Stuffed Chiles

These are inspired by a dish I tried in Oaxaca a few months ago, which was chiles de agua stuffed with a fresh mixture of chopped vegetables. The chiles were barely toasted, almost raw.

Supposedly these chiles are only found in southern Mexico, but when I saw some chiles at my local market (in Mexico City) that seemed to resemble chiles de agua, I thought I’d give it a try.

This recipe is approximate.

I toasted the chiles just a few minutes – leaving them still crunchy – then cut a lengthwise slit in the sides and gutted them (removed the seeds and as much of the veins as possible).

I chopped finely approximately equal volumes of the following:

• plum tomato
• onion
• cilantro (fresh coriander)
• plantain, first boiled African style
• lightly toasted pecans

I could have added some finely grated cheese, but since I wanted try a vegan version, I added about

• 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast

and mixed it all together, salted to taste.

Then I stuffed each of the chiles with the mixture – and that’s all there was to it.

The chiles (I still don’t know whether they were chiles de agua or not) turned out very variable. Some were as mild as poblano chiles, some were too hot to eat, and some were in between. The filling was excellent, and the chiles that weren’t too hot to enjoy were very good with the filling.

Best Brownies Ever

You will find others that claim to be the best brownie recipe, but these are better. Beating the butter gives their dense fudginess a unique light quality that no melted-butter brownie can match. This recipe is from Brownies: Over 100 Scrumptious Recipes by Linda Burum.

4 oz (113.5 g) unsweetened* chocolate
1/2 cup butter, unsalted, room temperature
1 1/8 cup (=1 cup + 2 Tbsp) sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2/3 cup flour, stirred
(1 1/4 cups walnut pieces – optional)

Melt the chocolate over hot water; set aside to cool. Cream butter until fluffy, add the sugar in three portions, beating after each addition; beat until light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time. Mix in the melted chocolate. Fold in the flour (and walnuts). Pour batter into a greased and floured 8×8 inch pan**. Bake in preheated 325 °F (165 °C)  oven about 20–25 minutes, or until no longer raw in the middle. Cool completely before cutting.

*If I only have semisweet chocolate available, I use 6 2/3 oz (190 g) semisweet chocolate and reduce the sugar to 7/8 cup.

**In the book, the recipe as given above is supposed to be for a 9×9 inch pan, but I find it turns out better in an 8×8. To get the equivalent thickness for a 9×9 inch pan (using semisweet chocolate) my version is:

240 g (= 8.5 oz) semisweet chocolate
5/8 cup (=10 Tbsps) (142 g) butter
1 cup + 1 tsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
5 eggs
5/6 cup (=3/4 cup + 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp) flour