Dreams of Coney Island
My brother is a health nut. Almost every day for lunch he has a tuna salad (tuna in springwater, chopped vegetables with no dressing!) and he rarely if ever indulges in naughty things such as sweets, cookies, cakes or chocolate. In fact, I often have to cajole him to give any of my baking a try (and every time he refuses, I let him know very loudly that his knockback is in fact breaking my poor, fragile little heart). However, outside of this tuna-salad-and-calorie-watching-addiction, I can usually get his nose sniffing with something robust and meaty, so whenever he drops a hint that he might like a dish this way inclined, it usually has me scrabbling for a pen and paper to draw up a shopping list so I can get cracking in the kitchen!
Quite some time ago now, my brother told me that he’d spent about an hour on Wikipedia, looking up all manner of different dishes that are well known in the U.S…and then proceeded to describe them to me one by one. Of course, my memory being what it is *cough* (nonexistant!), I promptly forgot all of them bar one…his mention of the Coney Island chili dog. Why? Well, because I’d been rather absentmindedly listening to him when he was telling me all about it, so for some reason I’d had it stuck in my head it was a chilly dog rather than chili dog. Right dog, wrong chili.
Every now and then, I’d remember that he’d looked rather lovesick when he was talking about this dish and I’d tell myself that I had to give it a try for him, and then it would almost immediately slip my mind as I thought about all the other dishes that I wanted to try. Well, the fact that I’d never actually seen/tasted chili before and didn’t have the foggiest idea what it was probably didn’t help!
What with having forgotten about it for so long, it was with a bit of surprise that I wrote down “chili dog” onto my list of things to try last week. I had no idea why it had been jogged in my memory, but now that it was so firmly planted in the forefront of my mind, it was not going to leave till I had satisfied the desire to create it. Since I didn’t actually know what a chili dog consisted of (other than something called chili and a hot dog), my next stop was my computer, so I could rely on the trusty intarwebs to tell me what it was that I’d be cooking!
A quick google search led me to this recipe, which, as far as authentic went, I thought was probably what my brother was thinking…except that, well, the fact that it was just mince and onion didn’t really thrill me. Where were the contrasting textures that I’m such a fan of? I turned to Wikipedia to try and find the article that my brother had told me about, and though I couldn’t find one about the humble chili dog, I did find one about chili con carne that took my fancy far more. Although the ‘original’ chili consisted of just meat and chilli, reading down the article, I found mention of beans and tomatoes and capsicums (bell peppers) and my brain started to tick. I already had cans of cannellini and kidney beans in my pantry which were looking for purpose in their lives, so they would definitely have to help this dish along. As for tomatoes, I thought a tin of whole, peeled roma tomatoes might do the trick in that department…and so began my quest for an acceptable dish of tongue-sizzling chili that would fulfill my brother’s desire and satisfy his appetite 
I really don’t know how authentic this is as chili just isn’t a dish you encounter much here in Australia, but my third attempt has resulted in a dish that my brother can’t seem to stop guzzling down! To those of you who are familiar with what this dish is meant to be, let me know what you think
Wingin’ It Chili Con Carne
Ingredients
700g beef mince
1 large yellow onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 large green capsicum (bell pepper), cored and diced
400g tin peeled whole roma tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1x 400g can red kidney beans, drained
1x 400g can cannellini beans, drained
2 tbsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
To serve:
Sour cream, fresh diced onion, cheese, pita chips, cheese
1. Heat about 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat, then fry the onion and capsicum till the capsicum is soft enough to be somewhat easily pierced with a fork, then empty into a dish and set aside.
2. Add another 2 tbsp of olive oil to the pot and brown the mince and garlic, breaking up any large clumps of mince, and then add all the spices (chilli flakes, chilli powder, cayenne, paprika, oregano, cumin), and stir through till you can smell them quite strongly.
3. Add the capsicum and onion back to the pot, then add the tinned roma tomatoes, beef stock, tomato paste and sugar and stir through till everything is well combined. Taste, then add salt and pepper to taste, then add the drained beans and leave to gently simmer with the lid off for about 1 1/2 - 2hrs, or till the liquid has mostly reduced and the chili is nice and thick.
4. Leave till completely cool, then put into an airtight container and leave overnight in the fridge for the flavours to develop even more. Gently heat the next day, and enjoy whatever way you like
Technorati Tags: chili con carne, chili dogs, Coney Island, comfort food, spicy, chilli, TexMex Cuisine, recipes
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Comments
Jen Sounds pretty close to standard American chili. Frequently if we’re going to do chili dogs, we’ll make the chili without the beans, though I’ve had it either way and it was quite tasty.
I prefer to blend any tomatoes that I add to chili so I don’t have large chunks of it, but still have the wonderful tomato taste but that’s just a personal preference.
Ellie Mae - Hehehe, I’m glad you likes the look of it hon 
Jen - I was actually thinking that if I were to make chili dogs (we’ve just been enjoying the chili straight so far!) that I’d prefer it without the beans, but for eating by itself I like the masses of beans in there I was also thinking about the tomatoes, but went with the whole romas because I like my chunks of tomato 
Definitely personal preference has a lot to do with the way this dish is made!
Anh - Yay! Beware, it is pretty darn spicy 
Chris - Hehehe, is your nose tingling too?
neil I’m not sure that version would get you admitted to the Texas Chilli Chapter with its beans and tomatoes, but who cares, it looks pretty dang tasty y’all.
Sandra Mort A friend of mine introduced me to the concept of ‘coney island dogs’ just this week. She found it hysterically funny that I live near coney island, but had never heard of them!!! But wikipedia covered that in detail to both of our satisfactions
Ellie Neil - hahaha, probably not but I think I can live with that
Sandra - How much do you love Wikipedia? It is to online encyclopaedias what google is to search engines!
Truffle I find this recipe fascinating as an Aussie who has never eaten much chili con carne yet I know it’s as standard as a meat pie to many Americans.
Tanna Most Texans don’t put beans in their chili. But I live in Texas and I always put beans in my chili. Looks great Ellie.
Lynn That looks like really tasty chili. As far as authentic goes, I figure it’s more important to make the eaters happy than to be strictly authentic.
Belinda Sounds really good to me, Ellie! You are a dear and doting sister…what is it about brothers that can so easily get us twisted around their little fingers?!
Ellie Peabody - Thanks, hon
Truffle - It’s odd when you think about what foods make it here and what don’t, huh?
Tanna - I’ve heard that about authentic Texan chili, but I’ve heard it can be served on the side so I might give that a go next time
Cris - Hehehe, my family have taken quite a shine to it too!
Lynn - Very good point! Though, I’ve got to admit that I think I’ve got a nice in-between with this recipe so am pretty happy to stick to it
Hilda - Thanks hon, it does make for a nice winter dish!
Kat - Oooh, I was actually thinking that it reminded me of bolognese sauce! I might try it over spaghetti next time
Belinda - LOL! I have no idea…perhaps it’s the fact that I’ve doted in him from the moment he arrived home from the hospital He’s 6 years younger than me, and I’ve always loved mothering him
ilingc Hey Ellie, I have always wondered what chilli con carne tastes like. (From playing too much sims!) I will most certainly give this ago.
Ellie I-Ling - aha! You’re a sims fan too I haven’t played the sims 2, but I was pretty addicted to the first one, with so many expansions sets as well :/ Do give this dish a go, it’s pretty hearty and filling for these cold winter nights
Oh my, that looks so good!!! You got me craving chilli con carne. Now.