Elise & I had a snow day! I was supposed to go to an ugly sweater women’s luncheon and take something, but I didn’t go because of the weather. I was planning to take a Mexican dish called chile colorado. Some people also call it mole.
Elise has been asking me to teach her to make Mexican food, so today we tackled chile colorado, a spicy pork dish made with New Mexico red chilli pods. It’s a family favorite.
Colorado is Spanish for red or colorful (hence our reduntant state tagline, Colorful Colorado..hmm?). Anyhow, chile colorado seemed like the perfect dish for a wintry Colorado day.
The recipe:
Estela Garcia’s Chile Colorado
4 oz (about half a package of mild or medium New Mexico red chile pods)
4 ½ cups of water
3 lbs cubed *pork butt (about six cups)
*if you use a less fatty cut, you’ll need to add ½ cup of lard
Hint: It’s easier to cube pork if it’s semi-frozen . Cubing the pork into morsels with a knife allows you to cut away the fat and gristle more easily. If you don’t have lard, fry the fat and gristle for 8 minutes, discard, & then use that fat to brown the morsels.
3 or 4 cloves minced garlic
2 ½ tbsp salt
2 tbsp corn masa flour (reg. flour is ok, but corn masa is better)
1 tsp Mexican oregano
Rinse red chile pods, then pull off stems carefully so that you don’t end up breaking the pod & losing most of the seed. In large pot over medium heat, bring red chile pods and about 4 cups of water (enough water to barely cover the pods) to a boil until pods are soft (about 15 minutes). Drain water, then add about 2 cups of fresh water. Add 1 clove garlic and 1 tbsp salt, then puree chile pods plus the water in blender or food processor. Strain pureed mixture over the large pot. Use a strainer with holes small enough to strain out the seeds but large enough to allow the pulp to squeeze out. Use a spatula to mix, squeeze and manually “shake” out the pulp some as it strains. Sometimes it’s necessary to add another ¼ to ½ cup water to the strainer to really get all the pulp strained, especially if the pods are better quality. Set chile aside.
Brown pork with 1 tbsp salt in large frying pan, then add 1 clove garlic and corn masa flour to pan until the flour and garlic are browned too.
Add pork to chile with another ½ tbsp salt, another clove minced garlic, plus the oregano. Bring to slow boil over medium heat. Makes about six servings. Serve with rice or mashed potatoes, and warm corn or flour tortillas.
Yum!! The sopes absorbed the red chile sauce perfectly.
We served it over sopes or gorditas, little fried corncakes I make with a combination of corn masa plus cornmeal and water.
I wore my celebratory ugly sweater outfit while we cooked. I’ll be showing you more fashionable thrifty Christmas purchases soon!
Most importantly, we had a great Colorado day making chile colorado and fun memories as we laughed & chatted.