Beef stew?
Roast beef?
Chili! I have a pantry full of dried chiles that should be used.
Okay... Chili it is!
There are a couple ways to make chili with dried chiles.
1. Soak the chiles and make a mash.
2. Toast and grind to make a chili powder.
I've tried the soak method and was not thrilled with the results.
This time I'll grind my own chili powder.
The Chiles
From top down...
2 New Mexico Chiles
1 Guajillo
1 California Chile
1 Ancho
The chilies were stemmed and seeded.
Cut into smaller pieces and toasted under the broiler with 1 tsp of cumin seeds.
Total toasting time was about 1 minutes. Remember to give the pan a shake to move stuff around.
I was worried that the toasting chiles would be eye-watering noxious, but the chiles gave off a sweet, toasty, raisiny aroma.
The toasted pieces went into a coffee grinder to form the powder.
Chili
The fixins'
3 lbs Beef Bottom Round Roast, trim off fat cap and cube (about 4 or 5 cups)
1/2 Onion, coarse chop
2 Garlic cloves, coarse chop
1/2 C Grape Tomatoes, halved
1 Celery Stalk, coarse chopped (Next time I'll leave it out).
2T Chili Powder
1/2 C Chicken Stock (That's just what I had)
1/2 tsp Oregano, dried
1/2 tsp Basil, dried
1 bay leaf
Salt and Pepper to taste
Brown the beef... To flour or not to flour. I decided not to flour. I wanted to save time.
Add veggies and chicken stock. I got bored with browning the beef so I just browned one side and tossed in the rest of the ingredients. :-)
Add the chili powder, oregano, basil, bay leaf and stock... Cover and simmer for about 2 hours.
The finished chili.
Chili up!
I tried toasting a taco shell in the oven... which fell through the grate and caught fire. lol!
I have pita bread instead.
The chili topped with onions and cheese.
Flavor... Not bad. Not extremely hot, but has a mild chili flavor. I think the cumin adds the flavor.
Beef still has some texture, not dry and stringy.
Where's the beans?
I didn't have any in the house.
Overall, I think it's a success for an improvised recipe.
6 comments:
Made my mouth water just looking at your finished dish.
Great job!
:)
Thank you!
I really haven't had much luck using dried chiles, but I think I lucked out on the chili powder this time.
I'll freeze some for you. :-)
Of course, I can make a fresh batch, but I can't guarantee how it will turn out the second time around... lol!
The finished chilli looks perfect, I know that many Asian cooks use powered chillies with good results, I have used soaked chillies a few times with some success it was a matter of grinding with into a paste. The heat seems to go out of them.
Audax,
Thanks for the complement.
For me when I make chile paste, the paste seems to have a muddy off-flavor. I guess I need to try different variations to obtain the flavor I like.
your chili makes me hungry!!! congrats!!!
Iris,
Thank you for the comment!
Much to my surprise the chili did turn out nicely. :-)
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