As you will probably guess by now that I love HOT dishes. My Mexican Hot Soup recipe is quick and easy to make and a great dish to keep out the cold.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of cooking oil.
2 medium onions, finely chopped.
2 sticks of celery, finely chopped.
1 red pepper, cored, deseeded and finely diced.
4 oz/100g raw minced beef.
A pinch to 2 teaspoons of chilli powder.
750ml/1¼ pints of beef stock.
2 tablespoons of tomato purée.
Salt to taste.
175g/6oz canned red kidney beans.
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley.

What to Do:

Heat the oil in a pan and fry the onions, celery and the red pepper for 3 to 4 minutes.
Mix in the minced beef and then blend in the chilli powder. ADD ONLY the minimum amount at this stage, unless you are sure you like a very, very hot flavour. You can always add more during the cooking, but you can't take it out.
Blend in the beef stock and tomato purée, and bring the soup to the boil.
Cover and simmer for around 20 minutes: add salt and more chilli powder to taste.
Add the can of red kidney beans (drained) and the parsley.
Heat the soup and serve.

This soup is delicious on a cold day and really warms you up. Enjoy.