Gordon Ramsay's chilli con carne

I was curious about chilli con carne since my childhood. I have seen it in many movies and I thought it must be really yummy. I confess that I do not like tomatoes either canned or boiled, that is why it took me so long to cook my first ever chilli. I could not imagine that a dish contaning canned tomatoes would taste so savoury! I am in love with the intense taste of the chilli. What a fantastic symphony of fresh and canned tomatoes. I am really surprised. The only change I made is that I used minced turkey, as I had no beef in the fridge. I served it with rice, however I think bread is the perfect match.

Ingredients:
1 large onion or 2 banana shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli deseeded or keep half with seeds if you like it spicy
2 sprigs of thyme, leaves picked and roughly chopped
olive oil, for frying
500g good quality beef mince
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp sweet paprika
1 tsp dried oregano
3 fresh tomatoes or 1 beef tomato, roughly chopped
400g chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato puree
100-200ml chicken or beef stock
3 tbsp tomato puree
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
400g kidney beans, drained and rinsed
salt and pepper
handful of chives, chopped
200ml soured cream
boiled rice, to serve

Sweat the onion, garlic, chilli and thyme in 2 tablespoons oil in a large saucepan. At the same time, brown the mince in a separate pan over moderate heat in a little oil.
Add the dried spices to the onion mixture and cook until they release their aroma. Then stir in the beef and mix well. Add the fresh and tinned tomatoes and leave to cook down a little for about 5 minutes.
Pour in the chicken or beef stock and stir in tomato puree to taste. Drop the cinnamon and bay leaf in then bring to the boil and leave to simmer.
Once the sauce is beginning to thicken add the kidney beans and leave to cook for another 5-10 minutes to allow the beans to soak up the flavours. Check for seasoning.
Mix the chives and soured cream together. To serve, spoon the chilli into the centre of a mound of rice, with the soured cream and chives in a separate bowl on the side.
(source:channel4.com)