ISO Ideas for cooking with dried chiles

[Andy M.]

I'm sitting here trying to get out of a cooking rut.

Looking over an accumulation of recipes and what's in the cupboard, I see that I have a selection of dried chiles. Ancho, New Mexico, Guajillo, Chipotle and Cascabel.

I also have a selection of meats in the freezer and am about to go shopping for some stuff for other dishes I'm planning to make.

So I'm asking for ideas of what to cook with this selection of chiles. I'm open to any ideas for meat or starch dishes.

Help me out of a rut!

 

[Alix]

Well, I'm a soup girl myself. I made a wicked chicken soup that was sort of loosely based on the chicken enchilada soup at Chili's restaurant. Your dried anchos would be perfect in it.

Just make chicken soup, toss the chiles in whole to flavour the soup and remove them when its at its desired heat level. Or...you could let them flavour the soup and then at the end take them out, dice them up and use them as a garnish when serving. Mmmmm.

I'm so jealous Andy. Sound like a cupboard of goodness.

Um...I would maybe try using some in a meat mixture as a stuffing in tortellinis too.

 

[Seven S]

i asked for uses for dried ancho chilis and got some good ideas here
http://www.discusscooking.com/forum...st-creative-use-dried-ancho-chilis-26314.html

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

Now before you scratch me off as a complete nut, remember, I'm not the first to try this wonderful way of using chilis.

Crush dried chilis and add to fine milk chocolate in a double boiler. Add raisins and stir to coat. Drip by spoonfulls onto parchment paper or waxed paper lined cookie sheet. You can also add broken pecans or walnuts to this. Haven't tried it with broken or crushed hazlenuts, but I think it would work.

Also, try adding a single dried chili to you morning cup of Joe or hot chocolate. On a cold winter morning, it sure leaves you with a wonderful warm feeling before stepping out into the cold.

And of course, if you are suffering from a sinus inflamation, or cold, or flue, it will help clear your sinuses, depending on how much pepper you use.

For a suprizing difference, add dried peppers to your next batch of lime or pineapple jello. The flavors go well with each other.

Andy, I know you to be one great and adventurous cook. Give these ideas a try. You'll be suprized by them. I mean, can you imagine making milk or dark chocolate almond bark laced with crushed dried-peppers? Think of your guests reactions. It would be great at Christmas time.

Seeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[college_cook]

You could always rehydrate those ancho chiles and try out some mole. I would probably use the chipotles to make a salsa of some sort.

 

[Andy M.]

I guess I was not very clear in my request. I am looking for entrees or side dish ideas. Such as chicken and acncho chiles or black beans and guajillos.

Thanks,

 

[Dina]

Andy,
Use the enchilada sauce without the beef and top your grilled chicken and pork with it. You can also add the dried chilis to Spanish rice, whole or pureed, and in pinto beans to make charro beans. If you grind the dried peppers you can spice up some chorizo (sausage). When we were in New Mexico, we had some awsome side dishes like pozole (homony) flavored with these chilis, corn and chilis, menudo (cow's tummy) is also spiced up with these chilis. Chilaquiles with ancho sauce topped with cheese are a great appetizer. Chili, chimichangas, burritos are also dishes you can do. Let me look up more recipes for you and I'll PM them to ya.

 

[Andy M.]

I'm licking my lips, Dina!

 

[Dina]

LOL...just use the basic sauce I gave you and play with it. Well, you know what I mean. The sky's the limit with these chilis.

 

[skilletlicker]

I'll add half a dozen guajillos to a braised pork roast, then puree them and add to the gravy.
Add an ancho and a cascabel per cup of dried beans to spice up the frijoles.

I have anchos, guajillos, pasillas, cascabels, and chipotles in the cupboard but haven't been using them much because it's been to hot for stews etc. Now that the dog days are over I'll get back into it.

I'm looking forward to reading more replies to your post.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I guess I was not very clear in my request. I am looking for entrees or side dish ideas. Such as chicken and acncho chiles or black beans and guajillos.

Thanks,

Rehydrate the Guajillos or the Ancho chiles, and stuff with mixed meats, cooked in a tomato-based sauce, with walnuts. They're delish.

You can also rehydrate them, deseed them if you want, stuff with a large chunk of white cheese, wrap in a taco and fry - a sort of Chile Flauta. Serve on a bed of refried Black beans with plenty of lime juice and cilantro.

