This is a chili recipe with beans. Every time I make chili I do it slightly differently. It’s one of those things that is wide open for interpretation. You can’t really mess it up. I’ve made many types of chili including white chili with chicken or turkey, green pork chili and various types or red beef chili. This time I wanted to make a chili that was a little more subtle, and less acidic. I focused on the flavor of the meat, chiles and spices which is why I used very little tomato. I made this up as I went along, and was pleasantly surprised at how well it turned out. It’s a little spicier than I usually make – I may have accidentally grabbed jalapenos, instead of the milder poblanos when I was shopping, but over rice or with crackers or bread, it’s perfect.
If you’re looking for different take on chili, check it out. As with most of my recipes, the ingredient amounts are just a suggestion. Flavor to your tastes. If I were to make this again, I might add a little more cumin. Other than that, I think the flavors are well rounded. Let me know what you think!
Damn Good Crock-Pot Chili
1lb of dried beans (I used small white beans)
1t kosher salt
Pepper to taste
1t oregano
1t onion powder
2 cans of beef or chicken broth + enough water to make 6 cups total
2T minced garlic
½ large yellow onion diced
Approx 1lb beef steak (I used Chuck London broil steak), sliced and cut into small chunks
2T flour
Fresh chiles, roasted, skinned and de-seeded (I used 2 poblano & 2 anaheim)
2T water
2t paprika
1t cumin powder
2T chili powder
1T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 small can of tomato paste
½ bag (approx 8oz) frozen corn
Clean, sort and soak beans in water over night, or use the fast method of soaking beans*.
Drain beans and pour into crockpot, add salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, oregano, broth + enough water to make 6 cups of liquid total. Cook on high for 3hours.
Place chiles on tinfoil and roast until most of the skin is black, remove from oven and wrap chiles in tinfoil so that they will continue to cook in the steam. Once cool, unwrap, skin and de-seed chiles and place in a mini-chopper or food processor. Add 2T water, paprika, chili powder, ½ can of tomato paste, cocoa powder. Process into thick paste and set aside.
Add a little oil to a frying pan and brown chunks of steak. Once the steak is brown add flour and toss to coat steak.
Add steak, diced onions, remaining tomato paste and prepared chile paste to crock-pot, stirring occasionally. Cook an additional 3 hours or until beans are done. Add frozen corn at the end.
Microwave Fast Soak Process:
*Place cleaned beans in a microwave safe bowl, cover with a couple inches of water and microwave until water starts to boil. For the white beans, in my microwave, that was about 20 minutes. Remove from the microwave, stir a couple times and then let the beans cool in the water.
© 2015, C.L. Alden. All rights reserved.