I really like chili and I am always on the lookout for new and interesting chili recipes to try. I recently came across a 7 chili chili recipe on Homesick Texan that caught my attention immediately. When I make chili I normally toast some dried chilies and then grind them up and use them in powdered form. This recipe called for reconstituting them in hot water and then pureeing them and I liked the sound of that. In addition to using the chilies in a new way it also used 7 different kinds of chilies including 5 kinds of dried chilies, chilies in adobo sauce and cayenne pepper. Another thing that I found interesting about this recipe was the fact that it was pretty much just meat, chilies and spices. I normally like to add things like beans and tomatoes to my chilies to give them more body and make them into more of a complete meal. Bacon grease is used instead of oil to brown the meat and saute the onions, which is always a positive in my books as it adds a ton of flavour. When choosing liquids for stews you can just use water or you can you the opportunity to add more flavour and this recipe does so by using both beer and coffee. I also liked the use of the cinnamon and the Mexican chocolate which adds a nice hint of the exotic to the chili. One of my favorite ways of cooking meats lately has been braising. Braising takes a while but the meat comes out nice and tender and fall apart good. This chili calls for a good long braising of the beef which just sealed the deal and it made it to my meal plan.
This 7 chili chili took a lot of time and a bit of effort but the results were really worth it! One thing that I made sure to do when making the chili was to add the chilies a bit at a time. There was a lot of the pureed chilies and I added about half of it initially and then let the chili simmer for an hour or so to let the flavours mingle a bit. I then taste tested it and added more of the chili puree until I got it to the heat level that I wanted. In the end the chili was nice and spicy hot, just the way I like it! Then beef was perfectly cooked and fall apart in your mouth tender and covered in the spicy and tasty chili sauce. I served the chili with some freshly made cottage cheese cornbread which did a good job of cleansing the palate in between mouthfuls of the spicy chili.
7 Chili Chili
ingredients
- 2 ancho chilis
- 1 pasilla chili
- 1 costena chili
- 1 guajillo chili
- 1 chili de arbol
- 1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce
- 4 slices bacon (cut into 1 inch slices)
- 2 pounds beef (chuck roast, cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
- 1 onion (chopped)
- 4 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 cup coffee
- 1 beer
- 1 tablespoon cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- salt to taste
- 1/4 tablet Mexican chocolate (grated)
- 2 tablespoons masa harina
directions
- Toast the ancho, pasilla, costena, guajillo and de arbol chilies in a pan.
- Cover in boiling water and let soak for 30 minutes.
- Cook the bacon in a large pan and set aside retaining the grease in the pan.
- Add the beef and brown on all sides in the bacon grease and set aside.
- Add the onions and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
- Add the garlic and saute until fragrant, about a minute.
- Add the bacon, beef, coffee, beer, cumin, cinnamon, coriander, cayenne and oregano.
- Drain the chilies and blend in a half a cup of fresh water and add to the pot.
- Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the beef is fork tender, about 5 hours, adding more liquid if required.
- Add the Mexican chocolate.
- Mix the masa harina into 1/2 a cup of the chili broth and add it back to the pot.
- Simmer until the sauce thickens.
Whoa, that’s a whole lotta chilis! Looks delicious 🙂
EXTRA spicy!! Love it.
Sounds delicious…sure wish I had some right now. We went out for lunch today and had the worst chili…boring, not spicy and too many vegetables.
If you have lots of chilis left over this is a great soup that requires a lot of the same chilis. It’s an Azteca soup http://rouxbe.com/recipes/1333.
Thanks for the recipe.
This is serious cooking. I love all the explanations and that you are using different chilis. Thanks for the great post Kevin.
Holy cow Kevin..that is one mighty fine lookin bowl of chili!!
WOW, I thought chili was a completely different thing! And I had no idea there were so many different sorts of chilies! Is this really spicy? I guess it is!
Whaaa, I though you’re kidding when you said 7 chillies. I know how delicious this dish is with all of those flavorful chilies. Well done Kevin.
Cheers,
elra
That does have a lot of chilies! It sounds tasty!
Love the tasty chili Kevin!
I’m fascinated by this recipe and thinking about a vegetarian version. Perhaps mushrooms and paneer cheese. The gears are turning. Thanks for the inspiration.
Oh my, this looks good. You might be interested in my chili recipe with salmon:
salmon chili
WOW, coffee, beer, chocolate… AND 7 chilis?! Sounds full of flavour!
So flavorful and spicy! That’s A LOT of chiles. My kind of dish! Tasty!!
I love chili! This must be really good one!
Now THAT is a Chili Lover’s Chili if ever there was one!
hey kevin , nice looking chili, you got a real nice dark color to it!
Wow, I’d love to find all these chilies here! That chili is terrific!
Cheers,
Rosa
Ooooh chili and chocolate – double yum!
I can just feel the perspiration running down my face when eating this. Wow, looks super-delicious!!!
