What better than chilli, guacamole and salsa to liven up a chilly winters evening. I'll happily eat this all year round, but this is a great comfort food of mine and a dish I've been making for years. Now the recipe is not rocket science and stays true to good honest flavours. The secret especially with the chilli is long slow cooking. This recipe is a great dish for sharing with friends.

Serves 6

450g minced beef, preferably brisket or shin
I sometimes use cuts such as beef cheek, brisket and heart minced as well, it makes for a deeper flavour
2 medium onions chopped
2 cloves garlic chopped
1 tablespoon cumin seeds (roasted and ground)
1 tablespoon tomato purée
1 tablespoon chipotles in adobo paste (optional)
1 ancho chilli, toasted,  rehydrated and chopped
3 green chillies chopped
1 tin tomatoes
200ml passata
Oil for frying
Salt and pepper to taste

In a heavy based pot or cast iron pan fry the onions until soft and add the garlic, cumin and  all the chillies and cook out for a couple of minutes.
Remove to one side and then fry off the mince in batches to brown it
Place the onion mix back in the pan and add the tomato purée, cook out for one minute and then add the tomatoes and the passata
Add the chipotles in adobo paste and stir through
I now place this in the oven for 3 hours at 120 Celsius without a lid on, if it starts to reduce too quickly I place the lid on

For those of you wishing to cook this on the BBQ
In a heavy based cast iron pot or dutch oven fry the onions until soft and add the garlic, cumin and chillies and cook out for a couple of minutes
Remove to one side and then fry off the mince in batches to brown it
Place the onion mix back in the pot and add the tomato purée, cook out for one minute and then add the tomatoes and the passata
Add the chipotles in adobo paste and stir through
Set the BBQ up for indirect cooking at 120c and throw some wood chips on the coals, my preference is hickory
Place the dutch oven on the griddle with the lid off and cook for 3-4 hours, stir occasionally to prevent the bottom from burning

I know some people add kidney beans and ordinarily I would too, but a certain fussy other half of mine doesn't like beans so I leave them out. 
Feel free to add some if you so wish, add them in the last hour of cooking

I like to accompany this with salsa and guacamole

 Salsa 
10 tomatoes, pulp removed and chopped
Bunch fresh coriander chopped
2 red onions thinly sliced
Juice of one lime
Rapeseed oil to drizzle
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients bar the salt together and leave to marinade.
Just before serving season with the salt, if you salt it earlier it will draw the moisture out and make the salsa watery.

After that you need to make some Guacamole, now traditionally this has coriander, tomato and line etc.. but I make mine this way and it tastes nice.

3 avocados - stone and skin removed
1 large clove garlic  - grated
Juice of one lemon
Tobasco - 10 dashes or more if you like
Salt and pepper to taste

Mash the avocados with a fork, but not so much that it becomes mush, you need some texture
Add the garlic, lemon, pepper and tobasco and mix well. 
I add the salt just before serving