In this post we’ll be making a traditional New Mexico green chile sauce and take a look at several recipes that use either use the sauce or that use chopped green chile peppers. New Mexico green chile are called by many names – New Mexico chile, Anaheim pepper, California chile, Hatch, Big Jim, Rio Grande and Sandia – to name a few. Unlike poblano and jalapeno pepper, this type of chile pepper has a tough skin; therefore, it is best when roasted and peeled. The resulting roasted chile is remarkable! If you missed Part I - Red or Green? of this series, check it out to see how chile is roasted.
The whole roasted chile can be stuffed with cheese, dipped in a batter and then fried for chile rellenos. Once fried, one could smother the rellenos with green chile sauce or red chile sauce if you prefer. The roasted chiles can also be chopped and used for green chile sauce, green chile stew, salsa, just a bowl of green chile, and many, many more dishes. Last week I shared with you my red chile sauce, so this week I’m sharing my recipe for New Mexico Green Chile Sauce.
New Mexico Green Chile Sauce Recipe
Ingredients
1 tsp. cumin seeds, toasted (or 1/2 tsp. toasted ground cumin)*
1 tsp. coriander seed, toasted (or 1/2 tsp. toasted ground coriander)*
2 Tbsp. canola oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
4 large cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. flour
2 cups water
2 cups roasted, peeled, deseeded, and chopped green chile
1 tsp. dried oregano
½ tsp. salt or to taste
*If you use seeds, you will only be using 1 tsp. of the toasted, ground mixture.
Instructions
- To toast the cumin and coriander seeds, heat a heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the coriander. Shake frequently until the seeds become aromatic, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cumin and toast, shaking the pan frequently for about 2 minutes or until the seeds are toasty brown. Transfer to a mortar or spice grinder and grind to a powder.
- In a heavy saucepan, heat the oil over medium-low heat. Add the onion and the garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes or until the onion is soft.
- Add the flour and stir to incorporate the flour into the oil and to coat the onion.
- Slowly stir in 1 cup of water to blend the water with the flour and to prevent lumping. Add the rest of the water, the chile, 1 tsp. of the cumin/coriander spice mixture, oregano, and 1/2 tsp. salt.
- Bring to a boil then reduce heat for a low simmer. Simmer for 15 minutes.
- Use immediately or within 3 to 4 days. Freeze after that. It freezes quite well!
Just in case you’re wondering – what is the red ingredient? when looking at the picture – it’s roasted red chile. When you buy a bushel or bag of chile there are usually a few red chiles as well so the result is roasted Christmas. It’s makes a pretty sauce, doesn’t it?
Dishes with green chile sauce
Smother your favorite burrito, enchiladas, stuffed sopapilla, tamale, or rellenos with chile sauce.
Add sauce to soups, stews, a bowl of beans, or posole’. I love making a pot of pintos or black beans and topping with green chile sauce!
Pour over eggs, cornbread (for a little southern-southwest fusion), chicken, a steak, or pork.
Braise chicken, beef, or pork in a pot of green chile sauce.
Kitchen Notes
This recipe can easily be turned into a Green chile Tomatillo sauce. Just reduce the amount of green chile to 1 cup and add 2 cups of chopped tomatillos. I usually use tomatillos when the chile I have is really hot or the guests I’m serving can’t handle the heat. The tomatillos do change the flavor of the sauce “some”, but I love it just as much as a straight green chile sauce!
Dishes with chopped green chile
More ways to use chopped green chile:
Corn, Mushroom and Green Chile Tamales
Green Chile Grilled Cheese Sandwich
Green Chile Pecan Cheese Spread
Eggs and potatoes fixed 101 ways
Breads, cornbread (green chile cornbread – YUM!)
Empanadas, meat pies, tacos, tostados, Chile con queso, mole, salsa
The ultimate green chile cheese burger! If you serve a burger in New Mexico, you better offer it with green chile.
And the list goes on and on and on!
New Mexico Chile Series
Part I – Red or Green? and Christmas – Red and Green
Part II – NM Red Chile: Recipes
Part III – NM Green Chile: Recipes and Green Chile Stew and a Video
Part IV – NM Green Chile Enchiladas
Part V – NM Red Chile Enchiladas
This Green Chile Sauce recipe has been linked to the following blog hops. Click on these links to see many more great recipes!
