Chocolate chilli recipe

A rustic, chunky beef and chocolate chilli to serve with potato wedges, rice or tortilla chips.

Most modern chilli recipes call for mince meat rather than chunks but this recipe uses braising steak cut into small cubes. Because it's slow cooked over a couple of hours the texture becomes absolutely divine - meltingly tender and delicious. Don't be worried that it's going to taste of chocolate either - it won't. You only add a small amount, but it has a big effect. It adds a richness and depth to the chilli, and gives extra punch to the spices. Use a good quality, dark chocolate.

Ingredients

• 1tbsp oil
• 250g lean braising steak, cut into cubes
• 1 large onion, peeled and sliced
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium red pepper, deseeded and cut into chunks
• ½-1 tsp each ground cinnamon, cumin, dried oregano
• ½-1 tsp dried chilli flakes
• 400g can chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• Dash of Worcestershire sauce
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 100g mushrooms, sliced
• 400g can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
• 50g plain chocolate
• Chopped flat parsley, to garnish
• Potato wedges, to serve (optional)

Method

1. Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the meat in one layer for 4-5 minutes. Use a draining spoon to transfer the meat to a large saucepan.
2. Add onion and garlic to the meat juices in the frying pan and cook 5 minutes. Stir in the chunks of pepper and the spices and oregano and cook for a couple of minutes. Add to saucepan with the tomatoes, tomato purée and Worcestershire sauce.
3. Season, bring to the boil, cover and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Cook for 1½ hours stirring occasionally. If you are not serving the chilli at this time, take it off the heat and cool it.
4. Add the mushrooms, red kidney beans and chocolate and simmer another 30-40 minutes until the meat is tender and piping hot.
5. Garnish with parsley and serve with potato wedges, if you like.

Top tips for making chocolate chilli

Chilli is all about the flavour of the spices, so if yours have been hanging around on the spice rack for many months... or even years... give them a good sniff and taste a tiny bit. If they don't impress you, they're probably past their best. Old spices don't go bad, as such, so they won't harm you if you use them, but your recipes won't be nearly as tasty.

This chilli freezes really well. Once it's cooked, cool it quickly and pack in a suitable container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Allow it to defrost overnight in the fridge and then reheat it thoroughly.

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