Kevin Malone brings some of his “Kevin’s Famous Chili” at least once year to the office. After 4 months of lock-down restrictions, Kevin thought this might be a good time to bring in some of his chili to the office. Because I am on a Keto diet, Kevin was kind enough to modify his recipe a bit to accommodate my dietary restrictions. And well, clumsy as he is at accounting numbers; he made a mess yet again with his chili by spilling it all over.

Anyway, I managed to get the recipe and make my own attempt at it. And I have to say it was pretty amazing!!

Ingredients:

• Ground Beef (3 pounds)
• Dried Ancho Chilies (4 chilies)
• Dried Chipotle Chilies (8-10 chilies)
• Cocoa Powder (1 tablespoon)
• Ground Cumin (1 tablespoon)
• Dried Oregano (1 teaspoon)
• Chicken Stock (32 ounces)
• Yellow Onion (1; chopped)
• Jalapenos (2; finely chopped; you can remove seeds if you don’t want it to be spicy)
• Habanero (1; finely chopped; you can remove seeds if you don’t want it to be spicy)
• Garlic (4-5 cloves; crushed)
• Tomatoes (6-7 diced; I used canned 28 ounces)
• Salt (to taste)
• Pepper (to taste)
• Avocado (pitted, peeled and sliced; to serve; optional)
• Sour Cream (1 heaping tablespoon; to serve; optional)
• Shredded Sharp Cheddar (to serve; optional)
• Cilantro (chopped; to serve; optional)
• Red onions (chopped; to serve; optional)
• Lime/Lemon wedges (to serve; optional)
• Oil

Directions:

Cut the dried chilies into halves (you can remove the seeds if you don’t want it too spicy) and place it in a dry pan over medium-high heat and lightly toast it for a minute or two until fragrant. Place the chilies in a blender and process it until it is reduced to a fine powder.

Add the cocoa powder, ground cumin and oregano into the blended and pulse it to combine. Add 3/4 cup of chicken stock and blend it again until it forms a fine paste and then set it aside.

In a large stock pot, add oil and turn the heat up to medium-high. Add beef in batches and brown on all sides and then set it aside.

Add the onions into the pot and saute it for 2-3 minutes until it starts sweating. (You don’t want it cooking for too long; like Kevin said, the trick is to under-cook the onions). Then add the jalapenos, habanero and garlic and continue cooking for a minute.

At this point add the tomatoes along with remaining chicken stock and bring it to simmer. (If you’re not doing a ketogenic diet, you can add soaked kidney beans at this point)

Add the beef back in and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes.

At this point I moved the chili into a slow cooker and cooked it on the high settings for 3 hours. You can continue cooking on the hob on low heat for 2-3 hours or in an oven at 300^oF for the same duration.