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  • From: "Sage Austin | Eureka! Design" <eureka AT hctc.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Skinning chilis
  • Date: Sun, 30 Aug 2009 15:51:37 -0500

New Mexico enchilada sauce is made from the chile molino, not the anchos. I brown it with a little flour over heat and then slowly stir in water to a consistency a little thinner than the sauce, then cook it on low, stirring frequently until it reaches the right consistency. This is NM red sauce.

The anchos you rehydrate and blenderize. I add it to egg dishes, soup, beans, whatever needs a little zest. On cream cheese with crackers, etc. It is not a traditional enchilada sauce as such unless you make it into mole (which has ground nuts and chocolate in it, yum!) Mole recipes differ from family to family and are used on enchiladas. I think mole is more of a Oaxacan Mexican/Indian sauce.
--Sage


Leslie wrote:
I've seen the dried powdered red chili, (molino means ground) at the local farmers market (it isn't chili powder), as there are pretty big pepper farms around here also.

That local farmers market also sells big gunny sacks with dried red pepper
(probably
an ancho from your description - about 6" long 2-3" across, triangular shape - correct?).
I asked a mexican couple buying one of those big bags how long that sack
would last them.
The answer was 4-5 months !!

The next question,,,,,,,, is what do they do with them?

I do like enchilada sauce, nice kick, but not too hot.

So are you saying I can take a dried chili, rehydrate (remove stem/seeds),
and cook it down into enchilada sauce? Do you add anything else?





________________________________
From: Sage Austin | Eureka! Design <eureka AT hctc.net>
To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Sunday, August 30, 2009 9:52:35 AM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Skinning chilis

Depends on the sauce. The New Mexican enchilada sauce is made from dried, powdered red chile. In NM you buy this as chile powder or chile molino. This stuff is not to be confused with chili powder from the regular grocery store, which often adds other spices in the mix and doesn't taste the same. Often the NM chile powder is named by where the chile grows, as different regions have slightly different heat and flavor. I like Nambe and Chimayo chile which is very hot. As far as I know, these are the same as hatch chilies only they let them go to red before harvesting, drying, and powdering (or hanging in ristras)

For most of the rehydrated sauces I use the chile ancho, which is a dried poblano. You'll recognize it by it's triangular shape, and it's usually very dark, almost black, when it is dried. They are spicy without being deadly. I forgot to say after they rehydrate you take off the stem and discard that and the seeds before blenderizing.

You can do the same with the chipotles (smoked, dried jalapenos) but it is a much hotter sauce. The smokiness adds a nice flavor. You could also experiment with 2 anchos 1 chipotle for a sauce. You don't need to use more than 3 of anything unless you are making a lot. These will be hot enough.

I know it's very confusing, but most peppers have one name when they are fresh and another name when they are dried, but they are the same pepper.

Most of my hot pepper seeds I buy from Seeds of Change <http://www.seedsofchange.com/> in Santa Fe, NM. I get my poblano, jalapeno, and "hatch" from them. The hatch chile (generic term for fresh green chile to be roasted) would be the Anaheim, Epanola Improved, and Numex Big Jim. Looks like they have added the Numex Sandia. The differences are in the heat and they explain how hot in the listings.

Hope this helps Leslie,

--Sage

Leslie wrote:
Sage,
Which chilis are you rehydrating to make that sauce.
i've asked some of the locals, but they don't seem to differentiate.

Anchos, Poblanos, what? Which seed packet would I order?



________________________________
From: Sage Austin | Eureka! Design <eureka AT hctc.net>
To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
Sent: Saturday, August 29, 2009 10:43:44 AM
Subject: Re: [Homestead] Skinning chilis

Bev, I hate to admit but dried chilies are so plentiful in my part of the world I just buy the chipotles and anchos at the store, and grow the ones I eat fresh! I would be interested in knowing how James smokes his, though.

To make sauce I rehydrate dried chilies in a bowl by pouring boiling water over them. After they are soft, I throw the chilies and the water into the blender, and then have a paste-like sauce that can be use in or on anything. You can also add a little to mayonnaise to spice up whatever you make with that. When cooking pinto beans I just throw a couple of dried anchos in whole and they break down while cooking. I also add a little natural liquid smoke for the flavor you guys get by adding pork. It's my version of ranch style beans!

A popular Texas use of hatch green chilies is to serve them hot with melted cheese over french fries! I try to stay away from fried foods, but I can't resist this! I also use them in a lot of egg dishes.

In New Mexico, the enchiladas are flat! Instead of two rolled ones, you put your cheese and onions and sauce in between two flat tortillas, cover with more sauce and cheese and bake. The sauce is the red one I already mentioned. For me it's a great use of the two round layer cake forms I never otherwise use!

There are so many salsa recipes out there, it's just a matter of finding the right one for you. I like cilantro in mine, and a lot of people don't like cilantro. I like cumin in much smaller quantity than called for and usually half or quarter the amount or leave it out altogether.

--Sage



EarthNSky wrote:
Sage Austin | Eureka! Design wrote:
Yum! I prefer jalapenos smoked to fresh, and buy them dry as chipotles
I know James smokes his...
How do you smoke yours, Sage?



to add to sauces. I also make sauces from dried chili anchos, which are poblanos when fresh.
Recipes?



I stuff jalapenos with cream cheese, batter them
with egg and flour, brown them in oil.
Nom nom.


We do cook with the locally native chilipequin which is hot but flavorful--could this be the small pepper you saw? We live in the part of Texas where Mexican Food is "TexMex" but I prefer the cooking of New Mexico. In TexMex jalapenos or serranos are chopped fresh with tomatoes for salsa, and gives you what I call "instant burn". A TexMex green sauce is made mostly with tomatillos.
I've been looking for a different salsa, not too sweet, with a serrano kick, something less vinegar and more salt.



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