Crock Pot Red Chili con Carne

Once while visiting my Ma, I had the pleasure of tasting some of her Red Chili Meat. It was the BEST! Just thinking about it is making my mouth water! I bugged her about the recipe, but she didn't really have one, she just threw things together & made it work. With two attempts at it myself at home, I figured it out.

Servings ~ 10
Prep: 20 minutes; Cook: 6-8 hours
Ingredients
3 lbs of pork stew meat (It doesn't really matter which cut of meat you use, the crock pot will make it tender. I'm sure it will work with beef or chicken. I found some grilling pork on sale & used that for my second attempt.)
1lb 12 oz Red Chili sauce
2 1/2 c water
1/2 c flour
2 tbl spoons minced garlic, heaping
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp salt (optional)
Olive Oil to fry in

In a blender, add red chili sauce, water, flour, minced garlic, salt & garlic salt. My blender was quite full after I added it all together. You may want to hold off adding 1 c. of water until after you have the rest blended. Blend the mix until the sauce is smooth & mixed. Add the sauce to crock pot. (for a thicker sauce, leave out 1/2 cup of water)

Cut up meat to small bite size pieces. Personally, I like small bites of meat so I can tear off a piece of tortilla, fold a piece of meat in it & add a dollop of sour cream to each bite.

In a pan of oil on the stove (deep fryer will work also), fry a large handful of meat at a time until you do not see any pink on the outside. There is no need to fry the meat all the way through, they will cook the rest of the way in the crock pot. (This step can be excluded altogether, but I think it adds more flavor to the meat to have it fried just the tinniest bit). My Ma likes to fry her meat in vegetable oil because it will get hotter than olive oil & 'brown' her meat a little bit.

When you remove the meat from the fryer, it is best to place it in a separate bowl so the oil will drain off. After the meat has drained, scoop meat out of the bowl with a large spoon with holes & place it into the crock pot with chili (do not pour the whole bowl into the crock pot to avoid adding the drippings). Give the chili meat mixture a good stir, cover & turn crock pot on low for 6-8 hours. 

Serve like a soup in a bowl with flour tortillas, shredded mozzarella cheese, sour cream & guacamole or make a burrito out of it.