If I’m being honest I amn’t paying full attention to this post. Sister #5 and I have found a perfectly trashy, real life detective program. We missed the start which has made it even more intriguing.

But if I must talk about the post, this is such a comforting dinner. There’s a bit of faffing about at the start and then a whole heap of passive cooking. I like to make a whopper batch and then have it a second day as well, it can sometimes be even nicer the second day for the record.

Life… The world still feels uneasy. Too many undecided things afoot at the mo. The planning man came out to our house and he was very lovely. Even though it means nothing it’s always nice to find a person nicer than expected. Our house is also deadly, regardless of the uncertainty it is just deadly and can only get deadlier.

On further nervy matters, I’m actually going to those blog awards tomorrow. A room full of real life people who are proper professional blog type folk. To be honest even if they weren’t professional people and it was just a random room full of people I didn’t know that’d be terrifying enough. Eek. Anyway, I’ll let you know how I get on.

To the food.

Here’s the original recipe, stolen from the reliable BBC.

Onion                     1

Red pepper           1

Garlic clove           2

Paprika                  1 teaspoon

Chilli power          1 teaspoon

Ground cumin       1 teaspoon

Dried oregano        1 teaspoon

Beef mince              750g

Tomato puree          2 tablespoons

Tinned tomatoes     1 can (400g)

Beef stock                  1 cube

Sugar                           1 teaspoon

Kidney beans            410g tin

Salt and pepper

Things to go with it; bake a sweet potato or boil some rice and have some sweetcorn. I like sour cream, grated cheese and guacamole but have whatever you like.

It really isn’t as ridiculous as that list of ingredients looks.

Put a large pan on a medium heat with a glug of oil.

Begin by finely dicing the onion and throwing that into your pan.

Crush in the two garlic cloves and let it all fry away for a few minutes while you dice the pepper.

…dice the pepper – finely.

Add it in to the slightly softened aliums.

Let that all cook down for another few minutes before adding in all the spices and herbs.

Fry some more – let’s say…3mins?

Tip all the cooked vegetables into a bowl and put to one side.

Throw the mince into the same pan you used before and turn up the heat.

Don’t be stirring the meat constantly. It’ll brown better if you let it sit for a minute or two between stirs.

Once it’s good and brown add in the tomato puree and keep cooking for another 2mins.

Pour in the tinned tomatoes.

Fill the empty tomato can with water and add that to the pot.

Throw the onions and peppers back in.

Crumble in the beef stock add in the sugar, salt and pepper and stir it all together.

Pop on the lid and reduce the heat to medium-low and let it cook away for at least 30mins. I actually try to cook it for up to 2hrs if I know I’ll be knocking about the house for a while. Cook it with the lid off for half the time.

After at least half an hour or 10mins before you get bored of waiting for mince to cook add in the drained and rinsed kidney beans and cook for a further 10mins.

If at any stage the mix looks too dry pour in a big splash of water.

Let it sit for about 20mins once it’s cooked with the lid on for everything to get very delicious.

That’s all.