Chili with Dark Chocolate
Beef, beans, and tomato with a square of chili chocolate stirred in at the end.
- calories
- 540
- weight
- 12 oz
- cal / oz
- 45
- protein
- 30 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 10 min
- cook
- 30 min
- total time
- 40 min
- water
- 250 ml boiled
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Liquid fuel
- Canister stove
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Winter / snow
- Gluten free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Shelf stable
- Basic
Ingredients
| Freeze-dried ground beef | 4 oz | or a 12 oz can of seasoned ground beef |
|---|---|---|
| Olive oil | 2 tbsp | |
| Dried onion flakes | 1/4 cup | |
| Garlic granules | 1 tsp | stands in for 2 cloves |
| Dried red bell pepper | 1/2 cup | |
| Canned chopped tomatoes | 1 can (14 oz) | |
| Tomato paste | 1 tbsp | tube travels better than a can |
| Canned kidney beans | 1 can (14 oz) | drained |
| Beef bouillon | 1 cube | check the label if you need it gluten-free |
| Oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Ground cumin | 1 tsp | |
| Smoked hot paprika | 1 tsp | |
| Chili powder | 1 tsp | |
| Bay leaf | 1 | |
| Salt | 1 tsp | |
| Dark chili chocolate | 20 g | 70% cacao, broken into pieces |
| Dried parsley or cilantro | 1 tbsp | |
| Cooked rice or corn chips | to serve |
Method
- Pour 250 ml of boiled water over the freeze-dried beef, onion, and bell pepper in a mug or bag. Leave it ten minutes.
- Heat the oil in the pot. Add the rehydrated vegetables and beef and stir until the onion smells like onion.
- Add the garlic granules, oregano, cumin, paprika, chili powder, and salt. Stir for thirty seconds so the spices hit hot oil.
- Stir in the tomato paste, then the canned tomatoes with their juice, the drained beans, the crumbled bouillon cube, and the bay leaf.
- Simmer twenty minutes with the lid cracked, stirring when the bottom starts to catch. Pull it off a campfire and back on as needed.
- Kill the heat. Drop in the chocolate and stir until it disappears. Fish out the bay leaf, scatter the dried herbs, and serve over rice or with chips.
Chocolate in a savory pot is doing the same job as a long simmer you do not have time for. The cocoa solids are bitter and the tiny amount of sugar rounds off the tomato acid, so twenty minutes on a camp stove tastes closer to an hour on a stove at home. Twenty grams is the whole dose. More and it turns into a dessert sauce.
The original is a home recipe with fresh onion, pepper, and garlic. Dried versions of all three go in with hot water first, which is where the 250 ml goes, and the canned tomatoes and beans bring the rest of the liquid. Cans are heavy, so this one is for a car or a basecamp rather than a long carry. Add the chocolate off the heat: at a simmer the cocoa butter separates and you get grease slicks instead of body.
Packing
Bag the spices, salt, garlic, and bouillon together at home so camp is one packet instead of seven jars. Chocolate goes in the cooler or the middle of the pack in warm weather.
Variations
- Swap the beef for 1 cup of dried soy crumbles rehydrated the same way, and use a vegetable bouillon cube.
- Skip the chocolate and add 1 tsp of cocoa powder plus a pinch of sugar. Less depth, less melting.
https://www.schuesselglueck.de/einfaches-chili-mit-schokolade