Almost two winters ago, I exchanged comments on food photos of several dishes shared by a man named Dirk from Germany on Google+. He commented on photos of the foreign foods I shared and mentioned that many of the ingredients I posted were unavailable to him.
Thinking back to my penpal days as a child, in which I eagerly exchanged letters with far-flung acquaintances, I decided to send Dirk a care package. It included:
- Star anise
- Ceylon cinnamon
- Chipotle and several other types of dried, whole chile peppers
- A tamale spice blend
On their own, each spice is amazing. Combined, I could only imagine. That is, until Dirk found a way to do it.
He created what sounded like a delicious batch of beef chili, spiced with the cinnamon, chipotle, and anise I had sent, and the addition of rich coffee and cocoa.
The flavors sounded fantastic together, and I wanted to indulge them. So, with my household’s food sensitivities and preferences in mind, I recreated Dirk’s recipe with several significant changes. I substituted red wine for beer and chicken for beef, and left out the beans, vinegar and soy sauce. The result may not have been quite the same as Dirk’s, but by staying true to the spices, I found my version to taste as delicious as his looked.
The resulting recipe has many ingredients, but is straightforward to make and worth the effort.
First, some tips:
- You can get chicken chorizo from Whole Foods or other natural foods market; sometimes from your local butcher. Be sure to remove the chorizo from the skin; it will be raw and crumbly. You can also use ground chicken and add 1/2 tsp each of chile powder and paprika to the mix.
- Spices like cloves, star anise, and chipotle chilies are not often used; buy small quantities from the bulk foods section of your local store. Or, use them up in this delicious chocolate bark recipe from Food52.
- You can use cumin, coriander, and cinnamon in dishes from a wide variety of cultures, from Mexican to Indian, so stock up.
- Red wine gives this a deep, sophisticated flavor; regular or hard apple cider will make it lighter in taste.
The result? Delicious, spicy, smoky, and rich!
Dirk’s Chili, Redux and the Delicious Flavors of Cocoa, Coffee + Chipotle
Ingredients
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3-5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp dried oregano leaves
- 1 cup red wine or apple cider
- ½ pound chicken chorizo
- ½ pound ground turkey or chicken
- 2 pound chicken breast, cut into chunks
- 3-15oz cans chopped tomatoes
- 1 Tbsp crushed chipotle chile
- 2 heaping Tbsp good quality cocoa or 2 oz dark chocolate (80% cocoa)
- All of Dirk’s spice blend from recipe below
Instructions
- Pre-heat a soup pot to medium-high heat. Add olive oil, enough to coat the bottom of the pot.
- Stir onion and garlic into the pot and cook them for about 6 minutes without browning them, until the onions are soft.
- Add the oregano and the wine (or cider). Scrape the bottom of the pot and stir in the browned bits – a lot of flavor comes from them.
- Add in all remaining ingredients including the meat, tomatoes, cocoa, chipotle, and ground spice blend. Bring the chile to a simmer.
- Reduce the heat and cook, with cover slightly ajar, for 2 hours, or until the chicken is tender and broth is slightly thickened.
- Season to your liking. Serve with diced green onion, fresh cilantro leaves, hot sauce, and/or chopped avocado on top.
Dirk’s Spice Blend
2 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp whole coriander seeds
1 whole clove
1 star anise
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp coffee beans
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 ½ tsp of ground cumin to season, as needed
Toast the cumin and coriander seeds, clove, star anise, coffee beans, and black pepper corns in a hot, dry pan (no oil). Stir constantly to keep it from burning. When it begins to smell really good and the spices begin to pop, remove the pan from heat. Place spices a grinder and grind finely. Mix in cinnamon.