Chocolate is the ultimate multi-functional, genius ingredient – it pretty much does everything.  A single piece of quality chocolate is an instant pleasurable ‘pick me up’ and it’s also brilliant in a wide range of desserts.

What many won’t realise though, is that it can be equally delicious when used in savoury dishes, enriching and adding depth of flavour. We’re going begin a discovery tour around chocolate to showcase how it can be best utilised in recipes. Hopefully you will be able to recreate some of these at home so let’s begin with a classic – Chilli Con Carne! 

We like ours hot and love the taste the fresh chillies provide, especially scotch bonnet but you can always cut your heat back by leaving them out or going for a calmer variety.  

Ingredients

20g MIA Dark 100%

1 tbsp oil

1 onion

2 sweet red peppers

2 cloves of garlic

1 tsp of chilli powder

1 scotch bonnet chilli

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp ground cumin

500g lean minced beef or Quorn mince if you want to make it vegetarian.

1 can of chopped tomatoes

300ml beef or vegetable stock

Tomato puree

1 can of kidney beans

Rice to serve and coriander for garnish

Method

• Finely chop your onion and garlic and fry until translucent
• Add the diced sweet red peppers, chillies and spices and continue to fry gently.
• Add the mince or quorn, break apart with a spatula and ensure it is nicely sealed
• Add tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, stock and bring to the boil before turning the heat down and simmering for 20 minutes.
• Chop up the MIA Dark Chocolate and add along with the kidney beans and cook for a further 20 minutes
• You can even put in the oven on a low heat until you’re ready to eat but leave to stand before serving with sour cream, rice, coriander, flat bread and salsa.