For our spicy theme this month, let’s try to get cooking some Chile con Carne and make everyone in the family happy!

Ok, it’s not cheap, and the list of ingredients goes on and on (including about 5 different spices) but people! Chile con Carne has to be done at least once in a while!

Please follow the following steps and you’ll enjoy a full meal, vegetables, proteins and it looks good to (please refer to the pictures below).

Three Step Process

meat sautéed with vegetables and spices
sweet potatoes fries
sauce

Here is the list of ingredients for these three steps:

Step 1: Meat Part

1 tbsp olive or coconut oil
1 finely chopped onion

2 minced garlic cloves

1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
450 g ground beef

1 tbsp chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp dried oregano

800g diced or crushed tomatoes (canned)
250 mL water or broth

Get the Meat Cooking

Mix all the ingredients in the pan and start cooking! Your pan should be hot already with coconut oil when you sauté the onions, garlic and bell pepper. After a few minutes (the onions are supposed to look translucent) add the beef and the spices (chilli, cumin, coriander, oregano and salt). The meat must be broken up during c

ooking, with a spatula if you have in plastic or wood so it doesn’t damage the pan – nor the relationship with your other half who requests you’re careful about that. When everything is about golden brown, add the tomatoes + the water. Then let it rests over low heat for about an hour so that it should simmer while partially covered with a lid.

2. Make the sweet potatoes

We steam them whole (washed or peeled, but at least one of the two!) – to keep all the nutrients. When they are cooked and soft (after about 15-20 min) let’s cut them into strips, like real-looking fries! We then mix in a dish the potatoes and the olive oil (or avocado if you fancy that taste) + the paprika (another spice!) before heating them again in the oven this time for about twenty minutes. Halfway through you should turn them on the other side for a thorough taste all over.

Sauce Time!

The final touch, in the form of a cashew-based sauce (yes yes!), we mix the nuts (which theoretically should have been soaked in water for at least 4h) with roasted red pepper, hot pepper, salt and smoked paprika (not the sweet kind, the other one). When it’s all ready to get on the table, you’ll want the sauce to be more liquid so add some boiling water. THEN you place it on the potatoes, which you placed first on the meat mixture. Got it? Meat below, then potatoes, then sauce. Un deux Trois!

And here’s the final look (in my case anyways):