Wow this looks so yumm and the chillie list i don’t kno most of them will have to google to know what the variety is if i want to make them.
That is my kind of Texan chili!!! My sister (a Texan) makes it very similar to that! YUM!
You need to post the cottage cheese cornbread recipe 🙂
Sounds and looks delicious. Love it!
Looks like just the thing to warm you up when it’s cold out. With all those chilis, I’m thinking even half the amount was spicy enough for me. Glad to hear it was worth the effort.
I’m such a Scandahovian-I nearly cried just looking at the ingredients! It would probably kill this white bread and mayo girl. Of course, the hubs-he is a chili freak so I may have to show him this post! The color is so beautiful-I’ll love to have the meat with some nice mashed spuds underneath and bottle of cold brew.
This looks and sounds absolutely AMAZING!
This is a sure fire winner Kevin!!
You make everything look sooo damn good. How hot is hot? Just curious. I love a good chili, so I have to save this one.
Wow, now that’s some chili.
It sounds so good ! I love chili and those recipes are fantastic !
Cheers,
Miette
WOW incredible – I have been on a Texas recipe roll and this will go great with my new collection!!
Your chili sounds awesome! Chipotle, bacon, coffee, beer, cinnamon, chocolate… awesome ingredients!! Would you like to share it in my chili cook-off on my San Antonio blog? 🙂
holy moly! I love all that chilis in there! I’m a big spice girl myself! yumm!!!
New fan of yr blog here, also a SouthernUS ex-pat(Florida) and also in Toronto. Great site; great recipes–this one looks utterly delectable! My question: where in the GTA can you find all those different types of chilis?(Preferably in the downtown core, but outside that’s fine.)
That is the best looking chili I have seen in a long time!
Now that’s a bowl of chili – it looks fantastic.
That looks awesome and super spicy! I love how different the ingredients are…I bet it tastes wonderful!
This does look well worth the extra effort! Thank you!
This looks like an outstanding version of a Tex-Mex chili. The differences in chili are amazing – like the differences in mole sauces in Mexico.
In New Mexico, what we call chili has no meat, no beans and very different kinds of spices. You can add it to meat, beans or anything else you wish (potatoes anyone?). But the basis of it chili, onions, garlic and a roux. Different families use different spices, but I’ve never met a chili I didn’t like!
Wow, look at how thick and hearty that is! Perfection in a bowl. I love this post.
WOW, 7 chilis and coffee and bacon??!! A-W-E-S-O-M-E beyond compare…
Elizabeth C: I got the dried chilies from a small import food store in basement level of the St Lawrence Market in downtown Toronto.
Dawn: You can make it as hot as you like. Just add the chilies a little at a time until it has the heat that you want.
I just love the Homesick Texan’s recipes, and this is a winner, too. This is definitely a great looking chili with that braised beef and all those chile peppers. YUM!
Looks like this has a good, rich texture to it.
An interesting recipe, it sounds like it packed quite a punch, not that there’s anything wrong with that, I love spicy food.
Thanks! I’ll poke around St Lawrence market and see what I can find!
Now that is an impressive chili recipe!
The color gives it away–this is a rich and spicy dish!
You had me at the first 2 words of the title! LOL 🙂
I never think about using that cut of meat for chili.
Usually when I make chili, I use ground beef.
This version looks awesome. I’m one of those people who doesn’t really mind time consuming meals. That’s the best part!
That looks Wonderful! I will have to try this version real soon.
Wow…this looks delicious! Your method of adding a little chilli at a time sounds interesting. The meat looks tender and flavourful.
Wow, the chili really looks rich! You can tell that a lot of effort went into into developing the flavors just by the look of it. How much chocolate is one tablet? If I try it I think I’ll substitute dark chocolate and a pinch of cinnamon. BTW, I’m making the glazed corned beef today.
I don’t think I’d be able to stand the heat! I actually got 5 different kinds of dried hot peppers from Marx company in Seattle to play with and this could be a great idea!
Whoa – are you still alive? are you on fire? should I call the fire department?
Maggie: One tablet is 3 ounces. Dark chocolate with some extra cinnamon should work. I have also added unsweetened cocoa powder to chilies in the past.
Now why, why, why do I live in a country where all these chillies are speciality items that you really have to hunt for?? This sounds specatular & full of complex flavours.
What is a costena chili? I know there is a brand called Costeña but can't find anything anywhere for a chili type called costena. Thanks!
Unknown: The costena chili is also called the costenos chili. If you cannot find them you can replace them with more chipotle chilies or guajillo chilis.
Hi,
I'm from the UK, so I'm not familiar with the chipotle chilli in adobo sauce: I've found a 200g tin, when you say put 1 in, do you mean one chilli from the tin, or 1 tin?
Thank you!
Molly
Molly: 1 chipotle chili from the tin, or more to taste. The rest of the chipotle chilies will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for weeks if not months so you do not have to use them all at once.