Lily's Chili

So, there are two main dishes, the chili itself and the refried beans that you serve separately the first night and then throw together as leftovers the next night...and possibly the night after depending on how many of you are eating... Plus rice, tortillas, avocado, cheese and sour cream.

Refried Beans

Fry up one small onion, nice and slow so it's soft, throw in a can of refried beans, stirring well to mix in the onion, a good teaspoon of ground cumin (be liberal with it, it's really what gives this dish the flavour), a good pinch of dried oregano and a dollop of tomato paste (or tomato sauce if you can bear to touch the evil stuff). If you like things a bit spicy chop up some jalapeno pepper and fry it with the onion. Once it's all stirred through put it in an ovenproof dish and leave it in the oven on low - about 150C while you cook the chili itself. This makes the beans nice and stiff and a bit crispy on top.

Chili
For the chili I use a couple of cloves of garlic, a brown onion, another big teaspoon of cumin and another of ground coriander (again, be liberal with these) and a sprinkling of chili powder. Add a can of mexebeans with their juices - they're sort of pre-spiced mixed beans, plus a can of chopped tomatoes and a couple of chopped fresh tomatoes. Let this simmer for a bit to thicken up. You could add more tomato paste to this, it doesn't hurt. 

Rice and tortillas

Cook up your rice, wrap your tortillas in tin foil and put those in the oven while the rice is cooking (I usually use them as a lid for the refried beans at this point to stop the beans from drying out too much. Might not be necessary, but it's part of my ritual!).

Eat

Fill the tortillas with a bit of rice, bit of refried beans, bit of chili, bit of cheese, bit of avocado and sour cream. And I always always have extra jalapenos on the the side!