Tom Kerridge Chili Con Carne With A Twist

Today we're taking a look at one of Tom Kerridge's recipes that takes a standard dish and elevates it a bit! Tom Kerridge Chilli con Carne combines green chillies, green peppers, cheap minced pork, and some extra flair to make a delicious, easy meal. While his recipe is great on its own, we've got a few things in store that I think drastically improve the meal with a few simple alterations and additions.

As per usual, today's recipe is going to be made with no filler or faff - that means my fictional great grandmother's world-famous recipe won't be making an appearance today. All we've got is the actually important stuff.

Tom Kerridge Chili Con Carne Recipe & Ingredients

As per usual, we're starting with the most important part of any recipe - mise en place . We're going to get the ingredients and tools prepared so that our job down the line is nice and easy. Let's get right into it.

As a note, Tom Kerridge's recipe is different from the traditional recipe in a few ways. First, he makes a sauceless version, which I personally dislike in comparison - but if you hate sauce, or want a lighter version, this is the recipe for you. Second, he recommends that you use yoghurt . That is a sin and any Abuela would have your kneecaps for even suggesting replacing crema with yoghurt.

Mise en Place (Ingredients)

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To make this base recipe, we're going to need a few things:

1. 1 kg minced pork
2. 2 white onions, diced
3. 8 garlic cloves, finely minced
4. 1 tbsp cumin seeds
5. 1 tsp dried thyme
6. 2 green peppers, cleaned and diced
7. 8 green chillies, roughly chopped (with seeds)
8. 1 small jalapeno, deseeded and chopped (keep the seeds if you want it spicy )
9. 6 ripe tomatoes, diced (deseed if following Tom's recipe exactly, though we want this a bit saucier)
10. 150 mL water (double if you want it saucier)
11. Half bunch green or spring onions
12. Salt and pepper to taste
13. 1 bunch mint, bruised and shredded
14. 2 limes, zested and juiced, another for just juice
15. 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
16. Corn tortillas

The Recipe

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Now let's get right to the fun part - the cooking! As a note, I recommend making your own crema (down below) the night before - it'll be drastically better.

1. Heat a large pan over medium-high heat. Once it's ripping hot, it's ready. (Water droplets should dissipate in 3-5 seconds when thrown onto the pan.)
2. Mix the minced pork with your cumin, thyme, and 1 tsp each of salt and pepper in a bowl and the juice of one lime. One the pork is well coated, add it to the pan. Dry fry for 10-15 minutes, or until it's dark and crispy.
3. Transfer the pork from the pan, draining 3/4 of the excess fat and juice. Preheat your oven to broil.
4. Bring the pan to medium-low heat. Add onions and half of the garlic, stirring until softened.
5. While your onions and garlic are cooking, toss your jalapeno, chillies, and peppers in oil and salt them. Place them in the oven on a baking sheet once it's up to temp, removing as soon as the skin starts to char .
6. Combine chillies, peppers, jalapenos, onions, tomatoes, and garlic in the pan with your pork.
7. Add water and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer the liquid until it's almost entirely evaporated.
8. Stir in your spring onions, remaining garlic, mint, lime zest and salt/pepper to taste, deglazing with the juice of two limes. Simmer for a few minutes, tasting the sauce. It should marry over the coming minutes and become one cohesive flavour.
9. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes.

The Twist

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Now, Tom seems to recommend that you serve this with yoghurt - he may be a talented chef, but he's wrong here. A traditional Chilli con Carne would be served with crema which varies greatly from yoghurt. Let's whip that up really quick, shall we?

You'll need:

1. 250 mL sour cream
   • You can make your own a mixture of 4:1 whole milk to heavy whipping cream with 2 tsp lemon juice. Leave covered with cheesecloth overnight – at room temperature. (240 ml heavy cream, 60 mL milk, 2 tsp lemon, 24 hours.)
2. 1 garlic clove
3. Salt to taste
4. 3 tbsp fresh cilantro (substitute fresh mint if you are one of those who hate cilantro)
5. 1 lime zested and juiced.
6. Optional: 1-2 tsp smoked chipotle powder (to taste)

To make the crema, just blend it all until it's a thin sauce! Trust me here - this adds a whole layer of flavour.

Final Thoughts

That was a quick and easy recipe indeed! I personally love this recipe because it is so simple and makes use of easy ingredients, while still allowing a bit of adaptability. Don't want spicy? Remove the jalapeno. Want the sauce to be smoky? Add chipotle pepper.

Tom Kerridge Chilli con Carne is super easy, but really, the most important thing here is that you cook it with love. And seriously - don't bother with the yoghurt, crema is where it's at.