more food with chiles
Sep. 5th, 2011 10:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kindkitTonight I used some of the Mexican-style roast pork from the other day to make chili. It was yummy.
2 large dried ancho or pasilla-ancho chiles
2 dried chipotle chiles
1 white onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1-2 tablespoons cumin seed, dry-toasted until brown and fragrant
2-3 cloves garlic
pinch cinnamon
16-ounce can tomatoes (preferably whole but it doesn't much matter)
3/4 pound or so of chile-roasted pork
Stock from cooking the pork (I had about a cup)
Kidney beans cooked with onion, garlic, and bay leaf, with their cooking liquid (I think I had about two or two and a half cups of beans before cooking, but I wasn't really keeping track)
Soak the chiles in boiling water to cover for about half an hour or until pliable. Remove the stems and grind them in a food processor or blender (using a little of the soaking water if necessary) until smooth-ish. Reserve. Drain the tomatoes (reserve the juice) and whirr them in the food processor (no need to rinse the bowl) until well chopped but not pureed.
Cook the onion in the oil over medium heat until softened; add the cumin seeds, cinnamon, and garlic and cook for another minute or so, then add the ground chiles and cook for another minute.
Add the tomatoes, pork, pork stock, and beans with their cooking liquid and cook until everything's heated through.
Note: I found this moderately spicy-hot, but then, I live in a place where hot green chiles are a normal part of breakfast. If you like less heat, use more anchos and fewer or no chipotles (you'll lose the smokiness, though); if you like more heat, go wild! You could also use beef or ground beef in place of the pork. I don't know if I'd recommending trying to make this vegetarian, because there's a certain bitterness in the dried chiles that needs the richness of meat for balance.
I recommend serving this chili with Cheddar Corn Bread. This recipe is from the Joy of Cooking, very slightly adapted.
1 1/4 cups stone-ground cornmeal (I recommend medium grind, not fine)
3/4 cup all-purpose white flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (not authentic or high quality cheddar, but the cheap supermarket kind that melts)
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Add the oil and cheese and stir just until incorporated.
Pour batter into a greased 9x9 inch pan, or thereabouts, and bake for about 25 minutes in a preheated 425 F oven.
This makes a quite moist cornbread (I also seem to have underbaked mine a little--baking at high altitudes is tricky) with--if you use good stone-ground, medium-texture cornmeal, the sort you'd use for making polenta--gorgeous corn flavor.
Notes: Cornbread is almost infinitely adaptable. You can make it sweeter, but I didn't want it too sweet with the cheese. And although in general I think adding chiles, or bacon, or both to cheesy cornbread is an excellent idea, you don't want to do that if you're serving it with the chili.
2 large dried ancho or pasilla-ancho chiles
2 dried chipotle chiles
1 white onion
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1-2 tablespoons cumin seed, dry-toasted until brown and fragrant
2-3 cloves garlic
pinch cinnamon
16-ounce can tomatoes (preferably whole but it doesn't much matter)
3/4 pound or so of chile-roasted pork
Stock from cooking the pork (I had about a cup)
Kidney beans cooked with onion, garlic, and bay leaf, with their cooking liquid (I think I had about two or two and a half cups of beans before cooking, but I wasn't really keeping track)
Soak the chiles in boiling water to cover for about half an hour or until pliable. Remove the stems and grind them in a food processor or blender (using a little of the soaking water if necessary) until smooth-ish. Reserve. Drain the tomatoes (reserve the juice) and whirr them in the food processor (no need to rinse the bowl) until well chopped but not pureed.
Cook the onion in the oil over medium heat until softened; add the cumin seeds, cinnamon, and garlic and cook for another minute or so, then add the ground chiles and cook for another minute.
Add the tomatoes, pork, pork stock, and beans with their cooking liquid and cook until everything's heated through.
Note: I found this moderately spicy-hot, but then, I live in a place where hot green chiles are a normal part of breakfast. If you like less heat, use more anchos and fewer or no chipotles (you'll lose the smokiness, though); if you like more heat, go wild! You could also use beef or ground beef in place of the pork. I don't know if I'd recommending trying to make this vegetarian, because there's a certain bitterness in the dried chiles that needs the richness of meat for balance.
I recommend serving this chili with Cheddar Corn Bread. This recipe is from the Joy of Cooking, very slightly adapted.
1 1/4 cups stone-ground cornmeal (I recommend medium grind, not fine)
3/4 cup all-purpose white flour
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (not authentic or high quality cheddar, but the cheap supermarket kind that melts)
Whisk the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and milk. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until just blended. Add the oil and cheese and stir just until incorporated.
Pour batter into a greased 9x9 inch pan, or thereabouts, and bake for about 25 minutes in a preheated 425 F oven.
This makes a quite moist cornbread (I also seem to have underbaked mine a little--baking at high altitudes is tricky) with--if you use good stone-ground, medium-texture cornmeal, the sort you'd use for making polenta--gorgeous corn flavor.
Notes: Cornbread is almost infinitely adaptable. You can make it sweeter, but I didn't want it too sweet with the cheese. And although in general I think adding chiles, or bacon, or both to cheesy cornbread is an excellent idea, you don't want to do that if you're serving it with the chili.
