Chiles Rellenos with Sofrito Sauce

Chiles Rellenos is one of my favorite dishes at a Mexican restaurant. Sometimes the stuffing has ground beef, but mostly it’s a combination of cheese and a few seasonings. The directions are a little involved if you’ve never made this recipe before, like me. I’m not one to deep fry foods thinking that I’m adding calories, but according to fatsecret.com a single homemade relleno has only 259 calories. Just don’t add ranchero sauce then one serving is 570 calories or refried beans and rice adds 392 calories. I’d have to not eat all day to have that meal. But, hey it’s not like we eat this meal everyday and it’s comfort food, right? Even some Mexican restaurants advertise that way.

 Serves 6. (A pepper a person) More people? More peppers.

PS. I just had a Chiles Rellenos with ground beef. 😝 I much rather have it with cheese.

Ingredients:

6 Pablono Peppers, cleaned, deveined and seeds removed
5 plum tomatoes, cored and finely chopped
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 white onion, chopped
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/2 cups of Monterey Jack cheese
1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
3 egg whites and 1 egg yolk
Enough vegetable oil for frying
All-purpose flour, for dredging

Directions:

1. Char the chiles. Once the chiles are cleaned, deveined and the seeds are removed (without removing stem) place them on a baking sheet and put them in the oven on broil until they blacken and blister on both sides (use prongs to turn them).

2. Let them soften. Place them in a ziplock bag for 10 minutes. They will steam making them soft and easy to peel. When cool enough to handle peel away the skin. You can use a paper towel to rub the skin off, but don’t rinse.

3.  Some people don’t devein or remove seeds until this point. If you do wait, cut below the stem.

4.  Purée the chopped tomatoes, onions and garlic in a blender until smooth. In a medium size skillet add the olive oil and sauté the mixture stirring constantly. Season with salt and pepper. Reduce heat and keep warm. This is also know as a sufrito sauce, very popular with Latin America dishes 

5.  Combine the Monterey Jack cheese and Mexican oregano. Stuff the peppers with 1/4th the cheese mixture and close with toothpicks. Repeat for remaining chiles.

6.  Beat 3 egg yolks until peaks occur then and in the egg yolk, beat an additional 3 minutes.

7.  In a deep skillet add enough oil so it’s 1” deep. Heat oil and use a deep-fry thermometer. The temperature should read 375F when ready.

8.  Put flour on a shallow plate. Dredge pepper through flour then hold them by the stem dipping them one at a time in the eggs, throughly covering them. Place them in the oil and fry them until they are golden brown on both sides, 1-2 minutes.

9.  Serve on a plate and cover with them with the warm tomato sauce.

10. Yum Yum!