Odd that I would actually post a recipe here because I hate cooking. Like, seriously. I’ve had my fair share of legendary culinary disasters: overflowing rice cooker, burnt half-cooked rice, fried ham bursting into flames, inedible eggplant omelette, burnt eggs, – the list goes on. My family and friends still talk about these fiascos 20 years later.
The culprit? My absent-mindedness. I’d get lost in my reading and totally forget that I was cooking. But now, with a recent ADHD diagnosis, it all makes sense. (That’s a blog entry for another time: the story of late diagnosed middle-aged women who were once gifted kids and high achievers, until they weren’t.)
Despite my aversion to cooking, I love to eat and I yearn for the tastes of my childhood that I just can’t find anywhere else. So I’ve learned to prepare a few key dishes: Filipino staples like sinigang and white adobo, the Chilean cazuela de vaca (a delightful discovery from a trip to Santiago), and recently, a distinct chili con carne from my teenage years. I scoured several recipes online, including NYT Cooking, and pieced together my own version.
Here’s the thing – cooking, for me, isn’t a precise art but an exciting experiment, much to my Type A daughter’s chagrin. I barely follow any recipe. As far as I’m concerned, they’re just guidelines; measurements and ingredients are mere suggestions. Instead, I listen to the whispers of my ancestors – though some were apparently not great cooks themselves either. Hence, the culinary disasters. Also, none of my dishes ever tastes exactly the same as I don’t write my recipes down and I usually make do with whatever’s in my pantry.
For this chili though, my daughter finally convinced me to document the recipe. Since I used pre-packaged ingredients, measurements weren’t an issue, and I managed to capture the taste I was craving on the first try. And I’m pretty proud that I didn’t have to slave away in the kitchen – I used a pressure cooker!
Chill Chili con Carne
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Ingredients
- 500 g ground beef (90% lean)
- 2 cups Bob’s Red Mill 13 Bean Soup Mix
- 170 g Hunt’s tomato paste
- 1 pack (12 oz) McCormick Original Seasoning Mix
- 1 tsp McCormick Italian Seasoning
- 1 bulb of garlic, minced
- 1 bulb of onion, diced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tbsp chili flakes
- Salt and pepper
- 3.5 cups water
Soak the beans. Place the beans in water and let them soak for 30 minutes. Discard the water and rinse the beans.
Prepare the pressure cooker. Set the pressure cooker to Saute – High Heat.
Saute aromatics. Heat olive oil and saute the garlic and onion until fragrant.
Cook the beef. Add the ground beef and cook until it’s browned.
Season the beef. Add the Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
Dissolve taco mix. Dissolve the taco mix in 1/2 cup of water, then pour into the beef mixture and mix well.
Add water and boil. Pour in 3 cups of water and bring the mixture into a boil.
Combine ingredients. Add the soaked beans, tomato paste, and the chili flakes to the boiling mixture.
Pressure cook. Change the setting of the pressure cooker to the Meat/Poultry setting and cook for 15 minutes.
Read a book. Sit back and go back to your reading.
Best enjoyed with a side of sourdough bread, savoury sausage, and a dollop of sour cream. Any leftovers can be refrigerated or frozen for future meals – perfect for easy meal prep!
