Easy (and delicious) slow cooker beef chilli

Autumn has arrived in Sydney and with the dropping temperatures - we sometimes need two layers now! - there is an increased desire for warm, comforting food. We’ve therefore been seeking out recipes that are either made or can be adapted for the slow cooker. Today’s was an adaptation from a taste.com.au recipe for shredded chilli beef. (It was too yummy to remember to take a nice photo once dished up, so a photo of the pot will have to do!)

Ingredients

• About 1kg beef chuck steak, cut into pieces and large bits of fats removed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 brown onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 690g jar passata (plus/minus) + water (see below)
• 1 tbsp finely chopped pickled jalapenos
• 3 dried bay leaves
• 2 tins of red kidney beans

Instructions

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper and brown in the oil. Our slow cooker has a “sear” function, so I used that. If feeling lazy, I’m sure you can skip this step.

2. Lightly fry the onions to soften. Again, I used the slow cooker “sear” function.

3. Bung everything except the kidney beans in the slow cooker. Use a bit of water (50-100 ml, maybe) to get as much of the passata out of the jar as possible.

4. Cook on low for 6-7 hours.

5. Drain and rinse the kidney beans before adding around half an hour from the end. (My slow cooker had already flicked to "keep warm" so I added them and put it back on low whilst the cornbread was baking.)

6. Serve with Firecracker cornbread and sour cream. (My wife made the cornbread, so I can’t brag about that.) It was also be good with rice, tortilla chips, or just about anything of that ilk.

Easy and delicious!

Edit: as I almost did in life, I forgot the kidney beans!