Mexican Beef Chilli

This is a very meaty chili that is guaranteed to stick to your ribs and warm up any cold day.  It's not too spicy, but still full of Mexican flavor.  To keep with the Mexican theme, serve it with a cheese quesadilla.

Ingredients:

Chilli

3 Tablespoons olive oil
12 oz steak (something similar to a rump steak), cut into bite-size pieces
1/2-1 onion, minced
4 garlic cloves (if you don't LOVE garlic, try using 2-3), crushed
1 can mild chopped green chiles
2 Tablespoons chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 bay leaves
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 1/2 + cups beef stock
2 cans mixed beans (pinto, red kidney beans, and black beans), drained and rinsed
salt and black pepper, to taste
tortilla chips or strips for garnish
Monterey Jack or another Mexican melting cheese, shredded for garnish
Corn starch (optional)

Quesadilla

flour tortilla, 1 per quesadilla
shredded cheese
oil and/or nonstick cooking spray


1.  Heat the oil in a large pan over a high heat and cook the meat until golden brown.  Remove from pan with slotted spoon.

2.  Reduce heat and add onions, garlic, and chillis.  Cook 4-5 minutes, until softened.

3.  Add chilli powder and ground cumin and cook for 2 minutes.  Return meat to the pan and stir in bay leaves, tomato paste, and beef stock.  Bring to a boil.

4.  Reduce heat, cover pan, and simmer until the meat is tender.  

5.  Put a quarter of the beats into a bowl and mash them with a pastry cutter, fork, or potato masher.  Stir these beans into soup to thicken it.  Add remaining beans and simmer 5 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper.  If chilli is not thick enough by this time, then stir in a small
amount of cornstarch that has been mixed with a small amount of water.

Serve chilli in bowls, garnished with crushed tortilla chips/strips and cheese.  

If you'd like to serve it with a quesadilla, put small amounth of oil and/or cooking spray into frying pan over medium low heat.  Put flour tortilla in pan.  Next, put shredded cheese on one half of tortilla and fold the other half over, pressing down with a spatula. Flip once golden brown on one side and cook the other side until golden brown.  Remove to place and cut into triangles with scissors to serve.