Chili con Bambi
Serves 4 Time 4 hours Ingredients 16 Steps 9
This is a recipe for venison chili. It has been made successfully with roe deer, muntjac, and springbok.
Ingredients
- 250 g (½ lb) chopped onion
- 1–5 cloves garlic (to taste), finely chopped
- 1–5 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
- 4 tsp paprika or other milder powdered chile
- 5 tsp ground cumin
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive, corn, or sunflower oil (according to taste)
- 500 g (1.1 lb) minced (ground) stewing venison (minced lean leftovers from trimming are ideal)
- 500 ml dry cider or beef stock (how much you will need depends on how fast it boils away)
- 60 ml (4 tbsp) tomato purée
- 250 g (½ lb) finely-grated carrots
- 150 g (6 oz) finely-chopped celery
- 5 bay leaves
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) oregano
- 350 g (¾ lb) dried red kidney beans, soaked and cooked
- 1 stock cube (optional)
- Salt
Steps
- Sauté the onions, chiles and garlic in the oil until well softened.
- Add the powdered spices. Cook about 60 seconds.
- Add the venison. Stir until it has changed colour.
- Add enough dry cider or stock to cover, not too deeply.
- Add the stock cube (only if using cider), bay leaves, chopped celery, grated carrot and tomato purée. Stir well.
- Simmer very gently at least 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Replenish with cider, wine, stock or water if too dry. The sauce should have little separate liquid but not scorch. Simmer on the stove, in a very low oven or in a slow cooker.
- About 30–40 minutes before serving, remove the bay leaves. Add the oregano and beans. Stir well.
- Adjust the salt. Stir well. Cook another 40 minutes.
- Serve with long-grain rice.
Notes from the original
- Try adding small quantities of cinnamon, ground cloves and/or mace—experiment for yourself.
- In a slow cooker it can be cooked for 8 hours. The flavour is even better if it is cooked, allowed to cool overnight, and reheated for 30 or 40 minutes, but this is a council of perfection and not really necessary.
- Dried kidney beans are so indigestible as to be considered poisonous unless they are boiled briskly (a slow cooker will not do) for at least twenty minutes to destroy the indigestible phytohaemagglutinin that they contain. If you do use dried kidney beans they must be soaked overnight and then boiled by themselves for at least 20 minutes. They are then added to the chili early enough to cook for at least 2 hours. All this is tedious—it is therefore much better to use tinned ones as suggested in this recipe.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Chili con Bambi” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-08-28, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.