Chile Relleno - Roasted Poblano peppers

Chile Relleno is a popular Mexican dish made with poblano peppers. Typically it is made by stuffing poblano peppers with meat and cheese, battered, fried and served with rice and beans. Chile relleno is one of my favorite Mexican dishes. I try to avoid making and eating fried food these days. I came upon a baked version of Chile relleno on the web ( feasting at home) and tried it tonight. It was heart warming for a rainy night. I roasted the poblano, stuffed them with beans and cheese and even made my own Rancheros sauce.

Ingredients:

4 Poblano peppers, slit vertically from top

4 medium tomatoes, cut in half

4 cloves garlic

1 medium onion, sliced 

2 jalapeno peppers

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 can low sodium black beans, rinsed and drained
4 ounces grated pepper jack cheese and 4 ounces Mexican queso fresco

1/2 cup water or vegetable stock

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1 teaspoon dried oregano 

1 teaspoon red chili powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup fresh chopped cilantro

Method:

1. Heat oven to 450 F.

2. Place tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeno, and poblano peppers on a sheet pan (cookie sheet) making sure that they are not over crowded. Drizzle olive oil over them. Place the sheet in the oven and roast until tomatoes are juicy and the vegetables are tender and roasted. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

3. Meanwhile mix black beans and grated cheese in a bowl. Add 1/3 of the roasted onion and  taco seasoning to it. Mix and set aside.

4. Place the roasted vegetables, except poblano peppers in  a blender. Add cumin, coriander, chili powder, oregano, salt, 1/4 cup cilantro, stock or water and blend to make roasted Rancheros sauce. Set aside.

5. Leaving the stem on the poblano, gently remove the seeds from the pepper. Take a large rectangle oven proof dish. Coat the bottom with about half of Rancheros sauce.

6. Gently place poblano peppers on the sauce slit side up.

7.Spoon filling into the peppers.

8. Pour remaining sauce over the peppers. Sprinkle with more cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes, until hot and bubbly.

9.Remove foil and bake for 5 more minutes. Let stand for a few minutes. Serve hot with rice and sour cream.

Notes:
I used pinto beans instead of black beans.
You can roast poblano directly over the flame on the stove. That would give a nice smokey flavor.

Kaachi Dabeli

One of the things in my bucket list is to travel to India on a food tour. My friend Deepa had organized a textile tour of Gujarat in January. My other friend who is an avid blogger was on this tour and kept us updated about the tour through her blog. She had written about Dabeli, a street food from the Kutch region of Gujarat. Kaachi means from Kutch. Dabav means to press. Kaachi Dabeli literally means pressed bun from Kutch. Dabeli was invented by Keshavji Gabha Chudanasama in the 1960's. It is still run by the family in the city of Mandvi where it was first invented. Dabeli is basically mashed potato mixed with special dabeli spices stuffed between pav (special kind of roll or bun) that is spread with sweet date-tamarind chutney and special chili-garlic chutney, and garnished with pomegranate, cilantro and roasted spicy peanuts and sev, and pressed .You can feel the sweet and spicy taste at the same time. Normally I use store bought spice and chutney. But this time I made everything at home. I did not make the pav or sev.

Ingredients:

Dabeli masala:
1/2 teaspoon pepper corn (about 12)
1/2 teaspoon clove (about 12)
1 inch piece cinnamon
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons red chili powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
2 teaspoons sugar

Tamarind-Date Chutney (sweet chutney):
1/2 cup pitted dates, chopped
1/2 cup jaggery
1/2 cup tamarind
2 cups water
1 teaspoon dry ginger powder
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
salt to taste

Chili-Garlic Chutney:
15-20 dried red chili
1 cup hot water
3 cloves garlic
salt to taste

Masala Peanuts:
1 cup raw peanuts soaked for 2 hours and drained
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoon chickpea powder (besan)
salt to taste
1/4 teaspoon asafoetida
1 tablespoon oil

Potato Masala:
4 medium potatoes, boiled, peeled and mashed
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons dabeli masala powder
3/4 cup sweet chutney
1/4 cup pomegranate
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 tablespoon chopped cilantro
salt to taste

Other Ingredients:
6 Pav
1 cup masala peanuts
1/2 cup nylon sev
Butter for toasting dabeli

Method:

Dabeli Masala Powder:
1. Roast whole spices on medium heat till fragrant. Remove from pan and allow to cool.

