CHILI CON CARNE

If you’re 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 usually invite your family and friends over, prepare some chili con carne and serve it piping hot, I’m sure everyone will want more.

What is chili con carne?

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

To prepare chili con carne, purple beans, red 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, just sauté the chopped vegetables and add the previously cooked beans, the crushed natural tomato and a little vegetable broth.

The chili should cook over low heat for 20-25 minutes and it’s ready.

Serving it with fresh cilantro 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 touch.

 

What does chili con carne provide us nutritionally?

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

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

Meat provides heme iron, which comes from foods of animal origin and is much easier to absorb than non-heme iron (plant origin).

To further enhance its absorption, the consumption of vitamin C is recommended, and the consumption of calcium should be avoided at the same time, 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, the purple beans are one of them.

 

The 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, which comes from foods of plant origin, and which is much more difficult for our body to absorb.

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

Lycopene is a carotenoid, as is beta-carotene present in carrots and responsible for their 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.

 

Make a chili con carne and keep it in the refrigerator so you have it ready when you need it.

 

Can I cook this recipe in advance?

Yes, chili con carne is a stew that can be made in advance, it is ideal to cook it when you have time and keep it in the refrigerator, when you want to consume it, just heat it and it’s ready.

This stew, like most, improves when it has rested, the flavors integrate and you enjoy every nuance even more.

 

Can you make a vegan chili?

Of course you can, the only thing you have to do is increase the amount of veg ingredientsvegetables that you add to your chili.

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

More options: Pumpkin, sweet potato, beetroot.

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

Remember that the color of vegetables, greens and legumes tell us the phytochemicals they contain, for example carotenes in carrots and pumpkins, lycopene in tomatoes, betacyanin in beets and pomegranates, and sulfur compounds in cruciferous vegetables (cabbage, broccoli), etc.

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

 

You can prepare a vegan chili, add more vegetables to the recipe and enjoy an equally tasty stew.

 

How to serve chili?

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

This way, the combination is perfect and the resulting dish is lower in carbohydrates, since we are not adding the starch from rice or corn or wheat if using tortillas.

Chili can also be used to fill tortillas, in that 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 tortillas.

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

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

 

Chili is a consistent and comforting stew that cannot be missed when it’s cold.

 

The truth is that a good serving 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’ll leave you the recipe a little more below.

 

 

Watch the video to find out how prepare:

 

 

Entries related:

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

 

Bibliographic references:

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

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

3. Rosca, A. E., Iesanu, M. I., Zahiu, C. D. M., Voiculescu, S. E., Paslaru, A. C., & Zagrean, A. M. (2020). Capsaicin and Gut Microbiota in Health and Disease. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 25(23), 5681.