Mild chili sauce is full of flavor
- Scott Daniels: We Ate Well and Cheaply
- July 2, 2023
- 501
Last summer a company was in town, brought in by a grocery store, roasting hatch chilies over a fire outside the entrance. It was a great surprise to find, and I picked up several packages of the finished product thinking they’d last a while frozen.
They were gone within a couple of weeks, and there are no more of the fresh roasted green ones to be had. Hatch chilies are a New Mexico thing, a southwest thing, not often seen in Ohio, at least not around here.
There also were packages of dried chilies. As is usually the case, dried varieties of chilies have different names than the fresh version. Dried, hatch become New Mexico chilies. The bag has been in my pantry ever since as I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them.
Finally, I made use of them this week, in a chili sauce I made using about half my supply. The process for creating a sauce made from dried chilies is pretty straightforward: The dried chilies blend with a mixture of water and aromatics brought together to form a sauce or salsa.
The great thing about dried New Mexico chilies is their level of spiciness, which is virtually nil. What you get is the full flavor and aroma of the chili without the crazy heat. The sauce lends itself to many possibilities. I’ve used it as a kind of shortcut mole sauce for chicken or pork. It’s also great just as a dip for tortillas or can be used in place of actual chili soup for making zipped up chili con queso. This batch filled a medium-size canning jar with a little left over to eat up on the spot.
Even though the dried version of this variety of chili isn’t generally very hot, it’s a good idea to wear gloves when preparing them. I find them too tough to tear apart, but a sharp knife will make short work of the job.
When preparing the chilies, you can remove the seeds and discard them or keep them in. The seeds and membrane of dried chilies usually carry the bulk of any heat, so it’s up to you if your tolerance for spice is low. In any case, wash your hands carefully after handling any kind of chili, even if they’re mild.
DRIED NEW MEXICO CHILI SAUCE
3 cups water
2 teaspoons dried Mexican oregano
3 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 pinch of ground coriander seeds
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 small pinch ground cloves
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 chicken bullion cube or 1 teaspoon powder or paste
4 ounces dried red New Mexico chilies (dried hatch)
1 tablespoon brown sugar or honey
In a medium saucepan, add the water, oregano, garlic, coriander, cumin, cloves, onion, salt and bullion. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer.
Carefully remove the stems and seeds from the chilies, if desired, and cut them into 1-inch pieces. Add them to the hot water mixture and cook at a simmer for 10 minutes. The water will take on the wonderful color of the chilies.
After 10 or so minutes, remove the mixture from the heat and strain the vegetables out through a mesh strainer. Be sure to save the liquid as you’ll be using it.
Transfer the chilies and the rest of the strained mixture to a blender. Add 1 cup of the cooking liquid, remove the stopper from the blender pitcher’s lid and cover the opening with a clean towel. This is a chef’s trick that allows for instant expansion of the liquid while also containing it. You don’t want to have a tight seal and end up blowing the lid off and scattering hot liquid everywhere.
Blend on high speed for about 30 seconds, then check to see how smooth the sauce is. If you want it thick, you’ll probably be ready to stop at this point. For a thinner, smoother sauce, add a little more liquid and keep blending until you’re happy with the result.
Transfer the sauce back to the saucepan, add the brown sugar or honey and continue cooking for a further 10 minutes to develop the flavors. Cool the sauce completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.