Nick's Awesome Chilli

Today I bestow upon you the most powerful weapon in my geek fat busting arsenal - my sacred chilli recipe. This thing is just plain awesome. I spent a good few years perfecting the taste, and then when I started the whole fitness thing I adapted it to be low fat and healthy too.

You have to try this recipe at least once...

Headline Statistics

• Makes 5 portions
• 340 calories per portion
• 20 mins prep. time, 90 mins cooking time
• Eat by itself, or serve with rice or pasta

Ingredients

• 2 Onions, chopped
• 1 400g can red kidney beans, drained 
• 1 400g can chopped tomatoes, drained 
• 100g tomato puree
• 500g lean beef mince (hamburger meat for Americans)
• 2 Knorr beef stock cubes (or the best stock cubes you can find) 
• 5 fresh chopped chillis
• 2 teaspoons hot chilli powder 
• 1 teaspoon fresh chopped ginger 
• 1 teaspoon fresh crushed garlic 
• 2 heaped teaspoons ground cumin 
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric 
• 3 bell peppers, roughly chopped 
• 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

Method

• Fry the chopped onions in the oil on a medium heat for 5 mins to soften them 
• Add cumin, turmeric, chilli powder, fresh chilli, garlic and ginger and stir up 
• Add kidney beans and stir up 
• Add beef mince, stirring it in until browned 
• Add chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, bell peppers and stock cubes (crumbled into small pieces)
• Pour in a pint of cold water and stir up (it now looks like a murky watery soup. That's ok) 
• Leave to simmer on a very low heat for at least 90 mins and until it starts to thicken

Notes

• If it is not thick enough for you after 90 mins, cook longer 
• If you want it to taste even better, add more water and cook for longer 
• If low calorie is less important, add more oil at the start
• Really try to get those Knorr stock cubes, they are so much better than anything else
• Save time wit the fresh chilli, ginger and garlic by using fresh preserved ingredients. The brand I use is "Very Lazy"