Tagged: Cold weather comfort food

Another struggle meal I made during this house moving transition. I chose the easiest and least equipment and seasoning required dishes, and try to use up our freezer supply. The results are awesome!

Ingredients:

• 2 ground bison. It came in a square vacuum sealed bag
• 1 lb of ground pork, I like it to provide a bit fat since bison is so lean
• 1 14 oz can of tomato sauce, yep, I got a can opener from a dollar store, since I still couldn’t locate mine
• 1 can of red beans
• 1 can of northern beans, feel free to substitute any canned beans with whatever you got on hand
• 1 TBSP red chili flakes
• 2 TBSP masa for thickening the chili, totally optional
• 3 TBSP pre-made chili seasoning, yep this is a wonderful thing to keep on hand, use it to season everything during a move, for example…

Method:

In a dry, high sides dutch oven, or any heavy bottom pot with a lid, brown bison meat and pork until separated and light brown color, on medium high heat. Keep browning for a few more minutes until all the liquid evaporates, about 5 more minutes. Keep moving the meats around and break up any large lumps so they don’t burn.

Notice I did not add any oil into the pan, there is no point adding oil up front and then drain the fat out. I just let the meat cook in its own juices and release any fat. Because I am using bison here, I didn’t end up with any fat that I needed to drain at all, score!

Add the pre-made chili seasoning, stir and evenly distribute seasoning to coat each piece of meat. Add the can of tomato sauce and fill the tomato sauce can with water and add it into the pot too, don’t waste anything. Add chili flakes, however much to your liking, or none. 

Stir the meat sauce, bring it to a rapid boil – this is where the high sides coming in handy, no one wants to clean up the stove after a giant pot of chili splatter everywhere. Lower heat to low, lid on and let it simmer for 20 minutes.

Add beans to chili and stir to combine. Bring chili up to a boil again, and mix masa in enough cold water to dissolve and pour into chili mixture if used. Mix well and lower heat to low and simmer for another 45 minutes to an hour, make sure to stir occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom and burns. 

Top it with some green onions or cilantro, top white rice with home made chili and enjoy!