Salsa, oh how I love you. You bring out the best in all you meet - chips, tacos, enchiladas, nachos, etc. - they're all so much better with you around! I could go on and on in my salsa love letter, but I think you get it because you probably love salsa as much as I do!
I'm a fan of whipping up a quick pico de Gallo or canning summer salsas in August when tomatoes are at their peak, but I will admit to you that cooking with dried chiles used to make me a little bit nervous. Nervous because I don't have much experience or understanding of the different kinds of chiles. I'm well acquainted with jalapeño, serrano, and poblano peppers from the green grocer, but beyond those fresh peppers, I'm not as acquainted.
So, seeing as it's almost Cinco de Mayo and that I have been cooking a lot of recipes out of chef Marcela Valladolid's cookbook, Casa Marcela, I decided it was time to school myself in dried chile peppers. I headed to a local Mexican and Latin grocer, Los Guerreos, to find out which dried peppers were available locally and what their flavour profiles are.
Here's what I learned...
Dried Chiles can be used for many reasons in cooking: to add heat, flavour, colour and of course visual aesthetics to food. Peppers and chiles come from all over the world. In Mexico alone, there are over 3,000 types of chiles. Today, I will focus on a few of the more common and readily available Mexican dried chiles I was able to find at the grocer. It is important to note that most Mexican chile peppers have one name when they are fresh peppers and one when they are dried chiles. I've tried to list both the fresh name and the dried Chile name. Chiles heat intensities are listed by SHU, or Scoville Heat Units. The higher the rating, the more heat intensity the chile has
Ancho - (not pictured below) mild flavour (this is a dried Poblano Chile), used in the "holy trinity" of peppers in mole sauce (4,000 - 9,000 SHU)
De Arbol Chiles (not pictured below) - small, red chiles with intense heat (15,000 - 30,000 SHU)
Guajillo - tart, sweet notes like a berry that blend well with other chile flavours, another common mild "holy trinity" of peppers in mole sauce (2,500 - 5,000 SHU)
Morita (chipotle) - spicy, similar to a serrano Chile (this is a smoked, dried jalapeño chile pepper) (5,000 - 10,000 SHU)
Pasilla - smoky rich flavour, another common "holy trinity" of peppers in mole sauce (1,000 - 2,000 SHU)
Above is a picture of some dried chile peppers so that you can get an idea of what they look like.The colours range from dark red to black looking and the sizes tend to vary depending on heat intensity. Don't be fooled by the small chiles, they often have the most punch!
My salsa sauce recipe below (adapted from this recipe), includes three of the chile varieties I listed above: morita (top left), guajillo (top right above the tomatoes) and pasilla (to the bottom right of the tomatoes, below the olive oil).
The Sauciest Salsa
Ingredients
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed, and seeded
2 dried pasilla chiles, stemmed and seeded
3 dried morita chiles, stemmed and seeded (use less if you like less heat)
4 garlic cloves
2 tomato, cored and quartered
2 cups water
Method
Heat the olive oil in a heavy medium sized skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chiles, garlic, tomatoes and cook, stirring, until you can smelll the chiles and they feel soft, about 5-6 minutes.
Add the water and bring the mixture to a boil. Turn off the heat. Let cool.
Transfer the mixture to a blender and process until smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Warm and serve over enchiladas (here) or with other Mexican dishes. It's even great with tortilla chips!
Enjoy,
Krista
Recipe Notes
This is really a starting place for salsa made from dried chiles. I encourage you to try different combinations and chile amounts based on the flavours you prefer and let me know what you think!
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