Tamales de mole amarillo

Mole amarillo is one of the most popular fillings for tamales, the best late-night treats available on the streets of Oaxaca, Mexico. This is my version created from the many different ones that I was shown and read about how to make. I use costeno amarillo chiles but unless you’ve got a stash that you picked up while in Oaxaca, you won’t have them. Substitute guajillos instead. The sauce will be a little more red/orange than yellowish in that case. There’s also some alternate vegetarian filling suggestions at the end.

These tamales are wrapped in banana leaves, which are available frozen in many Latin, Asian, and Indian grocery stores. I also use shortening rather than lard but if you are all about the lard, go ahead and use that for your masa. And if you don’t have comal, you can dry roast everything in a non-stick frying pan.

Makes 20-24 tamales

Ingredients:

Mole

4 chiles costeno amarillo
2 large plum tomatoes
½ small white onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves
2 med or 4 small tomatillos
2 cloves
Pinch of ground cinnamon
Pinch of cumin
1 ball of allspice
6 peppercorns
1 tsp oregano (preferably Mexican)
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup masa harina
2 cups chicken stock (use the water you poached your chicken in)
2 tbsp olive oil
Salt to taste

Chicken for filling

8-10 chicken thighs
Handful of fresh parsley
1 clove of garlic
8 peppercorns
1 tsp salt

Masa for tamales

1 cup shortening
2 cups masa for tamales (store bought, dried)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1.5 cups warm chicken stock

1 pkg frozen banana leaves (defrosted)

Method:

1. Poach the chicken: Put chicken into a pot with parsley, garlic, salt, and peppercorns. Cover with water and poach chicken until done. Save stock to use in making mole. Set chicken aside to cool.
2. Remove stem and seeds from the chiles. Gently soften the chiles on the comal. Remove and place in a glass bowl and cover with boiling water. Let soak for at least 20 minutes.
3. Dry roast onion slices, garlic in the skin, tomatoes, tomatillos on the comal.
   
   Once ready put them all in the blender (remember to cool and remove the skin from the garlic). Add the cilantro, oregano, and chiles with some of their soaking liquid. Waz until smooth, about 3-4 minutes.
4. Grind the cloves, cumin, allspice, and pepper.
5. Heat oil in a small pot and quickly fry spices, including cinnamon, when hot. Add chile mixture and sear.  Bring to the boil and stir for about 5 minutes. Add masa harina as well as ½ a cup or so of chicken stock. Let boil for about 10 minutes. Add more stock if it’s too thick and let boil for a total of 15-20 minutes. Add salt to taste.
6. Shred the cooked chicken. Mix the shredded chicken and most of the mole together to make the tamale filling. It should be wet but not too runny. Add a little more of the mole and/or chicken broth until it is a good consistency.
7. The package of masa you have should have instructions on how to make the dough, so it’s best to follow those.  Basically mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl, then add the chicken stock and incorporate. It should create quite a damp (but not at all runny) dough. Beat the shortening in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until it is quite fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Then add the masa to the shortening and beat until mixed together, about another 2-3 minutes. You can test to see if it’s fluffy enough by putting a small ball into a glass of water. If it floats, you’re good to go!
8. Put a layer of water about 5 cm/2” deep into a steamer pot or the largest pot you have in the house with a veg steamer tray in the bottom. The great thing about banana leaf tamales is you can just pile them one on top of another, unlike corn husk ones that need to be standing upright.
9. Wipe down the leaves and trim them with a scissors: cut off the stem and make squares approx. 20 cm/8” (they don’t need to be perfect). You should also cut them with the grain of the leaf rather than against it. Either cut some thin strings from the banana leaf or use cooking twine for wrapping up the parcels. 
10. Once your leaves are all prepared, pass them over a flame or grill, moving them constantly, until they soften and become pliable. The banana leaves have a white film on them. The heat should burn off the white film and make the leaves shinier. 
    
11. Place ¼ cup of masa onto each banana leaf and flatten (this works best with a rubber spatula). Put about 2 tbsp of filling on to the top half of the masa (not in the middle). Fold the leaf so the lower part masa covers the filling.
    
    You may have to roll or fold it again to close the packet up tightish. Then fold the sides of the banana leaf one at a time to form a package. Tie with string and place folded side down into the pot on the steamer tray. Pile them up neatly around the pot as you go.
    
    Once you have all them all wrapped and ready, cover the pot and turn on the burner to get the water boiling. Once boiling, turn down to low and let your tamales steam for about 45 minutes.
    
