Lamb Chilli with Pumpkin and Kidney Beans

 Chili Con Carne - the classic stew with Mexican origins but now known more as a part of Tex-Mex cuisine - has long fascinated me. The flavours of the various chillies that are used in it and the method of slow cooking the meat in a rich gravy always made me wonder how it would taste. I still don't know what the real deal is - BUT I can say that I have made my own version of it and it was much appreciated!


There were a couple of substitutions involved of course - not having access to the different kind of peppers or spice powders - habanero, poblano, chipotle etc - I had to come up with a spice mix of my own which I did after consulting a few recipes for chili spice mixes, online. I also substituted beef mince with goat's meat mince - what we call mutton in India. And instead of a crockpot, I simmered it for a couple of hours in my rice cooker.

I served it with some French bread and Spaghetti Aglio e Olio and by the end of the dinner with friends, there wasn't much left over. There's something about a slow cooked stew which has had time for the flavours to come together (I made it the previous day) which makes for a great meal - especially one shared with dear friends.

 Lamb Chili with Pumpkin and Kidney Beans  

(adapted from this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen)

Mutton Mince (I used goat's meat, you can use lamb) - 750gms
Rajma (kidney beans) - 1 cup soaked overnight and cooked in a pressur cooker
Pumpkin - 350 gms chopped
Bell peppers - 2
Garlic - 3-4 cloves
Onions -2 diced
Green chillies - 3 chopped
Tomatoes - 6 chopped
Chilli powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Chili spice mix (store bought or see below for homemade) - 1 tbsp
Beef stock cube (or chicken stock cube) - 2 cubes dissolved in 1 litre water


Spice Mix
Red chillies - 5
Coriander seeds - 1 tbsp
Cumin seeds - 1 tsp
black pepper - 1 tsp

Roast and grind to a fine powder and mix with

dried thyme - 1 tsp
dried oregano - 1 tsp
onion powder - 1 tsp
garlic powder - 1 tsp

Run through the blender one more time

1. Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil in a pressure pan or pressure cooker and saute the mince in it for about 8-10 minutes till browned. Remove and keep aside.
2. In the same pan, heat 1 tbsp of oil and saute the onions and the bell peppers for 3 minutes, then add the garlic, chili powder, cumin powder, chili spice mix and saute for a couple of minutes more. Add the tomatoes and pumpkin pieces and saute for 3 minutes till soft.
3. Add the beef stock and salt and bring to a boil, close the pressure pan and cook for 2 whistles on high and then lower flame and cook for 5 minutes.
4. When cool enough, release pressure, open cooker and add the cooked kidney beans - mash about half a cup of the cooked kidney beans. Check seasoning and pour into a rice cooker.
5. Switch on the rice cooker and making sure there is enough liquid, cook for 90 minutes to 2 hours till the stew reduces to a thick consistency.  Stir occasionally and check for the seasoning adding cumin powder or spice powder or chili powder depending on the overall taste. (Alternatively, you can cook the dish on the stove top in a heavy bottomed vessel for about an hour)
6. Serve (preferably after keeping overnight in the fridge) with coarse bread or rice. (I served it with Spaghetti Aglio e Olio - a simple spaghetti dish tossed with olive oil, garlic and chilli flakes garnished with cheese - I also added some bacon)

Hearty Bean & Pumpkin Soup

Rajma or kidney beans seem to evoke quite a lot of emotions in people. There are people who absolutely love them and there are others who just hate anything which has kidney beans in it. I personally love rajma chawal and so does hubby, though it wasn't part of our diet till about 15 years ago.
I started having rajma on a regular basis when I was sharing a flat with four other girls. One of them was a Punjabi and she made the most amazing dals EVER! I used to have a whole bowl of it even before dinner! Anyway, C used to cook up a huge amount of rajma every Sunday and the four of us would sit down together - hair oiled, MTV blaring in the background and as we chatted about work, boyfriends and everything else in our lives we slurped up the rajma chawal savouring every single mouthful.

It was a matter of time before I discovered Tex Mex food and the joys of having refried beans with "Mexican" rice ;). And then of course there was that childhood favourite - baked beans on toast!

So, as you can see - beans in soup was a welcome addition and according to me makes the soup so much more than just an appetizer. Its practically a meal in a bowl.

This soup is so warm and comforting, it is guaranteed to satisfy the most picky palate. Beans, pumpkin and tomato - what's not to love?! I found it perfect for one evening last week, when the temperature suddenly dipped after rising to an unseasonal high the previous few days. I prefer not pureeing even part of the soup, the chunky texture really suits this soup and adds to the taste. But if you have kids who might fuss, it might make sense to puree some of it and keep a only a little of the chunky bits in for them.

Hearty Bean, Potato & Pumpkin Soup

Ingredients:
Kidney beans (rajma) - 1/2 cup - soaked overnight and cooked in a pressure cooker till soft(reserve water)
Pumpkin - 200gm, peeled and diced
Potato - 1 big, diced
Tomatoes - 2 - blanched, peeled and chopped
Onion - 1 chopped fine
Garlic - 2 cloves minced
1 bay leaf
Olive oil - 1 tbsp

Chilli powder - 1/2 tsp
Cumin powder - 1/4 tsp
salt to taste
Freshly crushed pepper powder - 1/2 tsp
1 cube Better than Bouillon stock cube dissolved in half litre water.

