My Grandma's Chili Con Carne...

When my aunts, uncles and cousins would all get together at my Grandma's house we'd beg her to make her famous chili con carne. The smell of roasted chilies and beans boiling on the stove was the smell of home and comfort. In fact I'm tearing up now remembering those wonderful days at my Grandmother's house in Pasadena, CA.

When my husband and I moved in together (Yes, we were sinners! We lived together before we were married) I wanted to impress him with my Grandma's famous chili con carne. I had totally messed it up and I called her in a panic and as calm as she was she helped me "fix" it over the phone and it turned out great. My Grandma is no longer here, so I can't call her anymore to get help with fixing her dishes, but she lives in my heart and and her recipes are forever in mind.



So I'm going to share with all of you my Grandmother's chili con carne recipe! Now all Mexicans have their own way of making chili con carne or chili verde, but this was my Grandma's way and it's muy delicioso!

NOTE: Roasting chili's and tomatoes - In Latin cooking the traditional way to roast chilies is over the comal. I have an electric stove and the comal doesn't get as hot over the electric burner as with a gas stove, so I roast my chilies in the oven under the broiler.

Ok...so here we go!

Roast approximately 6 Anaheim Chilies and 3 Roma Tomatoes. The tomatoes cut the heat of the chilies so depending on how hot you want your sauce use more or less tomatoes.

After your chilies and tomatoes are done roasting place them in a bowl and while they're still very hot cover them with plastic wrap so that they get steamed and the skins are easier to peel off. You can also place them in a plastic gallon bag to steam as well. Let them steam for about 10-15 min.

Once your chilies have gotten nice and steamy remove the plastic wrap and very gently begin to peel the skins off your chilies and tomatoes.



Try to remove all of the skin from the chilies versus trying to get off all the skin of the tomatoes. The tomato skins are not as tough as the skins of the chilies.

Remember to also remove the seeds of the chilies as well. The seeds are what makes the chili hot so try to remove as much seeds as you can. But if you like it hot leave the seeds in!



Next place the chilies and tomatoes into your blender. Add about 3/4 cup of water as well as salt, pepper, garlic powder and cumin to your liking. I never measure anything with this dish, it's all in the taste. Once it's blended this is what it'll look like...



If you want to make the sauce a little more thinner go ahead and add more water to make the sauce to whatever consistency you like.

In a skillet heat up 1 sliced up onion and about 1 1/2 tsp of minced garlic in about 1-2 tsp of oil (in the pic below I only had half of an onion but I usually use 1 large onion).

Once the onions and garlic have been cooking for about 5 minutes, or as you see the onions becoming soft, go ahead and add the pork. I used about 2lbs of boneless pork chops and cut them up into cube size pieces.



Once the pork is cooked through and browned pour in the chili sauce and bring to a boil for about 5-10 in. Then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 more minutes so that all the flavors come together.

Once it's done serve with beans and eat with flour tortillas. For my beans I like to top them off with crema and cotija cheese...yum!!

Is there a favorite family dish and/or recipe that reminds you of that special person in your life? As they say food brings family together, I hope this dish continues on with my kids and grand kids.

Hope you all have a great weekend! xoxoxox