Excellent Chilli* Recipe

My lovely housemates Steven and Jane cooked us this fabulous chilli the other night and even baked home made banana bread and served it with fresh blueberries for dessert. I really do live a life of the utmost luxury! I wanted to share the recipe because it had an unusually authentic Mexican flavour to it - although not having been to Mexico, this is based on my limited experience of decent Mexican restaurants (this one in particular). Oh, that plus what Laura tells me about it when she waxes lyrical, as she often does, on the joys and wonders of the world's peasant foods (she's quite right you know). In particular, it's the addition of dark chocolate that gives this a 'mole' like texture and flavour.

Ingredients:

3 tbsp Olive Oil
3 Onions, roughly chopped
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 red chilli, deseeded and diced (we used two, but obviously it depends how spicy you like it)
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp allspice
1 cinnamon stick
3 tsp ground cumin
25g chocolate (I think we used more of this too, just for fun)
2 sticks celery, sliced
3 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
250g (8 oz) pinto beans, cooked weight, or 1 x 400g (14 oz) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
250g (8 oz) red kidney beans, cooked weight or 1 x 400g (14 oz) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
2 x 400g (14 oz) cans chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper

TO SERVE: salsa of spring onions, avocado and fresh coriander; soft tortillas, grated cheese.

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1. In a large pan or casserole, heat the oil and gently fry the onion and garlic until soft but not coloured.
2. Add the chilli, thyme, allspice, cinnamon, and cumin to the pan and fry for about 2 minutes.
3. Then stir in the chocolate and let it melt.
4. Add the celery, carrot and green pepper and cook slowly for 7-10 minutes. Then add the beans and mix in well and cook for a further 4-5 minutes. Then add the canned tomatoes and bring the mixture to the boil. Season well, cover the pan and simmer for 40-50 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Adjust the seasoning and serve hot with a range of accompaniments.

(This is from an excellent book called 'Sarah Brown's World Vegetarian Cook Book' published by The Book People (Ivy Press) in 2004.)

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*Any American folks who may think I'm misspelling this word might be interested to know that the US spelling 'chili' derives from the Spanish version 'chile'. The Spanish corrupted this word - during the conquests - from the original Nahuatl word (the indegenous Mexicans, who spoke a dialect of Uto-Aztecan), which was also spelled Chilli.