Chili con Carne

Chili con Carne is a great all-in-one package. It contains meat as well as an assortment of vegetables. If you overestimated your capacity and prepared more than you can eat, then it can easily be stored in the refrigerator until the next day. Just remember to heat it up after removing it from the fridge. 

Finished Chili con Carne

1. Gearcheck

• Cooking pot, at leat 0.5 liter / 16.9 fl. OZ or this could get messy
• Cooking spoon
• Tablespoon, measuring cup (skilled players can just estimate the correct amount, so no measuring needed)

2. Farming Materials (1 Portion)

Starting materials for Chili con Carne, here for 2 persons

• Blend of spices, here: Knorr Fix for Chili con Carne
• 1 can of kidney beans
• 0.5 can of corn (if you don´t know what to do with the rest of the corn, take the whole can)
• 200g / 7.1 oz minced meat, mixed
• Rapeseed oil

Optional paid content:

• Sieved tomatoes
• Sambal Oelek

3. Walkthrough

2 tablespoons of rapeseed oil are added to the cooking pot. The exact amount of rapeseed oil is not that important, but the bottom of the cooking pot should be covered in oil. The pot is put on the hotplate. Start the heating on the highest setting. When the oil starts curling ever so slightly, put in the minced meat.
Keep an eye on the minced meat in this phase. Extensive sticking to the bottom of the pot should be avoided. The weapon of choice is a wooden cooking spoon to scrape off the sticking meat. You also need the cooking spoon to mix the meat and break up the clusters. The goal is to gently roast the minced meat from all sides so it completely changes the color to a brownish hue (see picture below). This should take approx. 15 to 20 minutes.
Now take the bag with the blend of spices and put the contents into the cooking pot. In my country this stuff is called "Knorr Fix for Chili con Carne" but I bet it differs greatly anywhere else.

Minced meat changed to a brownish hue, you also see the blend of spices thrown on top.

Stir the whole affair with your trusty cooking spoon. Open the can of kidney beans and add the content to the pot. Use some water to flush out the residues in the can and add them to the pot.

Kidney beans are a slimey affair.

As before, you have to avoid extensive sticking of the food to the bottom of the cooking pot. Scrape it off and stir regularly. Use your measuring cup to add 250 mL / 9 fl. OZ of water. Open the can of corn, remove the water. To do this, keep your thumb on the lid and tilt the can above the kitchen sink. The corn is then added to the cooking pot.

Optional Content: Add Samba Oelek but just a knife´s tip because that stuff is spicy. 100g / 3.5 oz of sieved tomatoes are also added.

Mix it well and then wait until it starts to boil. This is telegraphed by bubble formation on the surface. Now set the hotplate to the lowest setting and wait for approx. 20 minutes. Now the Chili con Carne is finished.

The first bubbles are forming in the cooking pot.