LOUISIANA HOT BUFFALO CHILLI BEEF

What a super winner dinner my favourite scotch bonnet hot buffalo and buttery wing sauce slowly braising chunks of tender grass feed beef in a rich tomato sauce, with a whole bottle of West Indian hot pepper sauce in this recipe you would think it is going to blow your lips off like that build up from buffalo hot wings, however this is not so, you get a warm hot pepper buzz with an overall heat that is comforting, if you want the explosive hot buzz add fresh diced scotch bonnets when you serve this.

  A favourite in our home, this is a Kristi original there is nothing I know of that comes close to this gorgeous rich sumptuous dish, quick to prep and then a few hours of un-attended slow cooking to bring all the glorious flavours together.

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

800g beef skirt or rump

1tbsp coconut oil

1 lrg onion finely diced

6 cloves garlic finely diced

1 red pepper chopped

1 celery chopped

1 leek chopped

1 carrot chopped

1 scotch bonnet chilli diced or milder chilli

4 tins tomatoes 

3 tbsp tomato purée 

1 tbsp sugar

250g butter

1 bottle West Indian hot pepper sauce

Sea salt

Black pepper

 

 First place your pan on the cooker, add the coconut oil, the onions, garlic, peppers, celery, leek and carrots and gently soften for around ten minutes keeping the onions translucent, next add the tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar and chillies, scotch bonnets if you want that extra level of gum tingling Ka-Pow! 

Bring the tomato sauce to a gentle just bubbling simmer and cook for ten minutes, meanwhile take your choice of steak and rough chop into 1" pieces, season with salt and black pepper, at the moment my choice is skirt because it has such depth of flavour and suits well to either flash frying rare or slow braising where all the flavour can melt into your sauce.  Melt some coconut oil in a frying pan and brown off the skirt all over then reserve to one side.

With a soup stick blender blend the tomato sauce until smooth, if you don't have a stick blender use a food processor, and pulse in small batches with a tea towel held over the top of the blender as hot liquids can spirt out when pulsed under pressure!

Bring the blended tomato sauce back up to a gentle almost simmer and add the beef scraping the pan all of the resting juices, add half the bottle of West Indian (not as hot as you think!) and gently cook for approx three hours, stirring occasionally.  When your tomato sauce is thick and the beef wants to fall apart when touched add the pack of butter and stir gently until melted, taste and adjust with adding more Louisiana hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper and maybe a squidge of lemon juice.

If you want more of a burn chilli heat rather than the warm hot pepper buzz this dish gives add fine diced Scotch bonnet chilled to you dish when served for that gum tingling Ka-Pow!