The Tondo Chili Con Carne Massacre

Chili con carne is my favorite American dish, though the closest thing to an authentic American chili that I've ever tasted was the P90.00 cup of chili at Wendy's.


Chili con carne is basically a Mexican influenced spicy stew containing meat, chili peppers, tomatoes, herbs and spices. Often, beans are added but not all the time. And because I don't know how the f*** a real chili tastes like, I let my culinary imagination run a little wild, hence, this version of chili. To a varying degree, no chili I cook tastes alike till I came up with this recipe. I always bring this to barkada potlock parties ever since. 

Ladies and gents, the massacred version of an American classic.

Chili Con Carne

INGREDIENTS

500 g lean ground beef
400 g can tomatoes, chopped
1 large onion chopped
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
1 heap tspn cayenne pepper
1 tspn paprika
1 tspn cumin
1/2 tspn dried marjoram
1 tspn ground szechuan peppercorns
1 1/2 tspn brown sugar
1 tbsp tomato paste
400 g can red kidney beans 
1 tspn tablea powder
1 cup dark beer (I used SMB Cerveza Negra, mahal ang Guinness)
3 cups my "awesome" stock, bleh stock or water won't cut it
soy sauce to taste
3 tbsp cooking oil
green onion, chopped (as garnish)

METHOD

1. Brown the meat in sauce pan. Do not overcrowd the pan or you'll end up with watery beef, not brown. After doing so, set aside the meat.
2. In the same sauce pan, saute the onion and garlic in oil till fragrant.
3. Saute celery, red and green bell peppers in the same pan. 
4. Add cayenne, paprika, cumin, marjoram szechuan peppercorns, tablea and sugar.
5. Put the meat back in to the sauce pan.
6. Pour the dark beer, 1 cup of the "awesome" stock,  tomatoes, tomato paste and kidney beans. Simmer till liquid is reduced to a third.

7. Add the "awesome" stock and continue simmering till liquid is reduced in half. 
8. Season with soy sauce.
7. Let the mixture simmer over low heat, continuously stirring the mixture. You want the meat to be broken down so much that it blends to the sauce.
9. Serve with white rice and top it with chopped green onions.  

THINGS OF NOTE

- This is really a massacre of the chili con carne recipe especially to those people who know the real taste of authentic Texan chili so violent reactions against the dish will not be entertained.
- I made this with steamed rice in mind. If you want it to be a stand-alone dish and soupier, feel free to adjust the liquid
- Adding dried savory will give the dish a whole new different complementing flavor... that is if you're not yet satisfied with the number of spices used in this dish. 
- Akala ninyo ang dali lutuin eh noh?