Recipe: Jadie, Illinois - Mind Expanding Therapeutic Chili Verde

Jadie, This sounds pretty spicy but maybe it will give you some additional ideas for your green chili stew. This recipe is from Texas Home Cooking by Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison. It serves 12.

Mind-Expanding Therapeutic Chili Verde

5 pounds top round steak, trimmed and cubed
4 large onions, chopped
2 c. Nopales, chopped*
1 Tbl. salt, or more to taste
1 Tbl. plus 1 tsp. ground cumin
1 Tbl. dried Mexican oregano
7 fresh jalapenos, chopped
6 fresh serranos, chopped
2 to 3 cloves of garlic, minced
7 c. water
12 green chilies, preferably New Mexican, roasted and chopped (Use fresh pablano chilies if you can't get those from New Mexico)
12 Pasilla chilies, roasted and chopped
5 large tomatoes, chopped
12 oz.beer
Masa Harina, as needed

*In Texas and the Southwest, nopales can frequently be bought fresh especially at Hispanic and Latino markets. The spines have generally been removed. Outside the Southwest, look for canned nopales in the Mexican food sections of supermarkets. Rinse the vinegary solution from the nopales before using them. Nopales are the young, tender leaves of the prickly pear cactus. They have been considered a delicacy in south Texas for two centuries.

In a heavy saucepan, over high heat, sear the meat, scraping it up from the bottom until it is evenly browned. Add half the onions and the nopales, salt, cumin, oregano, jalapenos, serranos, and garlic. Pour in 4 cups water and stir well. Cover the pan, and bring the mixture to a simmer. Simmer for 2 hours.

Uncover the pan and add the reamaining water, the rest of the onions, the green chilies and pasilla chilies, the tomatoes, and the beer, and simmer an additional hour, stirring occasinoally.

If the chili seems thin, mix a few spoonsful of masa harina together with enough water to make a runny paste, and stir it into the chili quickly, to avoid lumps. Cook the chili another 15 minutes.

Serve chili hot. Pozole or pinto beans are good on the side.