Tomato Tomatoe

sweet potato chilli

I love a great one pot meal, and chili is always an easy meal to make. I like to make a large batch of this and then I freeze it so I have an easy meal ready for when I don’t have time to cook. I have a few twists to my chili. Firstly, I like to add sweet potatoes which adds nutrients and sweetness. I also like to fry everything in beef tallow. For this recipe I used grass-fed ground beef which is fairly lean. The tallow adds fat and flavour to the chili. I’ve recently started adding a splash of wine (white or red, whatever you have open in the fridge). which adds depth and flavour. Typically I use chicken stock for this recipe but recently I used water instead since I ran out of stock and it tasted fantastic! You can definitely add stock to this if you have some on hand.

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sweet potato chili

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp cumin
• 2 tbsp chili powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• 4 bell peppers
• 3 small white onions or 1 large
• 1 lb grass-fed ground beef
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp beef tallow
• 4 cups filtered water
• 1/4 cup dry white or red wine
• 1 1/2 cups crushed tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

Directions

1. Wash and peel the sweet potatoes and into small cubes. Cut the peppers into 1 inch chunks. Dice the onion and mince the garlic.
2. Heat a large Dutch oven to medium-high heat and add the beef tallow. Once the pot is hot, add the ground beef. Cook this for 8-10 minutes, until the beef develops some colour. Add the onions and cook this for another 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, stirring often.
3. Make a hot spot by pushing away some of the beef and onions. Add the tomato paste, garlic and spices. Stir this until the tomato paste caramelizes and the garlic becomes fragrant. This should take a few minutes. Add the wine and cook this for a few minutes.
4. Add crushed tomatoes, water, peppers, sweet potatoes, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Let this come up to a boil and then turn the heat down to low. Slightly cover with a lid and let this cook for 1 hour, stirring periodically so that nothing sticks to the bottom. Once the sweet potatoes are tender, add the white beans and cook for another 15-20 minutes, or until the chili has thickened.
5. Serve with tortilla chips, avocado, sour cream, cilantro and green onions.