Your Basic Chili Recipe

This is the basic chili recipe as taught to me by the Chili Chancellor himself, KWB. Over time, I have added on and modified this recipe to suit my own needs, and to make it my own. But you can easily do this yourself and have a great bowl of chili to watch during the playoffs. Incidentally, the most important ingredient in this dish is the cumin. What-ho? Thought I would say the meat? or Chili Powder? Wrong, white boy. The cumin is the ingredient that gives the chili is unique smell and flavor. Otherwise, it's just a meat-based marinara sauce.

Ingredients

- 1.5 lbs. ground beef
- 1 Large white onion
- 1 Large red bell pepper
- 3 Cloves of garlic
- 2 Cans Tomato Sauce
- 1/3 Cup Flour
- 4 TBSP Chili Powder
- 1/2 Tsp. Ground cayenne pepper
- 2 Tsp. ground Cumin
- 3 TBSP Vegetable Oil
- Salt, Pepper
- Water

Prep: Mince the garlic. Finely chop the onion and bell pepper. Set aside. In a small bowl, mix together the flour, chili powder, 1 tsp of the cumin, 1 tsp of salt, and 1 tsp of pepper.

In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, and bell pepper. Cook until the onion is soft and translucent. Add the ground beef and brown. While the beef is browning add a few pinches of salt and cumin. Drain any excess fat.

Still cooking, add the flour mixture to the pot and stir to coat. Add the tomato sauce and about 4 cups of water. The amount of water is up to you, but will greatly affect the viscosity of the end product as well as the flavor. This is totally up to you, and I suggest you play around with the amounts.

Add the cayenne pepper and a few dashes of cumin. Stir well. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer for about an hour.

Serve by itself if you want. I like to put in some shredded cheddar cheese, some chopped scallions, and some sour cream and mix it all together.