Method:
1. Heat oil and put in the bay leaf and garlic, then add the chopped onion after a couple of minutes and saute until transluscent.
2. Add the chopped tomatoes, chilli powder and cumin powder and saute for another 5 minutes till mushy.
3. Put in the cooked beans and chopped pumpkin and potatoes and fry5 minutes.
4. Pour the stock in along with 1.5 cups of the beans stock and a little salt and bring to boil. Reduce flame and simmer for atleast 15-20 minutes till the pumpkin and potatoes are cooked and the soup thickens.
5. Adjust seasoning, add the crushed pepper and remove from flame. Serve warm.

Spaghetti in Meat sauce (Ragu) with Fresh Red Peppers

This recipe is adapted from the recipe I use for Tagliatelle alla Bolognese; most of us are familiar with "Spaghetti Bolognese". But Bolognese may well be a misnomer at times, and you might not find it on many menus in Italy - the country of it's origin.

And in Bologna itself, the province from which this dish gets it's name, meat sauce is "never served over spaghetti" and "the meat used is ground beef.Period."
Thus speaks that grand lady of Italian cooking - Marcella Hazan. She of the quick scorn for Americanized versions of "Italian cooking" and probably the one who taught many non Italians the traditional way of cooking Italian cuisine, through her very popular book "The Classic Italian Cookbook" and more recently "The Essentials of ClassicItalian Cooking"

The base of this dish is meat sauce - spaghetti or any other pasta can be used with the meat sauce which is called ragu.
Ragu refers to any meat sauce which is cooked long and slowly, simmering till the meat is tender and the sauce is imbued with the flavours of the meat cooked in it - making the sauce rich and satisfying.

The Italian word ragu originates from the French word "ragout" which means "stew". And even more interesting, "ragout" in turn comes from the French verb "ragouter" -"to stimulate the appetite".

So, a meat sauce cooked in the Bolognese style would be one with just enough tomato to give it a slightly sweet flavour, not the meatbits-drowned-in-tomato-sauce-version, which is what one sometime gets.

It is also characterised by milk being added to the meat to reduce the acidic content of tomatoes which come later, and definitely by being simmered for "a long long time"

I have been following a recipe for sometime now, it is in my book of handwritten recipes and dates back to the era when I didn't think it necessary to jot down where I got it from. But pretty much produced some really nice Bolognese ragu over the years. Except for the beef. *ahem*
I have even used chicken mince instead of lamb at times.

So, this time since it was just for the two of us (felt bad calling the delivery guy for a small quantity for this mutton dish,so ordered a quarter kilo of mince as well ...*sigh*), I decided to try something different.

I put in cooked Kidney beans (rajma) which I then cooked again with the mince.

Fresh red chillies and peppers in the sauce boosted the flavour. I did add some chilli powder and a touch of cumin since the kidney beans,while giving the sauce great body, tends to temper down the taste.

Together the fresh chillies, peppers and the rajma made a lot of difference to this sauce and it was very interesting.

I am posting the original recipe which I normally use and the changes I made are in brackets.

Tagliatelle with Bolognese sauce

Pasta - 300 gm tagliatelle (I used spaghetti)

Ragu or meat sauce:

1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp butter

Onions 2 medium - finely chopped
Celery - 1 cup finely diced (didn't have any on hand so omitted it)
Carrots - 1 cup diced (I used half a cup of carrots and added 1 big fresh red chilly sliced and I small red pepper deseeded and diced)
Mutton mince - 200 gm
Milk - 1 cup
Marjoram - 1 tbsp dried (I used dried thyme)
1 bay leaf
pinch of grated nutmeg
Tomatoes - 250gm,blanched,skinned and chopped finely (I used six medium tomatoes and omitted the puree)
Tomato puree - 2 tbsp
White wine - 1 cup (this could be omitted)

Freshly ground black pepper
salt to taste
1 cup kidney beans soaked overnight and then cooked till tender (they shouldn't be overcooked) and 1 clove of minced garlic were other additions to this recipe.
.
1. Heat the olive oil and butter in a heavy bottomed pan, and chopped onions and fry till it changes colour.
2. Add celery and carrots (and the garlic,chopped chilli and peppers) and fry for another 2 minutes.
3. Stir in the mince,some salt and pepper and continue cooking till the meat loses its raw colour, stirring constantly till the mince is free of lumps. (add the cooked kidney beans at this stage)
4. Mix in the milk and let it simmer till the liquid evaporates, stirring frequently. Add the wine next and simmer again till it also evaporates.
5. Add the bay leaf, nutmeg, herbs, chopped tomatoes, puree,salt and simmer gently for about an hour and a half till the meat is tender, the fat separates from the sauce and the mixture has no water but is a thick sauce. ( I have tried pressure cooking the mince and then simmering it in the sauce and that just doesn't give the same taste as cooking the mince in the sauce.)
In the initial stages, you might have to keep adding water a bit at a time to prevent it from sticking, that's ok.
6. Adjust the salt, add freshly crushed pepper and mix well.

15 minutes before serving, bring water to boil for pasta with a tsp of olive oil and cook the pasta in it till tender. Drain and toss in a tsp of olive oil and season with salt and freshly crushed pepper.

Plate the pasta into 3-4 portions and ladle the ragu over the pasta. Serve warm.


This dish joins Presto Pasta Nights hosted by Ruth every week over at Once upon a Feast....this event is fast approaching it's first birthday!!!