Starting what I think may become a theme, I have decided my first recipe should be my signature Chilli. I make no claims about authenticity, however I do know it’s extremely tasty.

Serves: 4 (generously).

Ingredients

• 1kg of minced beef
• 3 medium sized onions
• 2 bell peppers
• 1 Scotch Bonnet
• 3 large cloves of garlic
• 2 tins of chopped or peeled tomato
• 1 tin of kidney beans
• 1lt cafetiere of coffee
• Cumin (Jeera) powder
• Hot Chocolate powder
• 3tsp of Demerara Sugar
• 2 mugs full of rice

Method

There are two things to note at this point: this recipe contains no oil and it does not use any salt. The salt I recommend people can add to taste once served, and the fat from the beef is used for frying the veg.

Put the minced beef in a large-bottomed pan. This should be fried on a medium heat until it has just about turned entirely brown. This should be stirred periodically to get it evenly fried all over and to make sure you do not burn the beef.

While this is frying, start chopping your onions, peppers and chilli. The onions should be diced, the peppers should be cut into strips and the scotch bonnet should be chopped up as finely as possible. Get the cloves of garlic and peel them ready for crushing. At this point also make a cafetiere of freshly ground coffee. Leave that to brew while you finish the frying.

When the mince has just turned brown, add the onions, peppers and chilli. Also crush the garlic straight into the pan, and mix it all in.

Now add some hot chocolate and jeera powder. I have not put a quantity because I just free-pour it. However, I recommend being incredibly generous. Don’t just give a little sprinkle and think “that will be fine”, because a chilli is a big, powerful dish you need to be liberal with it and add a lot of both. Also add the 3tsp of Demerara sugar.

Keep frying until the onion is soft and translucent.

Once fully fried, turn down the heat and add two cans of tomato. Try not to get any of the “tomato with x” cans, as you don’t want any contamination of the flavour. If you are using peeled tomato, make sure you chop it up with the spoon when you mix. Also open your can of kidney beans, drain the water and then throw them in.

Now plunge your cafetiere of coffee, and pour about half of it in.

With the other half of coffee, pour yourself a mug and drink it.

Once you’ve had a swig, stir your chilli. There will be plenty of liquid in there, but don’t worry about that as we will reduce it later. Put a lid on the pan and allow it to simmer on a low heat for at least 20 minutes (the longer the better really), stirring periodically.

Once it has been simmering for a bit, have a taste of it. At this point, if it doesn’t taste dark enough, add some extra chocolate powder, and if it doesn’t taste enough of Jeera, add some more Jeera powder. Now remove the lid, increase the heat slightly and allow the liquid to reduce. There should be no visible liquid, and be quite thick. This will make the taste more concentrated.

Finally wash 2 mugs of rice and boil it. Make sure that you don’t over boil the rice, as soon as the rice doesn’t crunch when you chew it, then it is done. Strain and serve.
Recommended drink: BrewDog 5am Saint

Enjoy!