Chilli beans

(African version of Chilli Con Carne)

Serves 4

Ingredients

 500 grams of freshly ground beef. (Beef can be substituted for ground goat meat)

8 red tomatoes

1 red bell pepper or Tatashe

1 Cameroon pepper

2 medium sized red onions

2 cloves of garlic

2 tbs of tomato paste

3 Bouillon cubes

2 cups of cooked black eyed beans.

1 cup of bleached palm oil or vegetable oil

Salt to taste.

Preparation

Chop garlic and onions and set aside. Blend tomatoes roughly, peppers and Cameroon pepper and set aside. Heat oil in a shallow pan until its hot. Sautee garlic and onions for 5 minutes until translucent and almost turning brown, then add ground beef (do not put any water at this stage as the meat with release some liquid). Add 2 bouillon cubes and let the beef cook for 10 minutes until it’s a light brown in colour. Then the blended tomatoes/pepper, tomato paste and some water (depending on how light or thick you want it to loosen the thickness and let simmer on a low heat for another 15 minutes until the tomatoes are cooked through. Add the cups of cooked (but firm) black eye beans to the stew and let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Serve with Coconut Rice. Garnish with roughly chopped parsley.