I have had a weekly craving for chili since we hit December. I’m sure you know the feeling; when the weather turns grey and cold and your body lacks warmth and vitamins, you turn to comfort foods. Take a look at my newest recipe with some of my favourite ingredients found at my local Sainsbury’s.
Now I am no Texan, I was born and raised in Toronto and I am a Canadian girl. My background is 100% pale and English and I have no ties whatsoever to the southern United States. So I will not pretend to claim that this is in any way an authentic chili. It has beans, it has sweet potatoes. I suggest topping it with Greek yogurt and use sausages instead of beef.
but! but!
I like to think its pretty gosh darn tasty, especially when you make it with your favourite beer.
Sorry, I had to.
So here we see a visual synopsis of all the ingredients you will need for my heresy chili. Except oregano, which they didn’t have at my local grocery.
And garlic, so I took its portrait.
Isn’t she lovely?
The whole thing will take you around 45 minutes from start to finish, with almost half of it hands-free. I wouldn’t exactly recommend making it on a weeknight; but its ideal for weekend cooking, especially as it tastes better the next day (Hello weekday packed lunches)
It will take you even less time if your knife skills are better than mine.
That’s a symmetrical square, right?
I can’t wait for you to try my recipe below and to let us know what you think!
- 1 tbsp olive oil (or bacon grease if you have any)
- 450g sausages cut into 1 inch rounds
- 3 cloves of minced garlic
- One medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp chilli powder (or more to taste)
- 1-2 chili peppers, finely chopped
- 1 1/2 cups beer of your choice (ideally not light beer)
- 2 400g cans of diced tomatoes plus their juices
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 3 cups black beans
- 1 cup stock of your choice
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 sweet potatoes cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- tortilla chips to serve
- 1. Over high heat; add sausages and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes until they stick to the pan.
- 2, Add cumin seeds and turn heat down to medium. Sausages should be raw on the inside and cooked on the outside.
- 3. Add minced garlic, choppped onion and chilli and the remaining spices, stirring often until onions are soft, around 4 minutes Add in beer and cook until foam subsides
- 4. Add tomato paste and both cans of tomatoes. Take empty tomato cans and fill each one with 1/4 cup of water. Place hand over can and shake to retrieve remaining tomato juices (cant waste those!) then pour into the chili.
- 5. Add black beans and sweet potatoes followed by cup of stock, stir well and bring to a boil.
- Lower heat and simmer for 20 minutes until sweet potatoes are cooked and liquid is the consistency of gravy.
- 6. Garnish with sour cream or greek yogurt, lime wedge, avocado and cheddar cheese. I especially recommend green onions as we Canadians call them. Or scallions if youre an American, or spring onions if your British!
Make sure to come along on my culinary adventures around the world by following my Instagram Account.See something you’d like me to cook or write about? Tag me! I can’t wait for you to join in on the #DoTheDaniel adventures.
Photos: Brittany Levett
All the best,