4 chile chili

Chiles: chipotle, guajillo, ancho, pasilla

It’s winter time, comfort food time. And if you’re me and have a cupboard full of chiles, what else is there to do but make chili. So here’s one that’s a bit different than the usual. I can’t eat beans which is what most people put into their ground beef chili. Texas-style chili is often iade with big chunks of beef. I’m taking a middle road by using stewing beef cut up into really small pieces.

If you can’t find dried chipotles, you can always use canned ones. The chiles in this recipe are now fairly widely available either in local latin grocery store or most higher end chain grocery stores. It’s about a 6/10 on the heat scale.

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 chile ancho
1 pasilla chile
2 chipotle chiles
1 guajillo chile
4 garlic cloves
1 small onion
2 tomatoes
1 tsp mexican oregano
2 whole cloves
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp ground coriander seeds
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1/4 cup beef stock
1 tbsp olive oil
1 pound stewing beef, cubed very small
1 heaping tsp sugar
1-1/2 tsp salt

Stem and seed the dried chiles, splitting them in half so you can flatten them. Heat up a comal or a non-stick frying pan and dry roast the chiles in the pan. Heat them for about 20 seconds on each side, flattening with a spatula, so they get soft. Be very careful not to blacken the skin otherwise your sauce will be bitter.  Place the roasted chiles in a small bowl
of boiling water for 20 minutes so they can rehydrate.

Thickly slice your onion and place it and the garlic cloves with their skin on in the pan or on the comal and dry roast them until they are nicely blackened. The garlic will get all soft and sweet. Remove from the heat and let cool then peel and put into the jar of a blender along with the onion, cut up tomatoes, oregano, spices, beef stock, softened chiles and about 1/2 of a cup of the chile soaking water (do not throw the soaking water away yet!).

Blend it all together for 2-3 minutes to ensure you have a smooth but not very thick paste.

Heat the oil in a medium sized pot and brown the meat.

Turn the pot back up to hot and add a bit more oil, then pour in the chile mixture. You should get a nice sear. Bring to the boil. You’ll need to add up to a cup more of liquid – water, stock, or chile soaking liquid (which will make it spicier) – so there’s sufficient liquid to simmer. Add sugar (to take away any bitterness) and salt. 

Bring to the boil, turn heat down to low, and simmer partially covered for an hour, checking frequently to make sure there’s still enough simmering liquid. Add more if it’s getting too dry, it should be saucy but not soupy.

Serve in bowls with tortillas or rice, some slices of avocado and sour cream. I ended up making some cheesy grits and it was super delish together. The chili is  lovely if made a day ahead so all the flavours have a chance to meld together. It’s easy enough to reheat just before serving.

© 2016 Gail J. Cohen

Avocado paletas

I adore Mexican paletas. They are so simple and make use of just a few simple ingredients to create lovely and light desserts. Mostly I go for the pure fruity ones but using the blessed, beautiful avocado makes for an incredibly rich and creamy taste treat without any added fat or dairy. Here's the super simple recipe.  You'll need some popsicle molds.

Yield: 6-10 popsicles

Ingredients:

1 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 ripe avocados
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice

Put the water and sugar in a small point and gently heat until all the sugar is dissolved. You're basically making a simple sugar solution. Let it cool.

Cut and pit the avocados and put them into a blender along with the lime juice and cooled sugar water.

Waz it up until it's smooth. Then pour the bright green mixture into the popsicle molds and freeze for at least two hours.

To serve, run a bit of hot water on the outside of the mold and gently remove the popsicle. Let the oohing and aahing begin.