2. Place the ingredients along with chili powder, coriander powder, salt and sugar in a blender and blend to powder. Store in an air tight container.






















Tamarind-Date Chutney:
1. Place date, tamarind, jaggery and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Add remaining ingredients to the saucepan.

2. Bring everything to a boil. Let simmer for 8 minutes.

3. Allow to cool. Strain pulp into a bowl. Store in a glass jar.

Chili-Garlic Chutney:
1. Soak red chili in a cup of hot water for 10 minutes.

2. Place chili, garlic, salt and water in a blender and blend smooth to a chutney. Store in a glass container.





















Masala Peanuts:
1. Mix all the ingredients with the drained peanuts in a large bowl.

2. Spray the air fryer basket with oil. Place peanuts in the basket and air fry at 380 for 13 minutes until crisp, shaking in between. Store in an air tight container.

Potato Masala:
1. Heat oil in a broad pan on medium. Place mashed potato in the pan. Stir in dabeli masala, sweet chutney and salt. Mix well. Cook for couple minutes.

2. Transfer potato to a plate and spread potato evenly.

3. Garnish Dabeli with pomegranate, chopped onion and cilantro.

Build your Dabeli:
1. Keep the Pav, potato, chutney and sev together.

2. spread the insides of the pav with chili chutney. Top with sweet chutney and spread.

3. Place a spoonful of dabeli on the bottom part of the pav. Sprinkle some masala peanuts on the potato. Top with little bit more of dabeli.

4. Close with the top of pav. Roll the edges of the pav in  nylon sev.

5. Heat  griddle with butter. Toast dabeli on both sides. Press the top down on the stuffing (dabavo).

6. Serve hot with tea.

Broccoli rabe Poriyal

Couple weeks ago my friend asked me to taste something she had made. It was really good. She said it was broccoli rabe. I couldn't believe how tasty it was. In India we get so many types of greens that vary in taste. Depending on where you hail from in India, the method of cooking varies. It could be sauteed into a dry curry or cooked with different kinds of lentils or like a stew with onion and tomato. The dry curry is called poriyal in Tamil Nadu and Toran in Kerala. I made the poriyal for dinner tonight. We had it with pearl onion kara kuzhambu. Broccoli rabe can be a little bitter in taste. Adding lemon to it reduces the bitterness a bit.

Ingredients:

1 Tablespoon coconut oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1/4 teaspoon cumin seeds

3-4 fresh curry leaves

1 bunch broccoli rabe, washed and chopped

1/2 cup chopped shallots

1 inch piece fresh ginger

3 small pods of garlic

3 green chili

1 red chili

4-5 black peppercorn

2 Tablespoon fresh grated coconut

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder

2 teaspoon lemon juice

Method:

1. Wash broccoli rabe well and chop.

2. Place onion, chili, ginger, garlic and peppercorn in a mini food processor and pulse to a coarse mixture.

3. Mix grated coconut and turmeric in a small bowl. Mix this to the onion mixture.

4. Heat oil in a broad pan. Add mustard and cumin. Allow to pop. Add curry leaves.

5. Add the greens. Sautee for 6-7 minutes or until wilted. sprinkle water if needed. Add salt to taste.

6. Stir in the onion-coconut mixture. Saute for 5 minutes. stir in lemon juice.

7. Serve warm with roti or as a side dish with rice and sambar or kuzhambu or just plain.

Note:
This kind of poriyal can be made with any type of greens.