The real joy of the much-maligned chilli con carne is in its infinite variety. You can make it with minced beef, lamb, pork or chicken, or even do a veggie version of aubergine, sweet red peppers and red kidney beans.

You can add liquid in the form of water, stock, red wine or beer, and vary the heat factor depending on your mood. In these days of dodgy chilli powders with nasty additives such as Sudan 1, it pays to buy your hot stuff in a more recognisable, less processed form, eg, fresh red chillies, dried chilli flakes, single-variety ground American chillies such as ancho, or good old Tabasco sauce, made to the McIlhenny family recipe in Louisiana since 1868.

For me, half the fun of chilli is in the garnish, dreadful word that it is. I scatter on handfuls of diced avocado and tomato tossed with chopped fresh coriander and lime juice, which lifts it from being just a meaty bean stew. Feel free to add a scattering of finely shredded iceberg lettuce or finely sliced red onion as well.

A more Americanised version would be topped with grated cheddar and pickled jalapeno chillies, or sour cream and paprika. This is not your purist Texan no-tomato, no-bean chilli con carne, but a more domesticated, family-friendly old favourite for easy mid-week dining.

It should still kick ass, so to speak, but in a more polite, excuse-me, English manner.

Ingredients

Prep: 10 min
Cook: 40 min

Serves 4

To serve, scatter with diced avocado and tomato tossed with lime juice and fresh coriander, then crush tortilla chips in your hands and scatter on top.

1 onion, finely chopped
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
700g lean minced beef
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
Few shakes of Tabasco
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp tomato ketchup
400g can tomatoes, chopped
400g can red kidney beans, drained
200ml beer or red wine
Sea salt and pepper
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped


METHOD

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion for 5 min until softened. Add the garlic, stirring, then add the minced beef, breaking it up as it fries for another 5 min or until browned. Add the cumin, dried chilli, Tabasco, mustard, ketchup, tomatoes, kidney beans and beer or red wine, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 min or until thickened.

Season with salt and pepper, and stir in the coriander. Serve in warm pasta bowls with plenty of rice.

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