    
12. When done, remove from pot and let cool for about 10 minutes before serving. Top with a bit of salsa verde.

* Vegetarian fillings:

• Oaxacan cheese and rajas (slices of jalapeno or roasted poblano)
• Oaxacan cheese and refried beans

Ancho-guajillo chile BBQ sauce

Ingredients
• 2 dried guajillo chiles
• 4 dried ancho chiles
• 2 cups boiled water
• 1 cup cold water
• ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
• ¼ cup lime juice
• ¼ cup tomato paste
• ¼ cup mezcal
• 2 tbsp molasses
• 3 tbsp (30 mL) brown sugar
• 1 small finely diced onion (about ½ cup/125 ml)
• 4 cloves minced garlic
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Remove the stems and seeds from the chiles. The easiest was is to cut the top off and then make a slit down one side with a small, sharp knife then remove the seeds.

Heat a non-stick pan or comal on the stove. Lightly toast the chiles until they soften: no more than 30 seconds on each side. Be very careful not to char the chiles as it will make your sauce bitter.  Immerse the softened chiles into a bowl with the boiled water and let them sit for 20 minutes until they’re rehydrated.

In the meantime, prepare all the other ingredients so you’re ready to roll. Once the chiles are rehdryated, roughly chop them. Keep the soaking water.

In a medium saucepan, add all the ingredients including the chopped chiles plus ¼ of water or the soaking liquid if it’s not bitter. Bring to a boil then reduce to low and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Your sauce will go from a bright red to a deep reddish/brown and thicken up slightly. You don’t want to reduce it too much though because the sauce has to be pourable.

Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes. Then pour it all into a blender and waz it up until you have a smooth sauce. Taste and adjust the seasonings. If it’s too thick, add a bit more of the soaking water. This sauce won’t be very spicy so if you want to add a bit more zing you can put in a pinch of chile powder.

This sauce is great on just about anything including grilled chicken, beef ribs, veggie burgers or whatever you feel like grilling up!

Mexican egg cups with roasted tomato and chile sauce

Sometimes you want something a little flavourful for breakfast (or even breakfast for dinner). Some members of our household (never me) go running on Sunday mornings and I tend to take that time to whip up a breakfast/brunch that’s a bit heartier and more complicated. Also if you’re just hosting friends for brunch and want a dish that will impress, give this recipe a try. These eggs in a spicy tomato sauce served in a crispy tortilla bowl look nice and offer up some delightful Mexican flavours.

As with many chile sauces, the chile you use defines the flavour. I’ve provided a few options below. You can really use any dried chile so explore something new. I like to use costeño amarillo, which I brought back from Oaxaca, Mexico. This doesn’t work as well with fresh chiles.

Yield: 2-4 servings

Ingredients

Chile sauce 

Makes 1.5 cups sauce

chiles*
1/2 onion
3 roma tomatoes or 2 dozen cherry tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1/4 tsp freshly ground cumin
1/2 tsp of sugar
juice of half a lime
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

* I used 3 costeno amarillo chiles (med spicy) – this would also work with 3 dried red chiles that you find in the stores (spicy), 2 guajillo chiles (fruity not too spicy), 1 pasilla chile (earthy not too spicy), 2 chipotle chiles (smokey and medium spicy)

4 fresh corn tortillas
4 eggs
1/2 cup grated cheese (cheddar, jack, queso fresco)
1/2 avocado, thinly sliced
Bit of finely chopped tomatoes or pico de gallo


To make tortilla bowls:

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Make sure your tortillas are soft and pliable so they don’t crack. If they are a bit dry, sprinkle them with water, wrap in a damp paper towel, and microwave for about 30 seconds.

Spray each tortilla all over with some cooking spray. Then manoeuvre the tortilla into an oven-proof dish (I used some onion soup bowls) so they’ll create a bowl. Bake for about 10 minutes until lightly browned and crispy. Set aside when ready. Don’t remove from the bowls.

To make the sauce:

Stem and seed the dried chiles. If using larger chiles, splitting them open 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. Wispy smoke is okay, more than that they’ll be burnt and bitter. Place the roasted chiles in a small bowl of boiling water for 20 minutes so they can rehydrate.

Thickly slice the onion. Put it along with the garlic with its skin still on, onto the comal or frying pan. Roast them until they are blackened on both sides. Put the tomatoes on as well. If you’re using larger ones, they’ll take a bit longer to roast. Turn them frequently until blackened all over. The cherry tomatoes won’t take very long. Let them get black on one side then roll over so they get another blackened area. Don’t let them burst open because it’s messy and you’ll lose most of the meaty good stuff.

