No recipe collection would be complete without a few good chili recipes,
and there are plenty of them available. It seems everybody likes their
chili prepared in different ways. That’s one of the beauties of chili –
no recipe is set in stone and they can be easily altered. Most chili
recipes contain ground or cubed beef, but turkey and venison chili are
also loved by many. This venison chili is cooked in a slow cooker and is
a great way to use some of that left over deer meat you might have in
the refrigerator.
Slow Cooker Venison Chili
900g of coarsely ground venison or cubed venison steak (2
pounds)
60ml of jarred roasted garlic with oil (4 tablespoons)
120ml of fresh cilantro (1/2 cup)
60 ml of fresh basil (4 tablespoons)
olive oil or other cooking oil
30 ml of chili powder (2 tablespoons)
10 ml of cumin powder (2 teaspoons)
salt & pepper
sour cream (for topping) (optional)
shredded cheddar cheese (for topping) (optional)
Procedure
Preheat a covered slow cooker to low heat.
Dice the bell peppers, jalapenos and peeled white onions. Chop the
cilantro and basil.
If you have chosen to use ground venison, add roasted garlic and its oil
along with a little olive oil to a large skillet and heat to medium
heat. Add the ground venison and brown it well being sure to break it
up. You want to leave it in small chunks for the chili – not completely
broken up and grainy.
If you have chosen to use the cubed venison, you will want to heat the
skillet to high heat instead, and sear the meat quickly on all sides. In
this case it is better to use high heat cooking oil, like canola or
peanut oil, instead of the olive oil. Olive oil shouldn’t be brought to
high heat because it breaks down and loses its health benefits. You will
still add the garlic and the garlic oil. Searing should take about 3 to
5 minutes.
After the venison is seared, remove it from the skillet leaving the oils
behind and put it in the preheated slow cooker.
To the oil left in the skillet, add the chopped cilantro and basil to
it, the diced bell pepper, jalapeno and onion, and the chili powder,
cumin powder and salt and pepper to taste. Add more oil if needed. Sauté
the vegetables, herbs and spices briefly until the onions start to go
limp, then add them to the slow cooker with the venison – including any
leftover oil.
Add the crushed tomatoes and stir everything until blended well. Cover
the slow cooker and cook on low for about 6 hours. Remove the cover and
add the kidney beans. Stir the ingredients again and replace the cover.
Continue to cook on low for another 2 hours.
If you are not crazy about beans in your chili, you can add a little
more venison to replace them. You can top your slow cooker venison chili
with shredded cheese, fresh cilantro, more jalapenos or diced onions, or
sour cream. If you must, you can even add crackers. Ugh.
Don't lift the lid to stir, especially if you are cooking on the low
setting. Each time you lift the lid, enough heat will escape that the
cooking time should be extended by 20 minutes to half an hour. To check
progress without lifting the lid, spin the cover until the condensation
falls off. Then it's easy to see inside.
