Not so very long ago Patrick decided to get all experimental with this classic Mexican favourite. He added chocolate (a big flavour in South American savoury cooking) and star anise. It divided opinion, so we felt it justified another try. This time sous chef Rachel stepped up to the plate and created something a little more traditional. Patrick had to (begrudgingly) admit that it was one of the best he’d ever tasted. Arriba!
Boxes and ingredients are packed in facilities that handles Peanut, Nuts, Sesame, Fish, Crustaceans, Milk, Egg, Mustard, Celery, Soya, Gluten and Sulphites. Due to the war in Ukraine, it has been necessary to substitute sunflower oil with rapeseed oil in some products without a label change. The FSA have advised that allergic reactions to rapeseed oil are rare.
2
Brown Basmati Rice
1
Onion
2
Garlic Clove
1
Red Pepper
1
Green Pepper
5
Coriander
2
Red Chilli
500
British Beef Mince
1
Smoked Paprika
2
Red Kidney Beans
2
Tomato Passata
1
Sour Cream
(Contains Milk)
1
Lime
Bring a large pot of water to a rapid boil. Rinse your brown rice well under cold running water. Add the rice to the boiling water and cook for 25 mins or until cooked. Tip: Make sure the water is rapidly boiling or else it’ll take longer to cook.
Peel the onion and cut in half through the root, then roughly chop. Peel and finely chop the garlic. Roughly chop the peppers into bite-sized pieces. Roughly chop the coriander. Remove the seeds from the chilli and finely chop.
Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Cook the onion, garlic and chilli for about 6 mins or until soft. Tip: The amount of chilli you use depends on how hot you like things! Tip: Be careful not to burn them, if the pan is getting dry add a few drops of water.
Tip the onion mixture onto a plate and keep to the side. Turn the heat up to its highest and without adding any more oil, cook the peppers for 3-4 mins until slightly charred, remove from the pan and set aside with the onion mix.
Fry off the meat in the same pan in two batches over high heat, seasoning with salt and pepper as you go. Tip: Doing it this way you don’t overcrowd the pan and the meat can brown off instead of simply stewing.
On medium heat, add back in all the meat, onion mix and peppers. Add the smoked paprika, kidney beans (don’t drain them) along with the tomato passata and 200ml of water. Turn to low and let it simmer for at least 10 mins (add a little more water if it begins to dry out). Tip: Rinse out the tin from the kidney beans with the water to use all the sauce.
LH: Mix your sour cream with the zest and juice from half the lime and a pinch of salt.
Serve up the chilli with the rice, top with the sour cream/lime mix, chopped coriander and a wedge of lime on the side.