Coffee and Chocolate Chilli

Upgrade your chilli con Carne with chunks of the beef shin or chuck steak slow-cooked in a rich bittersweet, smoky sauce until you reach a rich silky consistency and the meat falls apart. The coffee brings a subtle depth of flavor for a lip-smacking meal.

hot

Ingredients

1.5kg beef shin or chuck, left whole
Splash olive oil
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tbsp ground cumin
2 tbsp smoked paprika
1 tbsp dried chipotle chilli flakes or paste
1 tbsp dried oregano
2 tbsp tomato puree
1 beef stock cube
1 tin black beans
30ml maple syrup
Double espresso shot

To serve:

1 fresh coriander bunch, ripped
Few tbsp Greek yogurt
Sliced jalapeno chilli
And a cold beer!

Step 1

Pre-heat oven to 160FAN / 180c / GM4.

Step 2

Generously season the beef with salt and pepper and dust in flour. Heat a large heavy based casserole pot on the hob with a splash of oil. Shake off the excess flour from the beef and brown in the pan, letting it sear for five minutes each side until deeply browned all over, then remove from the pan to rest.

Step 3

In the same casserole dish, add more oil if needed, fry the onions for five minutes until the onions soften then stir through the garlic quickly followed by the chili flakes or paste, cumin, paprika and dried oregano. After cooking for a minute add the tomato puree and crumble in the stock cube. Reintroduce the meat back to the pan and pour in the maple syrup and double espresso and 750ml of hot water.

Step 4

Cover and place into pre-heated oven for 2-3 hours; check it after 2 hours to see if the meat is falling apart, if not, cook for another half hour / hour and top with hot water if getting too dry. Once done, rest for fifteen minutes before shredding the meat with two forks and serving on brown rice.