Chilli Con Carne

I don't make this too often, but whenever I do, I always wish I made it oftener. There's something very comforting about a meal of chili con carne. Its a one dish meal, with meat and veggies and can be eaten with rice and plain or toasted bread. I try and make a lot so there's always leftovers for the next day's breakfast and hopefully, also for the next meal.
You can also make this with any other minced meat, like with mutton or chicken. Or you can use half mince and half soya flakes if you're interested in making this a more healthy dish. I recently saw a Nigella Lawson episode on TV where she made cornbread topped chili con carne.
It looked fantastic !

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Ingredients
1/2 kg minced beef/mutton/chicken
2 large onions chopped small
2 red peppers chopped
2 carrots chopped
1 cup red kidney beans, soaked overnight
2 tablespoons garlic paste
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon red chilli flakes
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1/2 teaspoon coarsely crushed black pepper
6 tomatoes blanched, skinned and chopped
2 tablespoons tomato puree
salt to taste

Method
Heat olive oil, add onions and garlic. Stir for 5 minutes. Add all the powdered spices, black pepper and stir well.
Add red peppers, carrots, salt and stir further.
Add mince and break it up so that there are no lumps.
Add tomatoes chopped, tomato puree and the kidney beans.
Add a cup of water and cover and cook for 30-45 minutes till kidney beans are soft and the meat cooked.

Poha for Breakfast

I love breakfast and I love rice poha! I recently came across a fabulous blog called The Kitchen where there's a nicely written post about poha.

Here's my simple poha recipe.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cup flat rice poha
1 medium sized onion chopped
1/2 tablespoon oil
pinch of asafatida
3 green chillies chopped
1 medium sized potato chopped small
a few curry leaves washed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
pinch of turmeric
salt to taste
a few fresh coriander leaves chopped
Lemon juice

Method
Heat the oil, add asafatida, mustard seeds, cumin seeds and let them crackle.
Add green chillies, curry leaves, onions and potatoes. Add salt and turmeric. Stir and cover.
The potatoes should cook after 5-6 minutes, if not and the masala is sticking to pan, sprinkle some water and cover again.
When potatoes are done, lightly wet the rice poha in a colander. Do not soak it or it will become a complete mush.
Add to the masala, stir till the poha gets completely coated. Cover and cook for a minute.
Add juice from half a lemon and fresh coriander leaves chopped.