Using Ground Red Chile for Sauce
Have you traveled to Taos, Santa Fe or anywhere in the state of New Mexico? You’ll find ground red chile in abundance in gift and general stores or sold from stands on the highway. If you go there, buy “Chimayo” chile; this heirloom variety is king and queen of chile; it’s to New Mexico as Champagne is to France. There’ s a limited availability and it’s expensive but you must experience the taste of this chile. For a great article about “Chimayo” click here.
Making a sauce with ground chile is easy and quick and you don’t need to go to New Mexico to find powdered chile. New Mexico, California and Pasilla varieties are sold in grocery markets. New Mexico chile comes in different grades of “hotness” and it’s the most flavorful of the ground chile.
In my opinion this process produces a sauce of good quality and using a food mill, produces a sauce of excellent quality. Go back to my previous blog, “RED CHILE SAUCE”, to see my discussion about red chile and review my instructions for starting from whole dry pods, soaking them then processing with a food mill. The easy way, using ground chile, is great when you’ve got the urge for “RED” and you have limited time to prepare a meal. Let’s get started.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 cup ground chile
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 cups water or chicken broth
1/4 teaspoon Cumin, ground
1/4 teaspoon Oregano, ground
Salt
Preparation
Make a roux by heating the oil on medium-low. Add the flour, stir the mixture continuously with a rubber spatula and cook until the roux turns to the color of a brown paper bag. Around 5 minutes. Add the chile and garlic and mix. Add the broth in increments stirring continuously to remove lumps. Add cumin and oregano to taste. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes to thicken the sauce. Sauce can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator.
Note
I like making sauce with 1/3 part pasilla and 2/3 parts New Mexico or California varieties. Go to these links for suggested recipes for your sauce.
Chilaquiles Rojo – substitute for tomato-lime sauce
Buen Provecho
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Here in Mexico we make deep red and very flavorful sauces using an even easier and faster method.
Usually dried chiles are ground in a blender either broken in small pieces with some liquid that might be water, or broth; or, dried chiles are soaked in hot water and then ground with the liquid in the blender. After that onion, garlic and other flavor agents are added ( in my case often cilantro stems ) are ground again and then added to whatever is cooking on the stove. Table sauce ( salsa ) is made the same using either fresh or previously cooked ingredients. Friends who visit are always surprised that most housewives can make salsa in five minutes….faster than a trip to the store..
I just recently discovered your blog and really enjoy it.
Thank you for this new idea. This, It’s the first time I’ve heard of grinding dry pods in a blender with a liquid. It’s common sense when most recipes tell us to soak before putting it in the blender. Welcome to the blog and thanks for subscribing. Hank