I never grew up eating chili in Asia. All my friends and family in the USA love to eat chili. It is a comfort food for them. All the years I lived here, I’ve not tasted chili. The main reason is that the two main ingredients are beef and beans. I don’t like to eat either one of them. Some chili also contains starch to thicken the soup.
Every Wednesday I volunteer to help to cook for the community dinner in our town. The community dinner is for anyone who needs a home-cooked meal at no no charge and donate as you wish.. One time I was put in charge of cooking two big pots of chili for 150 people. I cooked it from the instruction on the recipe and took a very small taste to check the flavor. I had no idea how a perfect chili should taste. I had to get someone to taste it for me. It’s quite funny that the diners came to me after the dinner and said the chili was really good.
A friend asked me, “Why don’t you eat chili?” I said chili isn’t a popular Asian food and I didn’t grew up with it, that I didn’t think any of my Asian friends would like it either, and that it’s not low carb.
She said, “Well, why don’t you cook it in a way that Asians would love it and your low carb friends would love it too?”
That was an idea! I told my husband Dan that I was going to try cooking a low carb chili that my Asian friends would love. He was very excited to hear this. He said, “Oh so I’ll have chili to eat at home in the future?”
Dan loves to eat chili. So I was determined to give it a try. And I am glad I did.
My Asian and American friends love this chili and so do I.
Prep time: 25 minutes
Cooking time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Serves 6 portions
4 tablespoons bacon grease/lard
2 pounds ground meat (pork or beef)
1 tablespoon cayenne
1 tablespoon basil
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon ground pepper
2 cups fresh tomato, diced
3.5 cups fresh tomato puree
½ cup carrot, diced
2 cups celery, diced
½ cup yellow onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cup chicken broth
¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped (for garnish)
Here’s the video on how I cook my low carb chili!
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Preparation:
- Heat the bacon grease in the pot, brown the ground meat until almost cooked. Add all the spices to the meat and stir to mix well.
- Add the rest of the ingredients, stir to mix and simmer on very low heat for about 45 minutes to an hour. Add a little more chicken broth if you like it more liquid. Let it sit at room temperature until cool. You may enjoy it right away or set the chili in the fridge for a day to intensify the flavor.
- Warm up the chili before serving. You may add a spoonful of sour cream to serve.
Nutrition fact:
Each serving contains 18.5 g total carbs, 13.9 g net carbs, 30.3 g protein and 41 g fat.
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I miss the beans, they were almost the best part, but good old chopped cauliflower takes on the flavour and is a good filler too. it’s like I need that texture of softness…works for me!
I add some sautéed parsnips as a bean substitute to my low carb chili. Sautéing them in grease before adding is good as they take more time to tenderize. I miss the beans in chili, just adding carrots and celery is not as satisfying as adding the parsnips.
Hi Sue! Great to see you here!
Parsnips can be an alternative ingredient using in small amount. It has higher carb content than carrot and celery. Just have to be aware that 1 cup (133g) of parsnip has about 24g total carb. Depending on how much you are adding onto this recipe. Each cup of parsnip added to this recipe, divide by the 6 portions, would add 4 more carb grams into each portion.