Red Meat Chili
- This one is from NOURISHING TRADITION cookbook page 433 (we changed, added, and reworded some stuff)

Serves 8-12

- 3 pounds coarsely ground beef or lamb (we used ground turkey)
- 4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or lard
- 1/4 cup red wine (didn’t have any, didn’t use any)
- 2 cups beef stock (we used chicken stock)
- 2 onions, finely chopped
- 2-4 small green chilies, hot or mild, seeded and chopped (Didn’t know what these were, so we bought 2 Jalapeno pepper, only used 1)
- 2 cans tomatoes, briefly chopped in food processor
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and mashed
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 tablespoons dried basil
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon red Chile flakes (store didn’t carry, so we used Chile powder)
- 4 cups basic black or kidney beans, cooked

Optional for garnish:
Tortilla chips
Chopped green onions
Avocado slices
Chopped cilantro

Here’s a little hint: We are new to beans, so we were wondering if they would double in size like rice or not. We had to find out the hard way and yes, they did double their size!

Here is our outcome: 2cups dried = 4 cups soaked. We didn’t notice them get too much bigger in size after cooking. It looks like they really get big while you soak them.

To prepare beans:

Take 2 cups dried beans and cover them with 6-8 cups water. Let stand 12-24 hours in room temperature. (mine stood 12 hours)

When the time is up, drain the beans, rinse them, and drain again.

Put into a big pot. Cover with plenty of water. Bring to a boil, skim off all the foam on top. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Lower the heat, cover, and simmer for 4-8 hours. (We simmered for 4 hours).

To actually make Chile:

Brown meat until crumbly in a little olive oil or lard in heavy pot. Add remaining ingredients except garnishes and simmer about 1 hour. Serve with garnishes.

This turned out absolutely delicious! We all loved it, including the kids. Organic blue tortilla chips added quite the crunch to the dish. Enjoy!