Adapted from Homesick Texan Cookbook by Lisa Fain
You can add in a can of diced tomatoes (I like Rotel) and/or a can of beans. If you add diced tomatoes, you can omit the lime juice.
Other toppings: dollop of sour cream, chopped pickled jalepeno, fresh diced tomatoes
ingredients:
6 dried ancho chilies, stems and seeds removed
2 dried chipotle chilies, stems and seeds removed
1 tablespoon cooking oil, bacon grease or lard
1 onion, roughly chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
4 dried pequin chilies
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground clove
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons kosher salt (1 teaspoon table salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 pounds ground beef
2 tablespoons lime juice
2 big bags Fritos or individual snack-sized Fritos, at least for each person
8 ounces shredded cheese
directions:
1. In a bowl, soak the ancho and the chipotle chilies in 1 cup of hot water for 10 minutes.
2. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the cooking oil over medium heat. Add the onions and brown for 3 minutes. Throw in the garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Place the onions and garlic in the blender.
3. Add the soaking chiles with the water into to the blender. Add in the pequin chilies (no need to soak these). Add in cumin, oregano, clove, cinnamon, salt, pepper. Blend until smooth.
4. In the same large pot (as step 2) - cook the ground beef, stirring occassionally until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add the chili puree and 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil then turn the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 45 minutes, stirring occassionally.
5. Taste and adjust seasonings, if needed. (At this step I added an additional teaspoon of kosher salt and more black pepper). Stir in lime juice. Serve over Fritos and top with shredded cheese.
.jpg)
