Dad's Venison Chili

MelMay's Note:

This is my Dad's awesome chili recipe. He got a deer this year so I actually got to make it tonight with some ground venison he had given us. This one puts together quick, with just an onion and a pepper to dice, then waiting and enjoying that great smell. Deeeeee-licious!

• Total Time: 1 hrs 40 mins
• Prep Time: 10 mins
• Cook Time: 1 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1 1/2 lbs ground venison
• 1 medium sweet onion, chopped
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, chopped
• 32 ounces anasazi beans
• 28 ounces tomato puree
• 14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes (chili style)
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 bay leaf, broken in half
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne (or more, to taste)
• 4 tablespoons ground cumin
• 1 tablespoon cumin seed
• 1 dash cinnamon
• fresh ground pepper
• 1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

1. Brown the venison in a stock pot (I use non-stick).
2. Add onion and pepper, saute until slightly soft, about 5-10 minutes.
3. Add remaining ingredients, cover, and simmer for 1.5 hours.
4. I serve mine with a little sour cream and diced onion on top, and some crusty bread.
5. My husband insists this is sacrilege, and serves his with shredded cheese and crumbled crackers.
6. We agree that it is best served with an ice cold beer.

Reviews

[JanuaryBride]

Fantastic! I used a green pepper instead of the yellow due to cost and used beer in place of the water. It was perfect. Thank you. Made for Sept 2008 Cooking Challenge: Beyond Burgers. . .Ground Meat!

[paul68774]

Great recipe, I am not a cook but love to hunt. Found this one & with a few minor alterations my family loves it. Used Green Pepper, 1 Can of beans & replaced the water with beer. I also cooked up 4 strips of bacon & cut them into the chili with kitchen scissors! Thank you very much.

[Elainia]

Wow, this was GOOD! I didn't have 3 tbsp of chili powder so I added 1 tbsp ancho powder and one tbsp chipotle (that may have been a mistake!) and I had to cut the cumin to 2 tbsp for the same reason. Also didn't have ground venison, only venison stew meat which I cut into bite sized little chunks and despite the heat I created with the chipotles, this was fabulous!!!! I love the cumin flavor and look forward to this with the correct amounts. I used regular chili beans and that worked out ok. Oh, and I love the addition of the bay leaf, I would have never thought of that! Topped with both cheddar and sour cream, even my picky dd ate this and liked it. This is a new fave!