Ask ten people how to make chili and you'll get ten answers.
Don't worry about it. In the end, your making meat soup and need three things.
Meat and/or beans. Vegetables. Liquid.
Start by gathering onions, peppers and garlic.
You want the amount of onions and peppers roughly equal -- use any peppers you want -- here we're using a yellow bell, a couple of Cubanos and a good chunk of crazy hot Scotch Bonnet. Chili pepper would optimum, but we don't have any.
Chop 'em all up with few cloves of garlic.
Then add some protein.
Cook up whatever meat you want. We're using ground beef but chicken works fine. If you want veggie chili just replace the meat with an extra can of beans.
When the meat is done dump it into a large pot.
Fry up the veggies and garlic in some olive oil until they are translucent.
Dump your vegetables into the pot with the meat and add a can or two of drained beans. I like dark red kidney beans but black beans also work well. Just avoid anything pink. They're just gross.
Throw in some diced tomatoes.
Mix it all up and add enough liquid to barely cover the chili. You can use any liquid, I used a cup of beef broth and then another of water because the broth is so salty. Beer also works well.
Bring this concoction to a simmer and begin a spice mix.
Your rule of thumb on spice is 3 parts chili powder to 1 part cumin. Start with 3 tablespoons of chili powder, you need more than you think. I usually add a half part of paprika for color, a half part garlic powder and a healthy dash of black pepper and salt.
Stir your spice mix into to your pot of bubbling goodness.
Let it simmer on low until the beans are tender and the liquid is reduced to a consistency you like.
That's it. You just made chili.