 

[Claire]

I put a couple of chilies into some stock (and sauteed onions & garlic), then cook rice or couscous in it. Before serving I take the dried chile out of it (much as you would a bay leaf). The smokier flavored chilies are best in beans, in my opinion. And, I, too, am queen of soup. No two soups are the same, but there are always soups in the freezer. If you take a basic stock (if you don't make your own, buy Swanson which is available everywhere), and drop in a dried chili or two. Cook until you get the flavor you want. Toss in a few noodles and some green onions, and a tablespoon or so of vinegar (I prefer rice for this purpose, but any white vinegar will do). Voila -- hot and sour soup!

 

[Andy M.]

Thanks for all the ideas. Now I'll have to go play with some ingredients.

 

[Chopstix]

Andy, you may want to try this Thai dish ... (Sauteed prawns with cashew and dried chili)

200 g Prawns, shelled, deveined, tail on
20 g Toasted Whole Cashew nuts
10 g White/Light colored part of spring onions, cut in 2-inch lengths
30 g Shitake mushrooms
20 g White onions, cut into chunks and separated
5 g Whole dried chilies

1. Dredge prawns in flour, S&P and fry until pink. Drain on paper towels.
2. Saute chopped garlic in oil. Add prawns and onions. Quickly add dried chilies, 1 T oyster sauce, 1 T chili paste, 1 T soy sauce, 2 T chicken stock, mushrooms, cashew, 1 T white sugar. Combine well.
3. Off-heat, sprinkle with spring onion and serve immediately.

 

[skilletlicker]

Thanks for all the ideas. Now I'll have to go play with some ingredients.

So amigo, what have you done with your chiles?

 

[Andy M.]

Thanks for the reminder.

This is what I came up with. I am pleased with the results. It had a rich pepper flavor without having overpowering heat. ​

Pinto Beans with Chiles​

½ Lb. Dry Pinto Beans
1 Tb Oil
3-4 Oz Pancetta or Bacon, diced1​

1 Ea Onion, diced
3 Cl Garlic, minced
1 Ea Jalapeno, minced
1½ Tb Cilantro, dry
1 tsp Cumin
1 C Tomato
1 Ea Ancho Chile
1 Ea Guajillo Chile
1 Ea New Mexico Chile
1 Ea Chipotle Chile
3 C Chicken Broth
1 tsp Liquid Hickory Smoke2
TT Salt and Pepper



Soak the beans overnight in cold water.

Heat the oil in a 3- or 4-quart saucepan and add the pancetta/bacon. Sauté over medium heat until the fat is rendered and the lean is browned.

Add the onion, garlic and jalapeno and sweat over medium-low heat until the onion is soft and translucent.

Add the cilantro and cumin and stir to combine.

Add the tomato.

Cut the dry chiles in half and shake out the seeds.

Add the dried chiles, broth, liquid smoke and drained beans. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil then simmer, covered, for 1½ to 2 hours. Thicken the broth with a tablespoon or two of masa in a slurry, if necessary.


1 Bacon is preferred for its smoke flavor.
2 Eliminate or reduce this ingredient if bacon is used in place of the pancetta.

 

[Andy M.]

As an added note, I don't think the variety of dried peppers I used is important to this dish. I used up some that I had laying around. I'm sure you could do this with just the chipotle and one other type, such as the ancho or New Mexico.

 

[skilletlicker]

Looks good to me. I've done pintos very much like that but with water instead of stock. Just made a pretty big batch of stock so I'll use your recipe tonight.

Question about guajillos. I find that the outer skin ends up floating in the dish like bits of saran wrap. I almost have to powder them first or puree and strain them later. Have you ever encountered this?

 

[Andy M.]

Looks good to me. I've done pintos very much like that but with water instead of stock. Just made a pretty big batch of stock so I'll use your recipe tonight.

Question about guajillos. I find that the outer skin ends up floating in the dish like bits of saran wrap. I almost have to powder them first or puree and strain them later. Have you ever encountered this?

I did have a little of that. You can reconstitute the dried chiles in the broth and puree them before combining with the beans and other ingredients.

 

[skilletlicker]

I did have a little of that. You can reconstitute the dried chiles in the broth and puree them before combining with the beans and other ingredients.

As an alternative to puree and strain, I've found that after steeping 15 minutes or so the "meat" of the guajillo can be scraped with a knife off of the cellophane like skin. Glad to hear you have the same problem. I was afraid I had a bad source of chiles.