Chiles en Nogada means chillies in walnut sauce. The dish mainly constitutes of ground beef or meat stuffed between poblano chiles, smothered with the delectable nogada sauce (walnut cream sauce) and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and parsley. The dish is usually served during the festive season on September for Independence Day in Mexico.
The appearance of the meal is rather colourful with the colours green, white and red that resembles the colour of the Mexican flag.
The meat fillings consist of pork, biznaga and beef with the nogada that gives it a tinge of sweetness. Additionally, the dish is not difficult to make but would require some time to cook it. The total time taken to make the recipe is about 40 minutes.
Ingredients (4 servings):
- 6 pieces of large poblano chiles
Fillings
- 280 g of beef
- 280 g of pork
- 1 piece of carrot (medium)
- 1 piece of white onion (medium)
- 1 piece of potato (medium)
- 1 piece of zucchini squash
- 3 tomatoes
- 1/2 cup of peas
- 230 g of dried fruits
- 1/2 cup of raisins
- 1/2 cup of almonds
- 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
- 1 tbsp of brown sugar
- 1 tsp of salt
Nogada
- ½ Cup of Walnuts (Shelled)
- ½ tsp of Cinnamon
- 1 ¼ Cup Mexican Cream
- 1 tbsp Brown Sugar
Garnish
- Pomegranates (Seeds)
- Parsleys
Directions:
- Place the meat in a pan and then submerge it in water. Bring the heat up and then allow the meat to cook for about 20 minutes thoroughly. Remove the meat from the pan when it is cooked and allow it to cool in room temperature. Make sure to keep the cooking liquid to be used for later.
- Proceed to chop the meat into cube shapes, followed by chopping the meat finely. Then, cut the onion, zucchini, carrots, dried fruit and potato into cube shapes. Chop the almond until it is very fine.
- Carry on with slicing the tomatoes in half and blend it with ½ cup of the cooking liquid from the meat cooked previously.
- Ensure that the consistency of the tomato base is smooth.
- In a small pan, fry the onions in oil for about 2 minutes. Add some potatoes and leave it to cook for a bit and stir it occasionally. Add the chopped meat and tomato base, followed by the carrots, zucchini and raisins. Leave it to cook until the tomato base is reducing.
- Add the remainder of peas, dried fruits and almonds. Ensure that the ingredients are stirred well in the pan. Cook for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are cooked well.
- To cook the poblano chiles, place the chiles over an open flame to cook. Once roasted, scrape the skin with a knife and then split the chiles right in the middle, without cutting the tip. Remove the seeds of the chiles.
- The nogada is prepared by blending the cream, cinnamon and walnuts until it is combined well and smooth.
- Assemble the dish by filling each poblano chile with fillings and then closing it with toothpicks. Pour some of the nogada over the chiles until it is completely smothered. Add a dash of pomegranate seeds and chopped parsley over the nogada sauce.
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