Chili con chocolate is a wonderful mixture of flavours and textures. Chocolate, as a surprise ingredient, makes it creamy and slightly sweet. It’s a perfect combo with the heat from the chili peppers. You must try it.
Here is a Sunday one-pot dish recipe. But this one comes with a twist. I called it chili con chocolate. Do you see the twist? Chocolate? You think I must be crazy, right? Well, maybe a little crazy, but I guarantee you that the whole family will love it.
If you think about it, chocolate is mostly used for sweet dishes and desserts, but it is also a great ingredient for many savoury dishes. You can use it in a BBQ sauce, a stew, even in a bowl of soup and of course in many meat recipes. Probably the most known dish is the Mexican mole poblano, which is considered also a national dish, even though there are many different types of mole.
Chocolate is that “exotic” ingredient in this recipe and this makes this dish perfect for a sweet tooth. Chili con chocolate is easy and quick to make. There is just one thing. Be sure to use a bar of good and dark chocolate. I used the dark, 70% cocoa, one.
Are you still not convinced? Don’t be afraid of experimenting in the kitchen. Take your taste buds on a sweet journey.
Ingredients for 4-5 portions of chili con chocolate:
- 500 g minced beef
- 1-2 bell peppers
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 red onions
- 1 chili pepper
- a spoon of tomato paste
- 400 ml of tomato sauce
- 200 ml of water
- 4-5 Tbsp of sweet corn
- 5 Tbsp of kidney beans
- 3 tsp of cinnamon
- 80-100 g of dark chocolate (70% cocoa)
- olive oil
- salt
Clean and thinly chop the garlic and onion. Wash the bell pepper, remove the seeds and cut it into cubes. Chop the chili pepper into 2mm thin slices. You can keep or discard the seeds. It’s totally a matter of taste.
Take a large pot and drizzle in some olive oil. Once the oil gets hot, add the garlic, onion and half of chili pepper. Adding the chili at the beginning will make the flavour more intense. That means it’s going to be hot hot hot. You can add the chili pepper also halfway or at the end. Stir for 30 seconds and add the minced beef. Stir fry it until it loses the pink colour or until light brown.
Moreover, squeeze some tomato paste to the meat, add the cinnamon and stir again. Chocolate wasn’t the only surprise in this recipe. Cinnamon will also add a lovely fragrance to the dish. Then add the sweet corn, kidney beans, chili pepper, a pinch of salt and cover with tomato sauce and water. Bring to simmer and cook for about 15 minutes.
Now comes the chocolate. Once the chili is ready, remove the pot from the stove, chop the chocolate and stir half of it in the chili. You are ready to serve!
Sprinkle the chili con chocolate with the rest of the chopped chocolate, grab a spoon and dig in!
Enjoy!
PS
If you like the recipe, if you make the recipe or if you have any new ideas how to improve or change it, let me know in the comments section below or alternatively share your photos and reactions with me on Instagram (@Passionspoon), Facebook or Twitter (@PassionSpoon1). Simply use the hashtag #passionspoonrecipes in your posts. I would love to see them! (wink)
