Chilli beef recipe

Slow cooked shredded beef chilli

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

• 3 cups soaked dried borlotti, pinto or black beans (soak overnight, drain and rinse) or 2 cans red kidney*, pinto or black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 kg whole beef, chuck, flank or blade steak
• 4 medium-sized brown onions, thinly sliced
• 4 medium-sized garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• ½ teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 ½ teaspoons paprika
• 2 fresh green chillies or jalapeño chillies, de-seeded and cut lengthwise into thin strips
• 1 bunch fresh coriander roots, finely chopped (save the leaves to stir through at the end)
• 1 litre beef stock
• 1 400g can diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• Salt and black pepper to taste
• 1 bunch fresh coriander leaves, roughly chopped
• Sour cream and rice to serve

* Slow cookers don’t reach high enough temperatures to destroy a natural toxin which dried red kidney beans contain. Before using dried red kidney beans in a slow cooker you must first soak them for at least 5 hours then pour away the water and boil them for 10 minutes in fresh water.

Method

• In a large saucepan, or in a slow cooker pan that can be placed on a stove top, heat the oil on medium-high heat, brown the steak for 5-10 minutes.
• Remove the meat, add onions and garlic, fry for 5 minutes.
• Add cayenne pepper, oregano, cumin, coriander and paprika, cook for 1 minute.
• Pour in beef stock, bring to a gentle boil.
• Add steak, onion and stock mixture to the slow cooker pan with the fresh chilli, soaked dried beans (if using canned beans add to slow cooker 1 hour before end of cooking time), tomatoes and bay leaves. Stir well to distribute ingredients.
• Cover and slow-cook until the meat is very tender, 5 hours at the high-heat setting or 8 hours at the low-heat setting.
• Remove the meat from the slow cooker and gently shred the meat using a fork.
• Return the shredded meat to the slow cooker and keep warm until ready to serve.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper, stir in fresh coriander  leaves.
• Serve with rice and a dollop of sour cream.

Tips

• When soaking dried beans soak extra as the unused beans can be portioned into freezer bags and frozen for up to 2 months. Portion into 2 cups per bag. (1 kg dried beans makes approximately 10 cups soaked beans.) They are then ready for soups, stews or casseroles.
• Jalapeño chilli is very hot. If you want a mild chilli use the long green chillies instead or just one jalapeño chilli .
• Serve the chilli with corn chips, tacos or tortillas, guacamole and sour cream.
• Leftovers can be frozen up to 2 months.