Chocolate Chili

Submitted by Claudia Robinson

I simmer this in the Crockpot on busy days so the house smells divine when we come home. We serve this divine dish with quinoa, a warm loaf of crunchy baguette and grass fed butter. It pairs well with meaty, dark red wines.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons coconut oil

2 medium onions, diced (about 2 cups)

Garlic – the recipe calls for 4 teaspoons but I used 4 tablespoons! Love garlic!

2 pounds ground beef

1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves

2 tablespoons chili powder

2 tablespoons cumin

2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon ground allspice

1 teaspoon sea salt 6 ounces tomato paste

14.5 ounce fire-roasted, chopped tomatoes

14.5 ounces beef broth

1 cup water

Directions:

Add coconut oil to the pan. Stir in onion and garlic. Heat until onion becomes transparent.

Add crumbled beef to the pan and begin to brown. If using high fat ground beef you may want to strain the fat off the top before moving on to the next step. Although there is nothing wrong with fat, I find that less fat floating on top improves the presentation of the dish.

Add and mix dry seasonings in a ramekin with a fork. Make sure that they are well combined. The dried oregano can be crushed between your palms to help release its flavor.

Add seasonings to beef mixture and combine well.

Add tomato paste to beef mixture and combine well.

Add the tomatoes with their juice, beef broth, and water to the mixture. Combine well. Bring to a boil and let it simmer gently for 2 hours — stirring frequently. The original recipe says that you shouldn’t skimp on the simmer although I simmered mine for 1 hour and received tasty results. Point is, you can play around with it.

You can substitute diced chicken or tofu for the beef!