Cristina’s New Mexican Style Red Chili Sauce
(Pureed Dried Red Chilies)
Cristina Acosta ©2005, 2006, 2007, 2008
My grandmother (abuelita) Catalina’s
parents were born in New Mexico. She made chili sauce in the
New Mexican style, a sauce of mostly puréed, dried
chilies with spices. This sauce is the backbone of many
Hispanic dishes.
Catalina was an artist who believed that
anything worth knowing came at a price, and this sauce was her
specialty. She was in her seventies before she would give me
this recipe. In exchange for the recipe she insisted I wash
every downstairs
window of her house. While I
scrubbed and polished, she sat in the backyard patio of her
home by the sea near Los Angeles threading a ristra of chilies
from a new box of chili peppers that had arrived from New
Mexico. After finishing a few windows I’d stop to visit
with her and she’d tell me a little bit more about her
recipe. It was certainly worth the effort.
If the sauce is too picante (hot),
you can cut the heat by adding a can of stewed tomatoes or a
thick tomato sauce to the blender. This suggestion would have
been frowned upon by my abuelita who insisted that a proper
chile sauce never included tomatoes. Nonetheless, if the
mildest chilies are too hot for your taste, this method
works.
My abuelita’s original recipe used to
take hours when prepared with a food mill. I’ve adjusted
the recipe for quick and easy preparation. Use a powerful
blender such as a Vita-Mix for best results.
Tools: 1 ½ qt.
or larger saucepan with lid. Powerful blender. Stove top.
Yield: Aprox. 3
½ – 4 cups of sauce
Ingredients:
- 1 t. to 1 T. ground cumin
- 1 T. dark cocoa powder
- ½ t. sea salt
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- ½ large yellow onion (aprox. ½ cup) peeled. (use your favorite flavor of onion)
- 3 oz net wt. package of dried chilies: Use Chili California OR New Mexican OR Pasilla OR experiment with mixing varieties.
-
3 cups water or broth.
- With scissors cut off the tops of the chilies and pour out the seeds. (Don’t worry about getting them all out.)
- Rinse chilies briefly to dust them off.
- Put them in the sauce pan with the water, garlic and onion.
- Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes.
- In the blender put the cumin, salt and cocoa powder. Add the hot chili mixture including the water. Put the lid on the blender and slowly “step-up” the speed of the blender from low to high. (Never start a hot mixture on high as it may explode out of the top of the blender.) Process the mixture on high for approx. 3 minutes or until very smooth.
This versatile sauce is ready to serve. It freezes beautifully.
Use it over tamale pie, as an
enchilada sauce, base for chili soups or over fried eggs and
omelets. It's the key ingredient to Carne Adovada, a traditional New Mexican
pot roast.
Experiment with the sauce by adding ingredients such as: wine,
dried fruits such as raisins, apricots, plums, ground toasted
nuts or seeds (about ½ cup) , sweet chocolate and
cinnamon.
Note: for a thicker sauce, add a few more chilies or decrease
water a little.
Happy Cooking -- Cristina
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