CHILES RELLENOS
My Favorite Recipe for My Go-to Meal in a Mexican Restaurant; the Way I Like It
Restaurants have gone up, down, and sideways with versions of this centuries-old idea of stuffing a chile. I don’t mind the innovative creations put out by some top chefs but too many restaurants have, unfortunately, taken the easy way (down) by using canned (sometimes “pickled?”) chiles, stuffing them with minimal cheese and that cheese often being some American type of cheese, and then wrapping the whole in a tortilla-thin sheet of cooked egg (I guess kind of like a burrito except it’s egg instead of a tortilla). The tomato-based sauce on top is another story.
The following is what I know from chile relleno’s declared state of origin, Puebla, as well as at a gob of hole-in-the-wall restaurants in Southern California. The chiles are roasted and peeled in house (not a major project), they are stuffed with a good Mexican cheese (I really like queso Oaxaca but queso Chihuahua is pretty darn close; queso fresco might be nice for garnish), and then — dah dah DAAH — they are lightly floured and dipped in eggs that have been fluffed up with egg whites. Fried, of course.
This is the way I cook them, the way I like them…
Tips for filling Chiles Rellenos
Fillings, if anything besides cheese, can be made ahead of time and refrigerated, then brought to room temperature before stuffing chiles.
Fillings should be at room temperature or slightly chilled. If fillings are hot, the juices will flow out and cause the coating to slide off.
Recipe
Serves 6
Use enough filling to stuff each chile relleno as completely as possible, but not so much that the seam won't hold together.
Ingredients
6 medium Poblano chiles (typical, a little zip) or Pasilla chiles (hotter) or Anaheim (very mild)
½ lb Oaxaca cheese (can sub mozzarella, if you must), cut into slices that will fit “fatly” into the chiles
¼ cup flour
6 large eggs (separated)
½ cup flour
1 cup avocado oil or mild vegetable oil (I sometimes use
corn oil or Wesson’s Best Blend)
Directions
Preheat oven to broil.
Rinse the chiles and pat dry. Brush lightly with oil.
Place the chiles in a baking dish or high-edged sheet and place under the oven broiler. Watch carefully, regularly.
When the skins start to make popping sounds and to char and turn black in places, take the chiles out and flip them over. When both sides are fairly evenly charred, remove them from the oven.
Wrap each chile in a moist paper towel or place in a sealed plastic bag to steam. Once the skin comes off easily, peel each chile.
Cut a slit almost the full length of each chile. Make a small "t" across the top, by the stem. Carefully pull out fibers and seeds (this is where the heat is) and replace with a slice of cheese. Set these aside for a few minutes or, in the refrigerator for a few hours.
Whip the egg whites at high speed with an electric mixer until stiff peaks have formed.
Heat the oil in a skillet until a drop of water sizzles when dropped into the pan.
Beat the egg yolks with one tablespoon flour and salt. Mix the yolks into the egg whites, stirring very gently until it’s a thick, semi-poofy paste.
Roll the chiles in ¼ cup flour and dip each one in the egg batter. Coat evenly. Holding them by the stem while using fingers of the other hand to keep it together seems to be the best way to prevent it from exploding.
Fry, seam side down, on both sides until golden brown.
Place on paper towels to drain.
Variations:
shred the cheese and mix it with finely chopped cooked shrimp and/or crab; mold into chile-sized quenelles.
mix shredded cheese with chorizo and then mold it.
mix ground pork with shredded cheese.
do you like canned tuna?
vegetarian?: add finely chopped mushrooms (your choice of variety) or squash blossoms to the cheese
put the whole cooked thing in a large flour tortilla, add rice, and wrap it like a burrito.
you can stuff jalapeños this way, as well.
Oh, and yeah, do visit Puebla, Mexico. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It’s the home of chiles en nogada, the ultimate kicked-up version of a chile relleno, as well as cemitas, which is a unglamorously overflowingly stuffed sandwich. And get up into the forests to touch the trees and get splashed by the waterfalls.