Sooooooo…you want something tasty, spicy and lean that you can prepare ahead. Guilt free turkey chilli, here you are. I was seriously worried that this would be dry, but it wasn’t at all. I did cheat a bit by adding two rashers of smoked bacon and some chorizo because I had them in the fridge, but if you want this to be super skinny just leave them out and add some extra paprika!
Ok, let’s begin!
You wil need:
2 peppers, I used 1 red and 1 yellow
1 medium carrot
1 brown onion
1 clove garlic
1 knob ginger
Splash vegetable oil
2 tsp tomato purée
1 cooking chorizo (sausage sized)
2 rashers smoked bacon
2 packs turkey thigh mince
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 jar passata
1 stock cube of your choice, I used chicken
1 tin kidney beans
2 tsp mild chilli powder (or real chillis if you can stand the heat)
1 tbsp cumin
Salt and pepper
Pinch oregano
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 espresso shot
Don’t be put off by the mammoth list of ingredients. Most of these things are simple store cupboard ingredients for me. If you don’t have something you can absolutely leave it out or make a substitution. The world is your chilli pot.
1. Slice the onion, carrot and peppers, not too finely as they’ll all cook down. Heat a large soup or casserole pot and add a dash of vegetable oil or whichever unflavoured oil you prefer. Cook out until translucent.
2. Grate in the garlic and ginger, allow to hear through, then add the tomato purée, stirring through and turning the heat down to low.
3. Meanwhile, whip out a small frying pan band put it on a medium heat. Chop up the chorizo and bacon into small chunks and chuck the chorizo in the pan whilst it’s still cool to make sure the far renders out. Ditch any excess you don’t want (though keeping some of it will give you some nice flavour) then add in the bacon until cooked. Add to the casserole pot.
4. In said same frying pan, brown off the turkey thigh mince in small batches on a medium to high heat. You may need to get rid of any excess water released and add a little more oil partway through. This is time consuming, but worth it. If you overcrowd the pan, things will get too wet and you won’t get any colour, and colour is flavour.
5. Add the mince to the casserole pot and add the cinnamon and cocoa powder. Stir through, add the chopped tomatoes and passata.
6. Put the stock cube into the tomato can and add the hot water, stir well and add to the mince. Be careful as the tin will get hot! If the mixture is still looking dry, swirl some water around the passata jar and add to the pot.
7. Add the rest of the herbs, spices sbd seasonings and simmer (lowish heat) for half an hour to an hour. Drain and add the kidney beans and simmer for at least another half hour. As long as you keep the heat low, the mince will tenderise rather than drying out.
8. Serve up however you choose. I had this one night with corn, sour cream and homemade guacamole, as well as a flour tortilla (please note, I’m not trying to sound American; I’m just trying to differentiate from the eggy Spanish tapas deal). If you want to know how to make flour tortillas, stay tuned for my very next blog!
P.S. This freezes and reheats really well.
Silverpepperofstars 