CHILI AND MEAT

If you are looking for a comforting dish for these winter days, chili con carne is a perfect option.

Days of being at home in the warmth of the home are coming, if you like to cook and you usually invite your family and friends, prepare a chili con carne and serve it very hot, I am sure that everyone will want to repeat.

What is chili con carne?

It is a very simple recipe, a stew based on vegetables, legumes and meat with spices, with a spicy point and an intense flavor.

To prepare a chili con carne, purple beans, purple onion, green or red pepper, natural tomato, minced beef, spring onion and fresh cilantro are used.

As for the spices, sweet paprika, ground chili, ground cumin, salt and black pepper.

Preparing it is very easy, you just have to fry the chopped vegetables and add the previously cooked beans, the crushed natural tomato and a little vegetable broth.

The chili should be simmered for 20-25 minutes and it's done.

Serving it with fresh coriander gives it an incomparable touch of freshness, but I know that not everyone likes its characteristic aroma and flavor, so you can opt for fresh parsley, which will also provide that fresh touch, but with a much milder flavor.

 

Chili con carne is a spoon dish with flavor and a spicy point.

 

What does chili con carne give us nutritionally?

In this dish, the contribution of protein and iron from some of the main ingredients, veal and purple beans, stands out above all.

I don't know if you knew, but there are two types of iron that we can provide through our diet, heme iron and non-heme iron. (1)

Meat provides heme iron, it is from foods of animal origin, much easier to absorb than non-heme iron (vegetable origin).

To further enhance its absorption, the consumption of vitamin C is recommended, and it is necessary to avoid the consumption of calcium in the same intake, since it is the only mineral capable of sequestering iron, inhibiting its absorption by the body.

 

 

In this chili, there are several ingredients that provide polyphenols, purple beans are one of them.

 

Purple beans also provide a good dose of protein, they have 19 g per 100 g of food. They also provide fiber and iron, but in this case it is non-heme iron, it is the one that comes from foods of plant origin, and it is much more difficult for our body to absorb.

In addition, that characteristic purple color indicates that they provide polyphenols, and tomatoes are rich in lycopene.(2)

Lycopene is a carotenoid, as is the beta-carotene present in carrots and responsible for its orange color; in tomatoes, lycopene is what gives it that intense red color and is characterized by being a powerful antioxidant.

As a curiosity, it is interesting to know that lycopene is much more concentrated when the tomato is subjected to temperature accompanied by a fat such as extra virgin olive oil (EVOO).

Polyphenols are biologically active compounds with high anti-inflammatory power.

 

Spices are another of the strong points in this dish, especially ground chili, which provides capsaicin, a biologically active substance that is antioxidant and anti-inflammatory.

If you want to know more about the power of spices, I recommend this post in which I explain which are my favorites and why.

 

Prepare a chili con carne and store it in the fridge to have it ready when you need it.

 

Can I cook this recipe ahead of time?

Yes, chili con carne is a stew that can be prepared in advance, it is ideal to cook it when you have time and store it in the fridge, when you want to eat it, you just have to heat it up and that's it.

This stew, like most, wins when it has rested, the flavors are integrated and each nuance is enjoyed even more.

 

Can you make a vegan chili?

Hell yeah, all you have to do is increase the amount of vegetable ingredients you add to your chili.

An interesting option is to add celery, different colored peppers, white beans, carrots and red cabbage.

More options: Pumpkin, sweet potato, beetroot.

You can make the combination of vegetables that you prefer, the more different colors there are in the stew, the better.

Remember that the color of vegetables and legumes indicate the phytochemicals they contain, such as carotenes in carrots and pumpkins, lycopene in tomatoes, betacyanin in beets and pomegranates, and sulfur compounds in cruciferous (cabbages, broccoli), etc.

Knowing this, it is clear that a wide variety of vegetables must be introduced into the diet to obtain all the benefits.

 

A vegan chili can be prepared, add more vegetables to the recipe and enjoy an equally tasty stew.

 

How is chili served?

I like to prepare the chili and serve it with a side of vegetables, my favorites are the al dente cauliflower or broccoli florets and the cauliflower rice.

In this way, the combination is perfect and the resulting dish is lower in carbohydrates, since we are not adding rice starch or corn or wheat starch in the case of using tortillas.

You can also use chili to fill tortillas, in which case I advise you to use low-carb tortillas made with cauliflower or almonds.

If you can't get them, take it with flaxseed tortillas, they are much healthier than corn or wheat.

Add avocado to the final dish, it gives it a creamy and fresh point at the same time.

Chili is usually served with sour cream or grated cheese, but keep in mind that if you add dairy, the calcium they provide will be able to sequester part of the iron that meat and legumes carry, preventing its proper absorption.

 

Chili is a hearty and comforting stew that can't be missing when it's cold.

 

The truth is that a good helping of chili when it's cold is a blessing, it is very comforting and revitalizing.

If you want to try an intense stew try this dish, I'm sure you'll love it, I leave the recipe a little below.

 

 

Watch the video to see how it is prepared:

 

 

Related entries:

• Chickpeas Ras El Hanout.
• My 5 favorite spices.
• Legumes and antinutrients.

 

Bibliographic references:

1. González Urrutia, Rocío. Bioavailability of iron. Rev. costarric. public health [on-line]. 2005, vol.14, n.26, pp.6-12. ISSN 1409-1429.

2. Cruz Bojórquer, RM; González Gallego, J; Sanchez Collado, P. (2013). Functional properties and health benefits of lycopene. Nutr Hosp;28(1):6-15

3. Rosca, AE, Iesanu, MI, Zahiu, CDM, Voiculescu, SE, Paslaru, AC, & Zagrean, AM (2020). Capsaicin and Gut Microbiota in Health and Disease. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 25(23), 5681.