In order to celebrate Cinco de Mayo correctly you would need a good portion of chili con carne, of course! This recipe combines Mexican flavors with a Spanish twist. One of the weird ingredients is coffee! But trust us, it works!
Ingredients for Chili con Carne for 8-10 Servings
- A splash of olive oil – aceite de oliva
- 1 kg (2 lbs.) of ground beef – carne de vacuno, picado
- 3 raw chorizo sausages – chorizos
- 2 onions – cebollas
- 5 cloves of garlic- dientes de ajo
- 2 cinnamon stick – camitas de canela
- 1/2 l (2 1/2 cups) of freshly brewed coffee – café
- 400 g (1 lbs) of tomato paste – tomate doble concentrado
- 1 tablespoon of coriander seeds – semillas de cilantro
- 1 tablespoon of oregano – orégano
- 3 tablespoons of brown sugar – azúcar moreno
- sea salt – sal marina
- ground black pepper – pimienta negra
- 10 fresh green chillies – pimientos picante verde
- 400 g (1 lbs.) of chickpeas or kidney beans – garbanzos
Preheat the oven to 150 ºC.
Finely chop the onion and garlic and soften them in olive oil. Fry the ground beef and chorizo in batches. When all are browned, onions and ground beef into a Dutch oven. Add coffee, tomato paste, and cinnamon sticks and put into the oven for 2 hours. If you have some leftover tomatoes you can throw them in as well. We did.
While the stew is cooking in the oven, make chili paste by combining toasted coriander seeds and 1 or 2 chilies (depending on how spicy you want the chili stew to be), oregano, and brown sugar in a mortar. When the structure seems paste-like, set it aside to wait for the stew.
After 2 hours of cooking add the chili paste, chickpeas, a pinch of salt, and black pepper and stir carefully. Check the taste and season with brown sugar, chili, salt, and pepper, if needed. When the flavor is right, garnish the dish with the rest of the chilies and put the pot back into the oven for 20 minutes without a lid.
Serve with nacho chips, salsa, and grated mozzarella.
