least one finely chopped chipotle in adobo sauce, more if you like spicy chili
- Add coffee
- Simmer for as long as you can; it’s all cooked at this point, but, the ingredients don’t really meld much before an hour. All afternoon is what I strive for, but, I may “taste test” a bit throughout the afternoon.
- Before serving decide if you want the traditional “red” or you want to add the beans and corn. Make sure the chili comes back up to heat before serving
- For service, put out the sour cream, cheese, onions, and maybe a sprig or two of cilantro if you want to dress it up a bit.
Enjoy!
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