Chile en Nogada

November 11, 2021Simply Sentient

This is a complex recipes usually made on independance day in Mexico. While in Mexico during a detox and cooking camp, I learned so much about Mexican cooking and all their amazing recipes. One of the most exquisite traditional recipes in Mexico, Chile en nogada with all ingredients filled into Poblano peppers which is a mild chile originating in the state of Puebla in Mexico. It is stuffed with a mix of peaches from the season, a special large sweet plantain, apples, raisins, and cream of pecan and almonds. You can imagine the flavor of all that ingredient seriously amazing.

Awesome, the most popular peppers grown in Old Mexico, the plant of the species Capsicum is multi-stemmed, and can reach to 64 cm or 25 inches in height. The pod itself is about 7.5 to 15 cm or 3 to 6 inches in length, and about 5 to 7.5 cm or 2 to 3 inches wide. A young or immature poblano chile is dark green or purplish green, but eventually turns a red so dark as to be nearly dark brown or black. While walking around the market in Puebla the rich colours and the variety of chiles regularly used is incredibly impressive. In Mexico they prepare chiles in a number of ways including dried, coated in whipped egg and fried, stuffed, or in spectacular kinds of mole sauces.

Poblano chile is particularly prepared on the Mexican independence festivities of mid September as part of a sophisticated dish called Chile en Nogada. The preparation corresponds to the color of the flag. Red White and Green, this very well may be considered as one of Mexico’s most symbolic national recipe.

The chile after being roasted on open fire and peeled (which helps improve texture by removing the waxy skin). Storing Poblanos in air-tight containers also works for several months. Once the chile is dried, this pepper turns flat, broad, heart-shaped pod called an Ancho chile (meaning “wide” in Spanish), one of the most common dried chile, often ground into a powder used for flavoring recipes. Poblano chile peppers are not at all hot in comparison to other chiles, and have a heat range considered really mild, between 1,000 to 2,000 Scoville Units.

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Chile en Nogado

November 29, 2024Simply

Prep time: 45 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes

Serves: 6

In the original version of Chile en Nogada, the filling is not plant-based and consists of Mexican goat cream. This is a healthier version of the recipe that has been vegan-niced by substituting the filling with fruits and vegetables and the cream for coconut cream. You may use the cream of your choice as well.

Ingredients

6 large poblano chiles about 6″ or 12-15 cm long

Filling

2 tbsp olive for sauteing
2 apples skinned and cubed
2 peaches cubed
2 large ripe bananas (terra)
2 medium zucchini
4 plum tomatoes roasted
½ cup raisins
½ cup almonds
½ tsp. cinnamon
3 cloves buds
2 cardamon pods
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt + salt to taste

NOGADA (Sauce)

1 ¼ cup cream (for vegan coconut cream)
½ cup shelled pecans
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 tbsp brown sugar

GARNISH

2 small pomegranates or 1 large
1 small bunch of parsley

Instructions

1)
Chop apples, peaches, bananas, and zucchini into ¼” or 1 cm cubes.
2)
Chop the almond very fine and set aside. You can also store-bought sliced almonds

Prepare tomato base

1)
Roasting the tomatoes on a skillet and removing the skin, add them to your blender and blend until smooth but not liquefied and set aside.

Cook the filling

1)
In a medium pan saute, first, add zucchini to saute in olive oil for a minute then add raisins, cubed peaches, apples, almonds and stir well. Add liquefied tomato and cook until the liquid is thickened and reduced.

Roast and clean the poblano chiles

1)
Place the chiles over the open flame on the burner on your stove and keep rotating once you see the chile getting charred (Blacken and blister) the skin on all sides.
2)
When you have roasted all of the chiles, place them in a plastic bag to sweat them.
3)
Scrape the skin of the chiles with the blade of a knife.
4)
Using a small knife, gently split the chile down the side without cutting through the tip of the chile.
5)
Remove the seeds inside the chile with your fingers without tearing the chile.

Prepare Nogada

1)
Place the cream, pecan, clove, cardamom and cinnamon in your blender. Blend until all turns into a smooth sauce.

Prepare the garnish

1)
Slice the pomegranates in half.
2)
Remove the seeds from your pomegranates.
3)
Chop the parsley very finely, reserving a few leaves to use as decoration.

Serve the Chiles en Nogada

1)
Fill each poblano chile with enough filling so that it will just close. Use toothpicks to keep each chile closed if needed.
2)
Place one stuffed chile on each plate.
3)
Spoon nogada over the stuffed chile until the chile is completely covered.
4)
Sprinkle pomegranate seeds and chopped parsley over the chile covered in nogada.
5)
Decorate with 1 or 2 parsley leaves.