With the garlic, once it’s ready put to the side and let cool, then slip off the skin. Put the other roasted ingredients as they’re ready into the jar of a blender. Add the cumin, oregano, salt, and sugar as well as the rehydrated chiles and 1/2 cup of the chile water. Blend it all together until you have a smooth, yet fairly thick sauce, about 3 minutes. If it’s too thick add a bit of plain or the chile water to thin it out a bit. Squeeze in the lime juice.

In a small sauce pan, heat the oil to a high heat. The sauce needs to really sizzle when you pour it in so test with just a drop to see if it’s hot enough. When it is, pour the sauce from the blender jar into the pot. It’ll sizzle and sputter a bit so watch out. Turn the temperature down to med-low and simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. The colour will darken and the simmering allows the flavours to all blend together. If it begins to dry out and stick to the bottom of the pot, just add a bit of water.

Check for seasonings and let rest a few minutes while you bring it all together.

Bringing it all together:

Put the oven back on to 350F. Sprinkle the bottom of each tortilla cup with a pinch of cheese (or more if you desire). Put them back in the oven for 7 minutes or so until the cheese melts.

Cook the eggs. If you are an egg poacher, then knock yourself out and poach four eggs. If you prefer to fry them, then make it so. Cook them so the yolks remain soft and runny.

Once the cheese has melted, take the tortilla cups out and, if you prefer, remove them from the bowls you’ve cooked in and put on a plate. Gently place your soft eggs in the cup. Top with a generous dollop of the spicy tomato sauce. Garnish with the sliced avocado and tomato/pico.

Serve them up and enjoy.

© Gail J. Cohen 2017

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

Albondigas mexicanas

I am consistently trying to think of ways to marry the classic meatball with Mexican flavours. So here’s another go at it. This sauce is deep and rich but not very spicy. It also gets better with time.

Ingredients 

Sauce:
2 guajillo chiles
1 poblano chile
2 medium tomatoes
2 large or 3 smaller tomatillos
4 cloves of garlic
2 tsp Mexican oregano
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp of salt
1 small onion
2 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro
1 tsp sugar
juice of 1/2 a lime (if it’s juicy, use a whole one if it’s not)

Meatballs (you can easily double this because the above makes A LOT of sauce):
1 lb of extra lean ground beef
1 tbsp of chopped fresh parsley
1 large egg
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp breadcrumbs
pinch of ground pepper

Roast the poblano. If you have a bbq or gas stove, char the skin over the flame. If you have an electric stove, put it under the broiler for 10-15 minutes turning it so all sides get charred. Put the hot pepper in a bowl, cover with a tea towel, and let theitm sit/steam for 10 minutes or more. The skin should now come off easily when you rub it. Remove as much as you can then cut out the stem and seed. Rinse it to get all the black stuff off and remove the final few stubborn seeds.

Boil up some water. Stem and seed the guajillo chiles. Soften them slightly on a comal or in a non-stick frying pan. Just heat them for a few minutes on each side until they are soft, don’t burn the flesh because it’ll make your sauce bitter. Put the chiles in a glass bowl, cover with boiled water, and let sit for about 15 minutes.

Peel and thickly slice the onions. Dry roast the slices,  garlic (with the skins still on),  tomatoes, and the peeled and washed tomatillos in the pan or on the comal.

Once blackened, let the garlic cloves cool then peel and toss them into a blender along with the reconstituted chiles, tomatillos, onions, tomatoes, oregano, cumin, salt, cilantro, lime juice, and up to a 1/4 cup of the chile liquid. Waz it up until you get a really great smooth sauce. If it’s too thick, just add a bit more water.

Now put the egg into a large bowl and whisk it. Add the meat, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs, and chopped parsley and mix it all together with your hands. Then form the meat into walnut-sized balls.

Heat the oil in a medium-sized pot and once it’s really hot, pour the sauce into it – watch out for the splatter! Stir, stir, stir. It’ll boil fairly quickly then turn it down to simmer. Add the meatballs. Cook for at least half an hour. You can simmer it for up to an hour to smooth out the flavours of the sauce even more. This would also be a good dish to make in the morning or day before and heat up later.

Serve over your favourite rice and be generous with the sauce.

As is the case most of th time, meatballs in sauce taste much better than they look.

© 2016 Gail J. Cohen

Carne asada en adobe de guajillo

My friend Sarah recently returned from Arizona with a couple of bags of chiles in tow; keen to use them but not really sure what to do with them. So I offered to help. If you have a “I want to make things with chiles but don’t really know where to turn” emergency, I’m you’re gal. So we set a date for some Mexican cooking basic training and I set out figuring out something delicious to do with either cascabel or guajillo chiles.

