This Brazilian dish is an alternative to Chilli-Con-Carne and is full of delicious flavours from the spices. It is perfect served with rice or a jacket potato.
Ingredients
1 x large potato
2 x 15ml spoons sunflower oil
1 x medium onion
3 x cloves garlic
1 x red pepper
500g lean minced beef
1 ½ x 5ml spoons ground cumin
2 x 5ml spoons dried oregano
¼ x 5ml spoon crushed dried chillies
1 x 5ml spoon smoked paprika
1 x 5ml spoon cinnamon
2 x 15ml spoons tomato puree
2 x 15ml spoons red wine vinegar
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
10 x green olives
75g sultanas
Equipment
Vegetable peeler
Sharp knife
Chopping board
Colander
Large pan with lid (preferably a shallow pan)
Spatula
Garlic crusher
Measuring spoons
Can opener
Weighing scales
Instructions
- Peel and chop the potato into small chunks (approx. 1cm squares) and rinse in the colander. Heat 1 x 15ml spoon of oil in the pan, add the potato, and stir occasionally.
- Peel and finely chop the onion and peel and crush the garlic.
- Wash and deseed the pepper and chop into small chunks.
- When the potato has started to brown, add 1 x 15ml spoon of oil to the pan with the onions and cook for 5 minutes until the onions begin to soften.
- Add the garlic and peppers to the pan and continue to cook gently.
- Add the mince to the vegetable mixture and break up to create small pieces. Continue to stir until the mince has turned brown.
- Add the cumin, oregano, chillies, paprika and cinnamon to the pan and then stir in the tomato puree and red wine vinegar. Cook for a few minutes until the spices have been absorbed into the mixture.
- Add the tomatoes and mix well.
- Cut the olives into halves or quarters (depending on size of olives and preference) and add to the pan along with the sultanas.
- Stir together and simmer (with the lid on the pan) until the potatoes are soft and the sultanas have plumped up. If the mixture gets too dry, add a little water.
Skills used include:
Weighing, measuring, peeling, chopping, mixing/combining, frying, boiling/simmering
Top Tips
- This dish is also good with some chopped fresh coriander sprinkled on before serving.
Something to try next time
- Substitute the potato for sweet potato or use half of each. Sweet potato will take less time to cook and adds a sweeter taste.
- Replace 250g of mince with 400g can of drained and rinsed black beans.
- Traditionally, boiled eggs are chopped and added as a garnish after cooking.
- Replace the beef mince with turkey mince.
Prepare now, eat later
- Prepare in advance, when cool, store in a covered container in the fridge for up to 24 hours and reheat until piping hot.
- To freeze, make the dish but leave out the potatoes as they don’t freeze well. When cool, transfer the contents into freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to 1 month.
