Foodworks

Chili sauce with lamb and beans May 3, 2010

This is not a fast meal.  In my case yesterday, the total prep time was about a month…

For passover last month,  I roasted a lamb and put some in the freezer along with the bone.  Yesterday, I fished them out, put the bone in a pot with some water and a few grains of salt and let it come to a boil then a simmer.   That is the basis of this particular chili.

Main ingredients

• 2 cups or so of sliced cooked roast lamb chopped to pieces  about the size of your little toe.
• roasted lamb thigh bone
• 2 cups of or more of cooked or canned pinto beans,  or kidney beans
• 1/2 large onion chopped fine
• 2 large cloves of garlic minced
• olive oil to saute onion and garlic

Spices

• 1/4 to 1/2 cup of red chili power
• 1 T coriander seeds ground
• 1 T cumin seeds ground
• 1 hawaiian chili pepper

Thickening/salt

• 1/4 cup flower mixed with water into a thin paste for thickening chili later
• salt to taste

Preparation

Broth – place frozen bone in a pot with water to cover to make about a 2 quarts or more of broth.  1/2 tsp salt.  simmer.   I’m not sure you can overcook a bone in a pot of water – just make sure you don’t boil off the water!

Sauce – Saute  onion, garlic, and olive cook in your big chili pot to brown and soften a few minutes.
Add the spice mixture.
Add 2 to 4 cups of broth, depending on how much chili you’re making.  This is my basic chili sauce, which can be used for what Americans call chili, or even enchilladas.   The main ingredient is the chili power which is just ground dried red peppers.  Depending on your tastes, you can use a LOT of chili this way, not just the wimpy 1 T of chili powder you see in these chili recipes.    This mixture can cook for a long time.   Add broth or water, let it simmer.

The sauce may thin  but it should have a lot of flavor as it cooks.  It can be cooked all day this way, but half an hour or an hour later it can be taken to the next step – chili ready to eat.

Add cooked beans to the nearly ready chili sauce.  The beans can tolerate a lot of cooking, just depends on how soft you want them.  The beans will get tastier and tastier as they absorb the sauce however.

Since the meat is already cooked and it’s essential juices are represented by the bone broth we just made,  you can add the meat later.  Like the beans, they get tastier as they absorb sauce, but you can overdo cooking the meat this second time around.  After cooking at a sub-boiling simmer for 10 or 15 minutes, the meat will be ready.

Thickening – add the flour/broth mixture a little at a time to thicken the sauce.  I personally prefer less thick rather than more but it’s the cooks choice.

Add triangles of tortillas to the chili if you like  to get a tortilla soup effect.

In Hawaii, serve with hot rice!