Chipotle Chili

This chili is a bit of a change up from my normal weekend chili.  I tend to put a lot of veggies in my chili, but this one is heavy one the beans and meat.  The chipotle's give it a nice smokey flavor.

chili spice

35 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons cumin

pinch of sugar

2 teaspoons black pepper

2 tablespoons dried ancho pepper

1 teaspoon salt

..................

4lbs ground meat.  I usually use 80-20 ground beef, but I've used a lot of others as well.  

........................

Beans

1 lb of dry black beans
1 lb dry kidney beans

The night before, soak the beans according to the package directions.  Drain

..................

Veggies

1 large onion diced

An assortment of fresh seasonal spicy peppers.  I use about 15 peppers.  Jalapenos, poblano, chilis and some thai peppers I picked up at the market.  The amount and variety really depends on what the market has

1 clove garlic

.........................

Canned products

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 large can tomato sauce

1 large can tomato puree
1 7oz can whole chipotle peppers

.................

Other stuff

1 jar garlic lime salsa

3 tablespoons butter

4 tablespoons lemon juice

2 tablespoons lime juice

6 cups water

Sour cream and cheese for garnish

-------------------

really big skillet

very big pot.  

........................

In the skillet

melt the butter and saute the spicy peppers and garlic.  I cut the garlic up into little bits, but leave the peppers in large pieces because not everyone in my family likes them and that way they can pull them out and leave them for me.  :-)

When the peppers are cooked remove them from the heat and put them in the pot.  Next toss the meat in the skillet with the chili spice ingredients and brown it.  I like to drain some of the fat from it.  4lbs is a lot of meat, so you might want to divide everything up into two batches if your pan isn't big enough.  Divide the spice mix too so that all the meat can get the flavor.  Drain the melted fat off of the meat before adding it.

Dump everything else into the big pot.  Add the meat and peppers cooked earlier. Stir it all together and cook.  I bring it to a boil and then turn it down and cook over medium until the water has reduced to a consistency you want AND the beans are soft.  If the chili is thick but the beans are not done, add more water and cook some more.  Stir occasionally to keep the meat and beans from settling on the bottom and burning.

garnish with sour cream and cheese if you wish.

you can sub any salsa for the garlic lime one, I just really like citrus flavors in my chili

The serving size is 1 cup and this is without sour cream and cheese garnish.