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The name 'chili con carne' is a slight corruption of the Spanish chile con carne, which literally means 'peppers with meat'. Chili con carne is the official dish of the U.S. state of Texas as it was originally a Spanish/Mexican province/state (but true Texas chili has no beans, though beans can be served separately). Chili can now be found world-wide in a wide range of variants. As such it is probably one of the original 'fusion' foods.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1kg lean beef, minced
500ml red wine
800g tinned chopped tomatoes
3 tbsp tomato purée
2 red chillies, finely sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander seeds
1 stick cinnamon
a few drops of Worcestershire sauce
1 beef stock cube
800g cooked red kidney beans (tinned is fine)
salt and freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
1 large bunch of coriander leaves, roughly chopped
wedges of lime, to serve

Method:

Heat the oil in the base of a large heavy-based saucepan and use to fry the onion and garlic on medium heat until softened. Increase the heat then add the beef and cook quickly until browned all over. As soon as the meat is nicely coloured add the red wine and bring to a boil. Continue boiling for about 2 or 3 minutes then stir-in the tomatoes, tomato purée, chilli, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and Worcestershire sauce. Crumble-in the stock cube then stir to combine and season well.

Bring the mixture to a simmer then cover with a lid and cook over gently heat for about 60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Now add the kidney beans and the fresh coriander. Continue cooking for a further 10 minutes, uncovered, then take off the heat and adjust the seasoning (if necessary).

Serve on a bed of rice garnished with lime wedges. It should be noted, however, that, like many stews, the chili is much tastier if allowed to cool, stored in the refrigerator and served re-heated the following day. This allows the flavours time to meld and mature.