Kick Ass Chilli from Allegra McEvedy- Cook it, go on!

This is a rather ambitious slow cook recipe, you can add or takeaway ingredients as you like but to get the full tasty flavour I would try to stick as close to the recipe as you can.

You will need:

1 heaped tsp dried chilli flakes
2 1/2 tsps ground cumin
2 tsps dried oregano
1 tsp cinnamon
5 sprigs of thyme tied together with string
5 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
500g braising beef, roughly chopped into 4cm chunks
3 tbsp olive oil
1 heaped tsp cumin seeds
1 heaped tsp coriander seeds
Half a red chilli thinly sliced
2 large onions, diced
2 carrots, small diced
1 x 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 x 400g tins of drained kidney beans
One small red onion, thinly sliced
Juice of one lime
Salt

1. Put the dried chilli, ground cumin, oregano, cinnamon, thyme and half the garlic into a dish and add the beef. Coat the beef and leave to marinate in the fridge for a few hours

2. Heat the olive oil in a deep stew pot over a medium heat and gently fry the cumin and coriander seeds for a few minutes.

3. Increase the heat and stir in the beef with the thyme until brown on all sides. Add salt, fresh chilli, rest of garlic, the onions and carrots and keep stirring for another 15-20 mins.

4. Aadd chopped tomatoes and simmer for about 10 minutes before adding the kidney beans. Pour water over just to cover and let simmer for an hour with the lid on. Take the lid off and simmer for up to anhour more to let the mixtre thicken and the meat become tender.

5. Squeeze the lime juice into a little bowl with the red onion and stir then add mixture to the stew, leave for another half hour.

6. Add a pinch of cumin and chilli to add some fresh flavour(and if looks little dry just stir in more water until you get a nice consistency)

Serve with any additional ingredients you like; sour cream, yoghurt, rice, tortillas etc.

This will warm you up on a cold October night, just make sure you have some people to enjoy it with you otherwise you'll eat the whole lot.