My Mom's Chiles Rellenos

Molly Bloom's Note:

This recipe calls for fresh Poblano Chiles. If you can't find them, you can use California fresh chiles. There's nothing quite like a roasted poblano chile, though.

• Total Time: 40 mins
• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 12

• 12 poblano chiles
• ½ lb chihuahua cheese or ½ lb asadero cheese or ½ lb monterey jack cheese
• ½ cup water
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 eggs , whites and yolks separated
• flour , as much as needed
• 5 medium tomatoes
• 1 onion , cut in thin slices
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Roast chiles on an open flame on the stove top. When skin becomes charred, put them in a plastic bag for about 15 minutes. Take them out and peel them. Cut a slit open and deseed them. Cut the cheese in strips, and stuff the chiles with them. Close slit with a toothpick. Beat the egg whites until stiff and stir in yolks. Heat the oil in a non-stick pan. Coat the chiles with flour and then dip them in the egg batter. Fry in hot oil until batter is golden. Place chiles in a serving dish.
2. Sauce:.
3. Boil tomatoes in 1/2 water. Blend tomatoes, water and the clove of garlic in a food processor to make a sauce. Strain sauce.
4. In a saucepan, heat olive oil and fry onions until soft.
5. Add oregano and tomato sauce. Add sugar.
6. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for 5 minutes.
7. Pour sauce over chiles and serve.
8. They're lovely with rice and refried beans.

Reviews

[Chef #1234092]

I can't imagined why Chef #600020 wants to pan this recipe on his/her blog. It was great -- easy. Experience in cooking may help with some confidence, but I have never made anything using this type of batter. I cut it back to only make two peppers and used a 6 cast iron pan with about 1/2" of oil. I found just the right cheese, a Latin semi-soft cheese. I give this recipe 5 stars because it was delicious, simple, and taught me a new technique. I will share my experience on my blog, www.aroundcrownsville.com.

[Chef #600020]

I was very disappointed in this recipe. I find it difficult to use recipes that don't give details such as how hot to turn the temperature to or how long steps might take. So I made my best guess based on other recipes I looked at, and still this recipe was a disaster. The sauce lacked flavor, even after I added salt, pepper and cumin. The stuffed chilies weren't very interesting and didn't hold up especially well when handled. Yuck, was just a really terrible dinner. I'll be posting about my experience with this recipe on my blog www.adventuroustastes.blogspot.com.

[toomuchlaundry]

Very good rellenos the only reason why it is not a 5 star is the sauce was too sweet. I will make it again but will omit the tablespoon of sugar and I think it would be better with fresh cilantro rather than dried oregano. Since I live on a wheat free gluten free diet I used Betty Hagman's flour mix and couldn't tell the difference between it and regular flour.