Originally Posted by
Just Dahlia
Chili recipe, please:D
Ok, here goes. This is my own made up recipe from years of cooking.
1 pound ground Angus meat 86%
1 big can crushed tomatoes - DiFratelli's is best
1 big can whole tomatoes - DiFratelli's is best
1 big white onion
1 big green pepper
1 big sweet red pepper
Chili powder
1/2 small can tomato paste
1 cup water
1 big can red kidney beans
1 big can light red kidney beans or pinto beans
I always double this recipe as I do two crock pots at once otherwise I don't have any chili to put away as my sonny eats it all and also since I only use 1/2 small can of tomato paste I don't waste the other half of the can of paste!
Anyway, I put the ground meat in the crock pot with the water and the lid on set on high. When the meat is thoroughly cooked I break it up into little pieces. I do not drain out any grease as the grease gives the chili good flavor. Then I put in the green pepper and onions cut into medium pieces and cook them a little with the lid on - say 1/2 hour on high.
Then comes the whole tomatoes. I cut each one into little chunks and make sure I don't include the end that had the stem connected to it. Then I thoroughly wash in running cold water all the kidney beans and add them. Then I add the crushed tomatoes. At this pont I add salt and pepper and lots of chili powder sprinkled all over the top, stir it in good and add more chili powder and mix again. I never measured out the amount of chili powder as I just keep adding it until it tastes right.
Your mixture should almost be over the top of the crock pot! Yes, I know, I know. But trust me, it all fits in a 5 qt crock pot with ease. If you feel better you can take some out of the crock pot and put in a different crock pot and even it out to cook. It will cook down.
Then I cover the crock pot with the lid and turn on high until the mixture starts to bubble. Then turn down to low and let cook away. I stir it up every hour or hour and a half letting it cook for at least 4-6 hours. If the mixture seems a bit thick just add about 1/2 cup water and stir in the water. After 6 hours on low I turn it down to warm and let cook away for another 6 hours still stirring on a regular basis. When I feel it has cooked long enough and tastes okay to me, I then turn it back up to low and let the chili bubble away for about another hour. At that point the chili is ready to serve. It is generally a very thick chili with lots of meat chunks and pepper chunks in every bite. I have let it cook as long as 2 days!
The longer this chili cooks the better it gets. When it is frozen and reheated it gets even better.
If you like my chili, you'll love my macaroni soup. It's not what you think it is. If anyone is interested I'll be happy to oblige with a recipe that is a really filling soup. A friend of mine in Russia makes this soup and all the guys at the naval base love it and want seconds and thirds. She never heard of it until I gave her the recipe for it. She gave me her stew recipe in return.