North African Inspired Chilli Con Carne

بِسْــــــــــــــــــــــمِ اﷲِارَّحْمَنِ ارَّحِيم

السلام عليكم و رحمة الله و بركاته

My friend Ivy, over at Kopiaste ... to Hospitality started this very nice event called Creative Concoctions where she invites to share your orginal culinary creations. Today, I am sharing my own creations, a spin-off Tex-Mex chilli con carne by adding the flavours of North Africa!

One of the dishes, I had come to love while living in the US is chilli con carne making prepared by Mexicans and in Texas. It 's really a hearty dish good enough to warm you up on cold days, but still appearing to me to have in the heat of summer!

Today, I present my version of chilli con carne with a North African twist of adding harissa paste, Ras el hanout spice blend and also preserved lemons.

North African cuisine, while not all the same has a nice blend of flavors and spices which is one of the reasons for its immense popularity the world over. The food here in Algeria is flavorful but not spicy enough to make you sweat!

{ north african inspired chilli con carne }

active prep time: 10 mins | inactive prep time: 1hr - overnight   bake time: 0 mins 

serves 6 

• 500g  lean ground lamb
• 1 large, diced fine
• 2 ribs of celery
• 2 carrots, medium dice
• 1 cubanelle pepper,  diced medium
• 1 red pepper, diced medium (optional)
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tomatoes, skinned and pureéd
• 2 TBS tomato paste
• 3 garlic minced
• 2 bay leaves
• Harissa or hot pepper to taste
• 2 tsp Ras el hanout spice
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika
• few threads of saffron
• handful of cilantro, mint and parsely
• 1 cup precooked chickpeas
• nice rounded tablespoon of apricot preserves
• Handful of choppe preserved lemons
• juice of half lemon
• olive oil
• salt /black pepper

HEAT the olive oil and sauté the onion, celery, carrot, and garlic until golden.

STIR in the rest of the vegetables and spices; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly allowing for the aromas to release.

NOW add 1 ½ cups water, tomato paste, chickpeas, apricot preserve, preserved lemons, and tomatoes; bring to a boil.

COVER with a lid, then reduce the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes.

STIR in the cilantro and juice before serving.

I serve this chilli usually with a nice and quick homestyle Algerian semolina 'cornbread' Algerian Khoubz el Dar as you can see in the picture above! I will post this bread in my next post!

SAHA F'TOURKOUM! 

 

Make Ahead

Prepare this chilli ahead and store in the fridge for up to a week or longer in the freezer.

Variation

 Make this stew vegetarian by omitting the meat and adding more beans. Oe optionally use ground turkey instead of the lamb for a healthier version.

 Algerian, Winter; Soups and Stews

 

How do you warm up on cold nights? 

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 I am sending this dish to Ivy of Kopiaste's event  Creative Concoctions . She will have this event monthly so please be sure to check out the rules if you would like to enter! Round-up is tomorrow so check it out!

and also to

Deb in sunny Hawaii's Souper Supper Sunday event

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