New Mexico Chili
Ground beef, poblano, and root vegetables, thickened with pureed beans instead of flour.
- calories
- 520
- weight
- 13 oz
- cal / oz
- 40
- protein
- 28 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 75 min
- total time
- 90 min
- water
- 500 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
- Dutch oven
- Campfire coals
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Dairy free
- Nut free
- One pot
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Ground beef | 1 lb | keep it in the cooler bottom, frozen if day two |
|---|---|---|
| Canned navy beans | 1 can (15 oz) | do not drain, the liquid does work |
| Olive oil | 1/4 cup | |
| Yellow onion | 1 large | chopped at home |
| Poblano peppers | 2 | stemmed, seeded, chopped at home |
| Celery root | 1 small | peeled and diced small |
| Carrots | 2 | peeled and diced small |
| Ground cumin | 1 1/2 tsp | |
| Onion powder | 1 tsp | |
| Ground allspice | 1/2 tsp | |
| Cayenne | 1/4 tsp | |
| Diced tomatoes | 1 cup | a small can or a shelf-stable carton |
| Water | 2 cups | |
| Salt and black pepper | to taste |
Method
- Mash about a third of a cup of the beans against the side of a cup with a spoon until it is a paste. No blender in camp. Set it aside.
- Get a bed of coals going or set the Dutch oven on a grate over a low fire. Heat the oil and brown the beef, eight to ten minutes. Move it to a plate or a bowl lid.
- Cook the onion and poblano in the same fat until they go soft and translucent, another eight to ten minutes. Stir often, cast iron over coals runs hotter than a stove.
- Add the celery root and carrot. Ten minutes, until a spoon edge cuts a piece.
- Return the beef. Add the cumin, onion powder, allspice, and cayenne and stir for a minute so the spices hit the hot fat.
- Add the tomatoes, the rest of the beans, the bean paste, and two cups of water. Salt and pepper.
- Set the lid on and hold it at a slow simmer for about 45 minutes, pulling coals away if it boils hard. Taste for salt before you serve it.
The mashed beans are the whole reason this holds together. Chili without a thickener sits as meat in broth, and flour or masa is one more thing to carry and one more thing to lump. A third of a cup of beans crushed to paste and stirred back in does it with an ingredient already in the pot.
This one wants a cooler and a real fire, so it is a car camping or basecamp dinner, not a backpacking one. The dicing is done at home. In camp you are browning meat and waiting, which is what a Dutch oven is for. Keep the fire low under it once the lid goes on; cast iron over direct flame scorches the bottom long before the carrots are done.
Packing
Chop the onion, poblano, celery root, and carrot at home and pack them in one bag; that is the whole prep time and it does not need to happen at a picnic table. Premix the four spices in a film canister. Beef and vegetables ride in the cooler, cans and oil in the food bin.
Variations
- No celery root at the store: a peeled russet, diced the same size, does the same job of adding body.
- Swap the beef for a second can of beans and it becomes vegan, but add another tablespoon of oil or it eats thin.
- A squeeze of lime at the bowl cuts through the allspice.
https://www.lodgecastiron.com/blogs/recipe/new-mexico-chili