It's not a Latin food. That being said, the exact ingredients of chili will differ widely among any two people, and people mostly argue about whether you should put beans or not into your chili. I prefer beans in my chili, and I have a recipe in a box here (I just moved, so I can't get to my recipe stash) that I always make. The ingredients you list are sufficient to make chili. You could even add potatoes if you want to. From memory, what I generally do is have a whole lot of onion and bell peppers (green or red are the most common in chili, and usually green), dice them (but not too diced: I like my onion in chili diced coarsely and broadly so they're not minced, which would suck) and basically stir-fry them in the same pot I make my chili in. Once they're sauteed to the point I want them, I add in a couple pounds of ground beef. The key is to have your meat's meat/fat ratio to be about 80/20 if you want a flavorful, memorable chili. The fat adds flavor. You could go with lean ground beef, but it will not taste as good or as authentic. With the onions and peppers, you just brown the beef, and I'm very picky about keeping the beef finely minced, so I constantly use a spatula to break up the chunks into smaller and smaller pieces.
I don't remember the exact combination of spices I use, but my key ingredients are chili powder (not red cayenne powder, but the dark brown kind I'll post here; I'm not sure what kind of chili it is) and cumin:
If you plan to make chili, make sure you have cumin and that dark brown chili powder (I'm really not sure what kind of chili pepper it is, as it isn't spicy, but it is one of the key flavor ingredients to making chili; I'm using a new computer, and running updates, and having trouble using search engines so I'm not sure what it's called, maybe ancho?). It's pretty essential to a good tasting chili.
After I brown the beef, I add the spices and then I add tomato paste, diced tomatoes with their juices, and a couple cans of beans. Kidney beans are a great choice, as I usually use 1 can of those, plus 1 can of pinto beans. Black beans are a good alternative.
After that point, just let it slow cook for several hours, the longer the better. I find that chili tastes better the day after it's finished and put in the fridge, because all the flavors really meld together at that point.
As long as you have meat, onions/peppers, cumin/chili powder, tomatoes/tomato paste, and beans (optional), you can basically do whatever you want.
EDIT: found my recipe
Ingredients:
~ 3 Tbsp veg. oil
2 medium/large yellow onions, medium dice
2-3 medium/large red/green bell peppers, medium dice
~ 6 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 c. chili powder
1/4 c. oregano
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 pounds ground beef (lean will not taste as good/flavorful)
2 tsp. salt
1 (28 oz.) can diced tomatoes or fresh (no difference here)
1 (14 oz.) can tomato sauce
2 (15 oz.) can beans (I use kidney & pinto beans), drained/rinsed
(optional) 1/4 c. coarsely chopped pickled jalapenos or green chiles, drained
(optional) cayenne powder/whole cayenne peppers ~ 1+ Tbsp
For serving:
Shredded cheddar cheese, crackers, avocado slices, sour cream, etc (whatever you prefer; I sometimes add shredded cheese on occasion, but usually I add nothing)
1. Heat oil in a large pot or large frying pan over medium heat. Add onions and bell pepper, season with salt, stir occasionally until softened.
2. Add garlic, chili powder, oregano, cumin, and stir to coat the vegetables for about 1 minute. Add ground beef and use spatula to break into smaller pieces as desired until browned.
3. If using large frying pan, transfer to a slow cooker, add tomatoes with their juices, tomato sauce, jalapenos, and beans, stirring to combine. Cover/cook until chili thickens, about 8 hours on low or 6 on high.
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