Drowning in Chiles.

May 13, 2008 6:01 AM

Help me use these giant sacks of dried chiles.

So after making a very delicious adobo chicken I am left with a giant sack of dried guajillo chiles and another of chiles de arbol. I am looking for ways to utilize the rest of them other than making more chicken. Are they good in salsa? Any recipes, tips, etc. you have for making the most of these would be appreciated!

posted by zennoshinjou to food & drink (15 comments total)

Pulverize them to create your own chili powder. The chili powder can be used in many dishes, including, most obviously, chili.
posted by HotPatatta at 6:06 AM on May 13

Stick a few of them bad boys in some average - low quality olive oil and stash them somewhere cool and dark for a month or so. Bam! Chilli Oil. (Looks pretty too.)
posted by Jofus at 7:01 AM on May 13

For this you'll need olive oil, a couple of those chiles, and some salty dry cheese that has to be grated.

The idea is quite simple, you put the chiles + the cheese with the olive oil in a mortar, and you grind them manually. I tried to look for pictures but I couldn't find any, but what you should end up with is something that looks like long pieces of the chile intermingled with the cheese, generously moist in the oil. I know it sounds quite obvious, but what I'm saying is that you shouldn't try to grind them until you get a homogeneous texture, like that of guacamole.

So, this thing serves as filler, and you can make some great tacos with it. It works best if you have different fillers and people can have different types of tacos (for instance, tacos of the adobo chicken you made, guacamole tacos and so on). It will taste surprisingly different from other guajillo recipes, due to the olive oil, so you don't have to worry about repeating two guajillo dishes if you serve them together.

provechito.
posted by micayetoca at 7:04 AM on May 13

Make a great red enchilada sauce from the guajillo chiles -- by a long but ultimately fulfilling process of toasting, soaking, roasting, pureeing, and straining them. This is a pretty good page I just searched up with a method that approximates what we have done with various chiles to make great sauces. But then once you have the sauce it's pretty easy to wrap up some chicken, onions, and cheese in tortillas and bake them to deliciousness with the red sauce. (I am not sure I would go so far as the dip & fry part of the method on the page I linked -- I would probably just bake the enchiladas in the sauce after it's been strained.)
posted by aught at 7:09 AM on May 13

Check out the recipes at Rancho Gordo. His salsa recipe used dried arbol. If you make chile powder, you can make a version his brisket.

The dried chile will last a long time. You've got time to enjoy them. If you find you have too many, you're welcome to send some my way.
posted by onhazier at 7:12 AM on May 13

The chiles de arbol can be tossed in a blender with a little garlic and a fair amount of olive oil to make a spicy paste similar to harissa.
posted by foodgeek at 7:39 AM on May 13

Posole!
posted by clockwork at 8:22 AM on May 13

If you make chile powder, you should make some toasted powder as well. Toasting chiles usually gives them a different flavor. Just take the tops off (if present) and arrange them on a cookie sheet. Bake at 250 degrees, turning every once in a while, until they turn a darker color and smell toasted. Then let them cool and grind into powder.

Also, you could make mole. This is a wonderful and very impressive meal, and includes both kinds of chiles.
posted by vorfeed at 8:25 AM on May 13

You could also keep them as-is -- dried chiles last a long time. If you do this, make absolutely sure to keep them dry. I didn't, once, and later opened my jar of chiles to find them writhing with WORMS EW EW GROSS WORMS. Don't let it happen to you and your family chiles!

Another thing you could try is making ristras. This is a traditional New Mexican way to store chiles (it keeps them dry, see above), plus it's fun and decorative.
posted by vorfeed at 8:33 AM on May 13

http://www.vivanewmexico.com/nm/food.recipes.cocinas.redchile.html

Make the basic red chile sauce, and you can put it on burgers, eggs, beans, tortillias, sandwiches, steaks, pretty much anything. It's really good mixed in with ground beef before cooking. You can use it as a salsa straight up, or mix with other things for salsa.
posted by yohko at 8:39 AM on May 13

Ach, it looks like one of my favorite recipe finds has vanished from the internets. Fortunately, I have an old food-stained printout to crib from. I don't recall its origin, but the author calls it a Porra, while acknowledging that it's more like a Romesco sauce found in Penelope Casas' Tapas: The Little Dishes of Spain (which I don't have, so I can't verify).

What the hell. It's an awesome dip, sandwich spread, etc., that has never yet failed to please. You have guajillos, but I gather they're pretty universally substitutable for New Mexicos and vice versa. This recipe is always delicious, but never works out quite the way it seems it should... keep tasting it as you make it and add more bread, oil, chiles, vinegar, etc., as you see fit. In the end, you'll wind up with a thick red paste that you can't stop "testing."

Porra (a thick Spanish dipping sauce)

1 large tomato
5-10 cloves garlic
2-4 New Mexico chiles
About 6 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
12 thin slices stale French bread*
10 almonds
1/2 cup olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

*note: this quantity assumes a real, 2" diameter baguette. If the bread you are using is larger, reduce slices accordingly

Place tomato and cloves of garlic (still in their skins) on a small tray and bake at 350°F for 1/2 hour.

Meanwhile, place chiles in a small saucepan and cover with water. Add 3 Tbsp. red wine vinegar, bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Drain the chiles and place them in a blender jar.

Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan and fry the slices of bread on both sides until they are golden. Add them to the blender jar. Fry the almonds in the same oil until they have darkened by a few shades, and add them to the blender jar along with any remaining oil.

Add olive oil and a table spoon of vinegar to the blender. When tomato and garlic are roasted, peel and core the tomato and peel the garlic. Add them to the blender and blend all ingredients until the mixture is quite smooth. Taste and add more vinegar as necessary. The vinegar flavor should be distinct, but not overwhelm the sauce. Season with black pepper to taste.
posted by mumkin at 8:40 AM on May 13 [2 favorites]

I've had some luck rehydrating chilis of various types and chopping them up (with the seeds) and adding them to salsa/guacamole. It's not the same as using the fresh ones, but it does work quite nicely.

My hackneyed method is to cut off the stems, slit up the sides and to pop them into hot (tap hot) water with the seeds. After 30 minutes, they're pretty well good to go.

An additional step that adds some roasty toasty flavor is to cut them up one side and flatten them on a hot skillet until they're just blackened and ~then~ soak them in hot water. It's a trick I found a Rick Bayless cookbook. Who, incidentally, has some very good recipes in all the books I've encountered.
posted by oreonax at 9:01 AM on May 13

Also, in addition to the worms that vorfeed mentions, if you decide to store some long term and don't keep them dry you can also lose them to mold, which is just as annoying (if not quite as gross).
posted by aught at 9:19 AM on May 13

These are all awesome- Thanks!!!
posted by zennoshinjou at 11:32 AM on May 13

You can freeze them - I have a large bag of de arbol peppers from Rancho Gordo in my freezer that may last my entire lifetime. You can also make amazingly good pepper vodka and pepper tequila by just infusing a few peppers for a few weeks.
posted by judith at 1:43 PM on May 13