Karen's Kitchen

INGREDIENTS:

150-200 grams grounded beef meat
1 tin kidney beans (aka red beans)
2 Fresh tomatoes
1 large onions
3 cloves garlic
Dried chili peppers
Fresh chili peppers, chili powder or chili sauce
Tomato sauce
Lemons
Assorted spices (herbs, cumin, ...)
Oil
Water
Water bottles
Quantities? It depends on how much you want to eat and also on how spicy! Calculate your usual meat doses; if a can of beans seems too much for you, then use 3/4 of it. It's very intuitive, sorry about that. If you cook too much, keep it for next day (but make sure to cook enough for NEXT day also :) )

Instructions:

(1) Separate the meat into little pieces; add some spices to it and a little juice to season it. Mix up a little and wait some minutes so that the meat absorbs your seasoning.

(2) Put very little oil in a frying pan and place the pan over the fire. When it's hot add the meat; turn with a wooden spoon. Remove meat when it's about half done. Don't add too much oil as the meat is naturally greasy.

(3) Cut onions, garlic, and tomatoes into exotic patterns, such as lines, squares, etc. Make thin little pieces (you're going to eat them, not frame them). Put a little oil in a cooking pot. It must at least cover the bottom. Cook at medium heat. When it's hot then add the following, making a little pause each: onions, garlic, tomatoes, and peppers.. At the same time add the spices: lemon juice, chili sauce, tomato sauce, etc. Make sure that the onions and garlic don't get overcooked; remove the pot if necessary from the fire from time to time. When they are almost cooked add some water and stir. Ease the fire a bit. Wait around 5 minutes.

(4) Open the beans and add them and the meat to the pot. If you think it's quite dry, add more water, but not too much: you're trying to make a chili, not a soup. Stir to mix the ingredients. Try squashing some of the beans against the inside walls of the pot using the spoon; this gives a good taste to the dish. Let the experiment rest around 25-30 minutes, stirring it (and squashing it if you feel like it) from time to time. If you find it's becoming too gooey and dry, don't hesitate to add a little water. Taste it occasionally to verify it's not overcooking.

(5) When you think it's almost done, taste it; if you find it's not spiced enough, now is the right moment to add more hot chili sauce. Stir a bit and let it simmer over the fire for ten more minutes.

(6) Take the pot out of the fire. Place dishes, and if you think you spiced it too much, place the water bottles nearby.

Submitted by: Doug from Illinois