Beef Chili

I can never have enough of a bowl of chilli. They are absolutely flavorful and resemble so much with the Indian taste that the first time I had it, I must admit, I fell for it. It's not a big deal to make it at home. Dropping in the ingredients into that pot gets done pretty fast. The wait time to get it cooked, while it slowly simmers, is what I get tired off. Because you keep on smelling the good stuff but you can't have it even though it is on your stove, in your house, in your vicinity but is still not done. But I must say, the wait is worth. Once served there is silence all over because everyone is just focusing on their bowl of chilli. When I say everyone, it includes lil J too. Yeah, my lil guy likes it too.

Have you ever been to Texas Roadhouse? I would have never thought of going into it, if I was not married to this Steak lover :). I remember, going into this restaurant once, when lil J was about 6 months. He screamed his lungs out, that we had to pack up our dinner and leave before we even settled down. The moment we got from there, he got calm too. May be because the restaurant is a bit dark , with loud music and the cowboy dance that everyone claps and cheer for, which might have made him restless. Thereafter we took him back to the same restaurant after he had turned two, and the way he was relishing his bowl of chilli as if he wanted to say "Why haven't you brought me here before? That is delicious" :) . Keeping aside all that story from my past, here is the recipe for the chilli we made at home and got over real fast. So you may wanna double up that recipe, if you guys are also a chilli fan like us.

Ingredients

1. A tbsp of olive oil
2. 4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
3. 1 1/2 cup of chopped red onion
4. 2-3 jalapeños, deseeded and sliced
5. 1 pound of ground beef/ lean beef
6. 3/4 tbsp of cumin powder
7. 3/4 tbsp of chilli powder
8. 1 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes
9. 1 1/2 cup of kidney beans (refer notes)
10. 1 1/2 cup of broth
11. Salt to taste
12. Cheddar cheese for garnishing
13. Chopped red onion for garnishing

Method

• In a large heavy bottom pan, pour the olive oil. Once hot, add the chopped garlic, chopped red onion, jalapenos and salt. Saute it for about 5 minutes on medium heat.
• Add the ground beef to it. Mash it with the back of the ladle to break/spread it out. Cook for about 5 minutes.
• Now add the chilli powder, cumin powder, tomatoes and the cooked beans and broth. Mix it all well. Bring it to a boil. Turn down the heat.
• Continue to simmer for another 45 minutes to 1 hour, while you stir occasionally, untill the chilli thickens and flavors blend in.
• Remove it from the heat and serve hot with some cheddar cheese garnished over it.

Tips

1. You could either go for canned kidney beans or may be cook it in pressure cooker for couple of whistles to just soften it before you add it into your pot of chilli.
2. Ceddar cheese and red onions are our favorite garnishing options for chilli. But when the lights were just good enough to get them pictured, I realized I was out of cheddar. So I dropped in some grated Mozzarella while I captured them. But cheddar is always the best for chilli.