Touchdown Chili !

 Serves 1 chili loving family !

The air bristles with excitement on Sunday afternoons. My son and husband are very much into the football games this time of the year, and as you know, football means food. Both of them love chili and taste every ‘famous’ chili , wherever they travel. So when they vote my chili as their favorite, I feel like I have scored a touchdown with my family!

I make different variations of this chili depending on the ingredients and time I have on hand. But this is my ‘go to’ recipe that I want to share with you all. Of course, my chili recipe has some Indian twists, like using turmeric powder for one. In Indian cooking, turmeric is used in almost all the meat and fish recipes that I know of. Plus we all know how good turmeric is good for health. So I always use turmeric powder in my chili. If you are like my son who does not like the raw taste of turmeric, the key is to stir fry it. Also, I made this chili with ground chicken but you may use the meat of your choice.

We like a thick consistency chili served on rice with sharp cheddar cheese and diced red onion topping and crackers on the side! I made cornbread for points after touchdown!

Ingredients-

• 2 teaspoons oil
• 1 medium onion, minced fine
• 2 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
• 1 teaspoon red chili powder (or according to taste) I get the ‘medium’ hot chili powder from the Indian grocery store.
• 1 pound ground chicken. I used Purdue fresh ground natural chicken.
• 2 teaspoons all purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons coriander seed powder
• 2 teaspoons cumin seed powder
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano flakes. I used Mc Cormick brand dried oregano
•  1/2 can (3 ounces) tomato paste. I used Costco’s organic tomato paste
• 1 tablespoon chilies in adobo sauce .This is pretty spicy, so add according to taste
• 3 tablespoons ketchup. I used Heinz ketchup
• 3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce. I used French’s Worcestershire sauce.
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 2 ½ cups water or chicken broth.
• salt to taste
• ½ cup each of the cooked red and black beans. I like the taste of black beans so I add them. You may use all red beans too.
• juice of  ½ a lime

To make the chili-

1. In a Dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the diced onion and the grated garlic and stir until the onion is translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the turmeric powder and red chili powder and stir for another 30 seconds. Add the ground chicken and stir well.
2. Reduce heat to low, add the all purpose flour, coriander seed powder, cumin seed powder and the dried oregano. Stir well until the meat is browned, breaking up any clumps of meat, about 5 minutes.
3. Add the tomato paste, chilies in adobo sauce, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, water or broth and salt. Stir well and cover. Let it cook covered on low for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice in between.
4. Remove lid, stir in the beans ,cover and cook for another 5 to 7 minutes to assimilate the flavors. Remove lid, stir in the lime juice and serve.

To serve-

• Cooked rice . I used Basmati rice.
• Shredded sharp cheddar cheese. I used Kraft brand.
• Crackers. I used Nabisco Premium crackers

Tips-

• In my humble opinion, chili tastes better the next day. So I cook it the day before the game.
• For chilies in adobo sauce, I blend them, use what I need for the chili and freeze the rest for future use.

With cool weather coming, warm (and spicy!) foods like chili are so inviting. So, I make it often in the fall and winter. It is also a great ‘make ahead’ dish for football parties. I use the same chili recipe for a couple of appetizer recipes that I take to parties which I will post soon. But until then,

Wishing you many touchdowns with your friends and family,

Love,

Sandhya