Thursday, August 15, 2013

Pressure Cooker Chilli con Carne

In the interests of completeness, here is my basic chilli recipe that I've been cooking on a regular basis for a very long time now. The presssure cooker shortens what would be a long slow simmer to a few minutes, making this doable for a work day evening meal without keeping everyone starving til after 8pm!


  • Around 800g-1kg of beef mince.
  • A little vegetable oil.
  • 2 medium-large onions, peeled and chopped.
  • half a bulb of garlic, peeled and chopped.
  • A couple of heaped teaspoons each of: ground cumin, cayenne pepper, dried oregano. Maybe a little allspice or cocoa powder too, if you like.
  • 2 tins of chopped tomatoes.
  • a tin of kidney beans.
  • a small tin of tomato puree.
  • a beef stock cube.
  • salt, pepper, tabasco sauce to taste.
Put oil into the pressure cooker base, and fry onions and garlic until soft.
Add the mince and fry to brown it.
Now add the dry herbs and spices, crumbled stock cube, and all the tinned stuff, and stir to mix. Add about a cupful of water to ensure there is enough liquid.
Bring to the boil, close the pressure cooker, and bring to pressure.
Cook under high pressure for about 15 minutes, then turn off the heat and let it cool.
Once the cooker has returned to room pressure, open and adjust the seasoning.

Makes enough to feed 3 people for 3 meals - I put the extra portions into tubs in the freezer to reheat and eat another week.
I generally serve this with rice or tortillas, salad, and plain yoghurt.

Variations include adding various chopped vegetables, and adding chopped fresh coriander leaves at the end of cooking. It all depends on whatever I happen to have lurking in the fridge in need of using up.

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