To get more flavor out of cumin, you can use whole seeds, and toast them briefly in a pan before grinding. If you don't want to put forth that extra effort, you'll just need to add more cumin. If it's not salty enough, the best solution is to just add more salt (sorry). Salt will enhance the other flavors as well. A bit of cornstarch would help make the spices stick, and dry out the mixture. I'm not sure how much water and vinegar you're adding, but you may just be watering down your beef too much. I usually add just enough to keep the spices from sticking to the pan, but not so much that there is a lot of extra liquid that needs to be reduced.
Your spice mixtures may also contain some form of MSG. You can get a similar umami "punch" by adding a dash of Worcestershire sauce.
Edit: I don't know how I missed this, but the other answers point out the lack of garlic and onion. Your store-bought spice mixtures definitely contain plenty of those in powdered form, which you can use, but fresh is tasty too. Don't add fresh garlic too early, as it can easily burn and turn bitter.
Your mix is just a chili powder with a fruity flair.
As a rule of thumb, chili powder contains large amounts of chilis, cumin, and either garlic or onion. Other flavors come and go and appear in varying quantities. The ingredients in your mix that are not typical are the amchur, coriander, and cinnamon. Cinnamon with chili powder is not unheard of and results in familiar flavors but it isn't often included in standard recipes.
The amchur, dried and powdered unripe mango, and the coriander would impart fresh, fruity notes that are not typical but sound delightful!
AB's is a decent standard chili powder recipe:
- 3 ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced
- 3 cascabel chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced
- 3 dried arbol chiles, stemmed, seeded and sliced
- 2 tablespoons whole cumin seeds
- 2 tablespoons garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
I was able to find a recipe that looked more similar to yours- that is with coriander and cinnamon:
- 5 dried Guajillo chilies
- 2 dried Chipotle chiles
- 4 Arbol chiles (or other thin red spicy chiles)
- 1 Tbs paprika
- 1 Tbs coriander seed
- 1 Tbs cumin seed
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 2 tsp Mexican oregano
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
Start with this recipe and modify it to your taste. For example I would probably double the cumin and leave out the black pepper as I don't think it fits here. If the flavor of the mango was distinctive in your mix it could be added to taste without adversely affecting the mix. If you don't want your mix to be too spicy then you should stick with milder dried peppers. Many dried peppers are surprisingly mild and fruity. Don't just leave them out because they do make up a bulk of the flavor and the magic.
Notice that both recipes call for no salt. Commercial spice mixes include a lot of salt as cheap filler. You should salt your dish to taste and not add it in your spice mix.
By mixing this yourself you will also be able to use freshly toasted and ground spices which will taste much better.
Best Answer
It's the tomato paste. Many brands of tomato paste can have a bitter, almost metallic flavor if it isn't fried off first. I don't use it in crock pot recipes for that very reason unless I saute it in some oil for a minute before adding it. You can add some sugar but that doesn't counteract the bitterness.
Also you are adding too much of it, 2 tbsp for 1 cup of wine is very, very tomato pastey for lack of a better term. You could try half that and see how you get.
So try a bit less paste, fried off first or use a good thick canned tomato sauce instead.