I particularly enjoy guajillos because they have a beautiful deep red colour as well as a lovely fruity flavour without too much heat. Quite often people are afraid of cooking with chiles because they don’t want to eat spicy foods but the beauty of many Mexican chiles is that they’re not crazy hot but deliver a delightful flavour punch.

If you’re ready for some great grilling, this marinade is absolutely spectacular and worth making over and over again on the BBQ this summer (and also winter if you’re anything like me.)

Ingredients:

2 pounds flank or skirt steak

Marinade:

4 dried guajillo chiles

2 cloves of garlic

1/4 tsp ground cumin

1 tbsp cider vinegar

pinch of salt

pinch of sugar

Boil up some water. Stem and seed the guajillo chiles. Soften them slightly on a comal or in a non-stick frying pan. Just heat them for a few minutes on each side until they are soft, don’t burn the flesh because it’ll make your sauce bitter. Put the chiles in a glass bowl, cover with boiled water, and let sit for about 15 minutes or so. Dry roast the garlic (with the skins still on) also in the pan or on the comal.

Once blackened, let the garlic cloves cool then peel and toss them into a blender along with the reconstituted chiles, vinegar, salt, sugar, cumin, and a 1/4 cup or so of the chile liquid. Waz it up until you get a really great smooth paste. If it’s too thick, just add a bit more water.

Take the steak and cut it into two pieces then put it in a non-reactive (preferably glass) plate and smother the meat with the marinade. You want every bit covered in it. Cover and put it in the fridge to marinate for at least four hours but better for eight or so.

When ready to cook, heat the grill until it is super hot. Put the meat on and sear each side for 8 or so minutes. Then flip it a couple of times to finish it off. Make sure you use up all the delicious marinade during the cooking process. Remove it from the heat and let it sit for about 10 minutes, then slice thinly and serve in a taco or over rice.

And why not grill up some shrimp along with it! They are great with salsa verde or marinated in lime and garlic.

© Gail J. Cohen 2016

Sopa de albondigas de pollo

Wanted to try something new with the ground chicken we had in the freezer. I love soup and meatballs so figured I could Mex it up and create a deeply flavoured broth with some beautiful chiles. If you like it smoky, use chipotle or my absolute favourite pasilla Oaxqueno, otherwise guajillo would work well.

6 servings

Meatballs

1 lb ground chicken

1 tbsp chopped cilantro

1 egg, beaten

2 tbsp breadcrumbs or matzoh meal

1 tsp Mexican oregano

1 tsp tomato paste

3 tbsp chopped onion

1 clove garlic

Salt and pepper

Broth

½ onion

1 garlic clove

1-2 dried chiles

1 bay leaf

1 cup pasata or crushed tomatoes

6 cups chicken stock

¼ cup rice

Juice of half a lime

Salt and pepper

Slice an onion in thick rondelles and put that and the unpeeled garlic cloves on a comal or non-stick pan and dry roast.

Stem and seed your chiles and dry roast them quickly on the comal and then put in a bowl of boiling water for 15 minutes to soften.

Take a couple of the slices of onion and one of the cloves of garlic (peel it first) and chop them finely for the meatballs.

Put the beaten egg, ground chicken, chopped onions, chopped garlic, breadcrumbs/matzoh meal, cilantro, oregano, and tomato paste into a medium sized bowl and get your hands in there and mix it all together. Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste.

Take about a heaping teaspoon worth of the meatball mixture and roll it into a small ball with your hands. Put the balls on a cutting board. Continue until you’ve used up all the meat mixture.

For the soup broth, put the rest of the roasted onion and peeled garlic into a blender with the tomato sauce and chiles. Waz it all up and add a little bit of the chile water for extra oomph.

In a medium-large pot, pour in the chicken stock and then add the tomato mixture and bay leaf. Add a bit of salt and pepper then bring it to the boil. Once it’s boiling CAREFULLY drop the meatballs in. Finally add the rice, turn the temperature down to med-low and let it simmer away for at least half an hour.

Once it’s cooked, give the broth a try and add more salt if you need to. Add the lime juice to taste (you may want a bit more or a bit less), and then serve this up. With a salad, or all on its own, this makes a nice light dinner. Of course, if you have fresh tortillas, do eat them with the soup. Crispy tortilla strips served on the top would also be a nice touch.

It is delicious and super-low calorie! (3 points per serving if you're counting it in Weight Watchers Smartpoints)

(c) 2016 Gail J Cohen