Ancho and Guajillo Pepper Chili with Beef, Beans, and Vegetables:

I really like chili and I really enjoy making it a couple times each year during the cool and cold weather months.  I love the spiciness of it and I love the fact that you can add a bit of this and a bit of that.   Many people prefer their chili simply cooked with dried spices, dried chili pepper powder, and ground beef.  Living in Texas for some time, I became well acquainted with this approach and while I like it, I don’t love it.  I much prefer beans in my chili and I certainly like the taste and health benefits they bring.  The beans, coupled with vegetables such as onions, bell peppers, and tomatoes make chili better for you and certainly more filling.  I typically couple the chili with corn bread and a small salad or some sort.  I almost always garnish with some grated cheddar cheese, chopped green onions, sour cream, and sometimes cilantro (though I didn’t use cilantro as a garnish here).

I basically made a straight forward chili recipe but I did one thing differently and I really liked the end result.  Instead of using chili powder as the main seasoning, I used whole dried chili peppers that I reconstituted in piping hot water and then ground them into a paste using a food processor.  As a result, the chili had a very deep chili flavor and a very deep crimson brown chili color.  I used both ancho and guajillo peppers, both of which are a mild to mild/spicy varieties.  I added a bit of cayenne pepper at the end to bring a bit more heat as I prefer a hotter chili.  I reserved the water that I reconstituted the peppers in so that I could add a bit of the flavored water as the chili simmered away.  Generally, I prefer my chili to be on the looser side rather than very thick.  I think the cheese and the sour cream end up adding thickness and body to the dish at the very end, so I tend to allow it to be not soupy, but sort of soupy if that makes sense.

Of note with using the dried chilis in this manner is that it mitigated the dried powdery, paste-y taste that chili can sometime have due to all the powdered spices typically used.  Also of note, I used ground chuck and I ground the meat myself using a grinder attachment to our mixer.  I simply purchased a small chuck roast, cut it up into about 1 inch pieces, and then ran it through the grinder using the coarse grinder setting.  If you have the grinder attachment or a regular grinder, this is the perfect time to use it…it makes a huge difference in the texture and taste of the dish.

At any rate, I know lots of people have a preferred way to make chili, but here’s mine…at least my latest version.  Recipe follows after the jump! Continue reading →