Sunday, February 8, 2009

Salsa De Muchos Chiles

Here is another salsa recipe from Diana Kennedy that I tried, Sauce of Many Chiles.

Couple mistakes, questions, I have regarding the recipe and what I found to work. For instance, the recipe in "The Essential Cuisines of Mexico"states that the chiles should crumble easily. I did not find this to be the case. The Arbols crumbled just fine, but as explained by a friend, this is just because they are so thin to begin with. Everything else I had to tear apart myself, and after blending just so much as to leave some rustic consistency, I found the larger pieces chewy. Not cool. So I blended everything again, to turn it into a sauce rather than a salsa. I did not add the cilantro either, at the end as I just ran out of time.

Very tasty, very smokey, and quite complex in flavor.






As seen here in order, we have the cascabel, morita, arbol, chipotle, and guajillo chiles.









Notice, how most of the chiles were still left in rather large pieces after trying to crumble. Chiles burn quite easily, and very quickly so I think you are better off under toasting rather than over toasting and burning.
You can see the salsa, after blending the first time, and while there is still some consistency, but with large chewy pieces of chiles. I decided to puree, and blend it all together after this.



The final product, pureed, and without cilantro. Very good still. Will make this one again, for sure.

Ingredients
2 chiles cascabel
2 chiles moritas
2 chiles de arbol
1 chile chipotle
1 chile guajillo
2 large tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, peeled
1/4 teaspoon sea salt, or to taste
1/2 cup cold water
1/2 bunch chopped cilantro leaves
Directions
Heat a comal or cast iron skillet over a medium high heat. Toast the chiles, turning them constantly so they don=t burn, 30 to 60 seconds. Let them cool and remove their stems. Crumble them with their seeds and veins.
Toast the tomatoes and garlic until slightly charred. Let them cool. In a blender combine the chiles, garlic, tomatoes, salt, and water and blend until you have a rough sauce. Pieces of the chiles should be visible. Transfer salsa to a bowl and stir in the cilantro.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Firkland! Damn, this is what I needed! They don't have ANY good salsa here. Other food is damn good, but no Mexican and no salsa.