Quick and Easy - Beanless Chili

September 24, 2011

This beanless chili is a family favorite around here. It is also a nice introduction to using spices and a little bit of heat,in family dishes. You can easily increase the spice level to suit your taste. Add some cornbread, and you have a wonderful meal. 

Beanless Chili

1 pound stew beef, cut into bite sized pieces
2 cups beef broth
2 tsp sugar
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp cumin seed, crushed
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper
2 bay leaves
4 Tbsp canned green chili peppers
2 Tbsp cornmeal

In a heavy pot,  brown cubes of meat in hot oil, until even colored, but not cooked through. 

Add broth, sugar, oregano, cumin seed, salt, red pepper and bay leaves.

Cook, covered for about 15 minutes, over medium heat.

Add chili peppers and cornmeal.

Simmer, covered for 25 - 30 minutes more, stirring occasionally.

Remove bay leaves before serving.

Serves 4, but easily doubles or triples. 

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Comments

Eva's picture

This is similar to a Craig Claiborne NYT recipe I´ve been making for four decades. His calls for chili powder but I always add oregano, cumin and garlic. Suet or olive oil for browning. The main, and maybe most important, difference is simmering at least four hours. Believe me. that makes a huge difference -- less time just won´t do. Tough meat so it doesn´t dissolve and very low heat. Maybe I´ll use a crock pot if I ever get one. Beans with similar ingredients are a side along with, of course, rice.

Eva's picture

This is similar to a Craig Claiborne NYT recipe I´ve been making for four decades. His calls for chili powder but I always add oregano, cumin and garlic. Suet or olive oil for browning. The main, and maybe most important, difference is simmering at least four hours. Believe me. that makes a huge difference -- less time just won´t do. Tough meat so it doesn´t dissolve and very low heat. Maybe I´ll use a crock pot if I ever get one. Beans with similar ingredients are a side along with, of course, rice.

If this is a duplicate, I apologize: according to the message got, it couldn´t be posted.