Chilli Mince

Sometimes you want to cook up a solid meal that is not swimming in cream, tomato or parmesan.

This is a mince dish to warm you up and stodgy enough for a winter meal, with left overs.

It has a paste (as well as pasta) base, so you will need a decent blender.

I will try to save on washing up and use a single wok and one saucepan.

If you don’t like stirring in a pan, you are better off buying a pie to heat in the oven. This dish needs you to keep moving. 

Serves four

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PASTE

• 2 onions peeled and quartered
• half a garlic bulb (about 6-8 cloves flattened with most of the skin picked off – no dramas if you leave some on)
• fresh ginger about a 2 inch knob
• 2 cayenne chilli can be dried (finely chopped before blending seeds in)
• 1/2 cup white wine

Blitz in a blender until it is a runny paste, this is not a chopping process, the paste must be gooey.

Heat a heavy wok on 7/10 heat with a generous coating of coconut oil (a heavy oil like this helps the onion paste cook)

Cook the paste for 4-5 minutes stirring with a wok ladle or large implement.

 

Tip the paste into a bowl and set aside.

 

MAIN DISH AND SAUCE

Reoil the wok with coconut oil and reheat to 8/10 heat.

• 500g mince

Sear the mince and break it up with the wok laddle until it is fine and crumbly. It should be browned by that time but not drying out.

As soon as the mince is browned and there should be some oil/fat in the wok, turn down to 6/10 heat and add the sauces:

• 50 ml tomato paste
• 1 can of diced tomato 
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar (not granulated it is the stuff with lots of molasses in it-don’t use white sugar, if you can’t get tamarind paste try a fruit jam rather than white sugar)
• 4 tablespoons of white wine vinegar (halve that if you are using mirin or apple cider vinegar)
• 4 tablespoons of oyster sauce (no drama if you have not got it)
• generous grind of salt and pepper

Tip the paste into the mince dish and stir.

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NOODLES

• half a packet of fetuccini bronze extruded pasta

This dish can stand a heavy pasta, preferably a fetuccini bronze extruded. I am not kidding, have a look in Coles or Woolies. The pasta makes a big difference to this dish. And the bronze extrusion will hold the sauce onto the pasta. Set the saucepan onto boil and use about half a packet. The saucepan should be a big one, with 2/3 full of water for a “rolling boil”.

Add the pasta and watch so it does not boil over.

SERVING

Pasta first with a mince topping then

Garnish the top with

• Dried and crushed peanuts
• Bean sprouts
• Coriander (if you like it but ditch it otherwise)
• Sliced zucchini