Food is meant to be one thing that brings people together. But a pot of chilli provokes strong conversations.
In Texas, where it’s the official state dish, locals believe beans are off the table, as are tomatoes. In Oklahoma and much of the US Midwest, they’re happy to add both.
Michelle Tam is aware of the debate. The beloved creator of the Nom Nom paleo-eating empire, dubbed the Martha Stewart of the caveman diet crowd, features a chilli recipe in her book Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! Simple Feasts and Healthy Eats, with Henry Fong. Her dish contains tomatoes, but no beans, as well as an ingredient few people will associate with the dish: fish sauce.
“I’m sure I’ll hear from hard-core chilli aficionados about what belongs in a bowl of chilli ... and what doesn’t,” she writes in the book. If you’re a chilli snob who turns up your nose at a dish that includes a controversial ingredient, “feel free to call this something else”, she writes.
Tam launched Nom Nom Paleo, which has grown into a popular website, app and condiment line, about a decade ago, when she was working as a night-shift pharmacist. “I started it because I found paleo made me feel better and gave me energy to keep going with two young kids,” she said.
Her engaging cookbook plays out recipes in the style of a comic strip. Each has multiple how-to photographs taken by her husband, Fong, with speech bubble-style captions. The pages are dotted with avatars of the couple and their two children. The 140 recipes run the gamut from vegan-friendly green soup with tangy cashew cream to chicken karaage (Japanese fried chicken) and hash brown fish.
The book’s chilli recipe is a combination of several Tam has cooked in the past, but with no paleo-unfriendly beans, and the addition of her secret ingredient. “People see fish sauce and they say: ‘Oh, gross.’ But it adds umami and no fishiness,” she said.
Tam’s recipe reminds you of the powerful appeal of chilli, for ease of preparation and bang-for-your-buck satisfaction when it’s done. It’s a mix of straightforward ingredients (everyone should have fish sauce in their pantry): minced beef, onion, cumin, chilli powder, check, check, check. The fish sauce combines with the tomato paste to make the chilli’s flavour rounder, richer and a little more pungent.
I’m paleo-ish. I don’t care what you do with this book. You can serve beans with the chili, serve other dishes with pasta. The point is to recognise how food affects you.
— Michelle Tam
The chilli doesn’t need the beans. But if you’re not ride or die on the paleo diet, you can go ahead and add them. The author doesn’t mind. “I’m paleo-ish,” says Tam. “I don’t care what you do with this book. You can serve beans with the chilli, serve other dishes with pasta.” The point of the cookbook “is to recognise how food affects you”.
“What is great about it is that if you have people over, you can include an assortment of toppings, paleo or not: sour cream, cheese, beans. Everyone can dress up their chilli the way they want to.”
Ground Beef Chilli
Serves 6
1T avocado oil
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
Kosher salt
2T tomato paste
4 garlic cloves, minced
1kg lean beef mince
3T chilli powder
1T dried oregano
1T ground cumin
¼t cayenne pepper
400g roasted tomatoes
1C bone or chicken broth
2t paleo-friendly fish sauce
1T apple cider vinegar, optional
Sliced avocado, sliced scallions, diced white onions, cilantro leaves, and/or lime wedges, for serving (optional)
In a large cast-iron casserole or Dutch oven, heat the oil over a moderate heat to simmering. Add the onion, pepper and a sprinkle of salt. Cook, stirring, until the vegetables soften, about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in the mince and 1t of the salt. Cook, breaking up with a spatula, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in the chilli powder, oregano, cumin and cayenne.
Add the tomatoes, bone broth and fish sauce, and stir well so the liquid is on the bottom of the pot. Reduce the heat to medium low, cover partially and cook, stirring occasionally until the flavours are melded, about 1 hour.
Taste the chilli and season to taste. Add the apple cider, if using, and taste again. Serve with desired toppings.
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— Bloomberg
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