Creative Thursday Blog Hop, Weekend Potluck, Katherine Martinelli’s Peppers Blog Hop, Fusion Friday, Ultimate Recipe Swap – Breakfast, My Meatless Monday, Melt In Your Mouth Monday, Made From Scratch Monday, Made With Love Monday, Fat Tuesday, Keep It Real Thursday, Foodie Friday, Foodie Friends Friday, Tastetastic Thursday, Wonderful Food Wednesday
Oh, wow. These recipes really have me excited. I’m partial to green chile. Green chile enchiladas are my husbands favorite meal–we have them at least twice a month. I’m anxious to try your sauce recipe. The grits recipe sounds fantastic, too. You’ve got a couple of winners here. Yum!
These are delicious recipes and we love the education on chiles. Adam has only recently accepted grits as something he will agree to eat so your grits and green chile will be on the menu soon!
Yum! Yum! Yum! I’m adding you to my Google Reader! Thanks for the chance to win those chilies!
Good luck!
Wow, another hot dish! These (also red chile) would be perfect for my boyfriend
Giulia – For these two specific batches of red and green, the green was killer hot, but the red was actually TOO mild – very tasty but no heat. You would have loved that batch! Of course the next batch of red that I make might be killer hot. You never know.
@monica @cherll and Adam – You’ll love the grits. Even though my husband was raised in Louisiana he didn’t start eating grits until we moved to NM and I added the green chile. Now he requests grits at least once a week!
Wow, these look so good and perfect for the cooler weather we are getting.
Thank you, thank you! My favorite! You know how I love your grits and green chiles. I still don’t get why mine never taste as good. Maybe it’s the company? I bought big bags of Anaheims and poblanos. While frying gizzards I tossed the Anaheims into the hot grease and the skin crisped and was ready to peal in a few minutes. They were so good we ate all but two of them at that meal and threw the others on a salad the next night. I’ll buy more to make your green sauce since green is our favorite. It sounds really good and versatile! I’m really enjoying the series since chiles aren’t something I “used” that often. You notice the past tense. I’m converted!
I must get some chilies! These chile recipes sound so yummy!
WOO HOO!! I have hit the Hatch Chile Motherlode of recipes!! I definitely think I am going to have to get more chiles and roast them so I have enough to make some of these wonderful recipes!!
I will be very happy to eat this delicious and robust looking Green Chile with just grilled tortilla! I love the very sharp shot of the contents of the bowl and unfocused plate. That quarter of the bowl and plate shot? I think that’s beautifully styled, MJ! Great Job!!
Sounds pefect for cold weather. I must learn to use more chilies in my dishes.
This chile series is killing me… I WANT TO TRY ALL THESE RECIPES so bad!!! Sigh!!! The green chile sauce sounds so yummy and the chile rellenos as well… mmmmmmmm
By the way… there’s an award waiting for you! You can find it here: http://www.manusmenu.com/red-onion-tarte-tatin
Thanks Manuela!!! When I win the lottery I’ll ship you some chile!
delicious… Grits and green chiles for breakfast! My kind of deliciousness!
What a fun series you are doing! Unfortunately I can’t eat spicy food (I’ll have stomach problem after I eat). I think Japanese food is not spicy at all and I’m not well-trained to eat spicy food in general…or something. However my husband would eat the most spicy thing with sweat on his forehead. This chile looks so good…if the spice level is okay I’d love to have this.
What a great recipe! I LOVE the grits and chilies! Thank for the green chili recipe….it has a lot of my favorite things in it!
Bueno!
This looks delicious. I am left drooling over my keyboard in deepest, rainiest London with an incurable case of NM homesickness…
Thanks for stopping by MM earlier – lovely to meet a kindred NM/chile-addicted spirit.
I look forward to more great recipe ideas from your orchard and kitchen.
Adios for now,
~M
Such a beautiful sauce….the splash of red is wonderful!
Wow.. this is right up my alley… I LOVE chillis! I have to try the grits and chillis.
Thanks everyone for your great comments! Good luck on winning the giveaway!
Well Kiss My Grits.. I have never made this but will be doing so tomorrow. I have chiles to pick in the garden and roast so most definitely leaving some out for this recipe…
This is a great looking green chile. I spent so long perfecting my recipe! I love seeing other great green chile recipes.
What a lovely sauce! packed with flavors and delicious!
This recipe sounds great
I have never had grits, but your recipe sure does look delicious! Thank you for sharing this post with Let’s Do Brunch.
Another great recipe! Thanks again for linking up to my pepper blog hop! Pinned
Oh that looks really yummy! I wanted to take a second to invite you over to my blog and to submit to my link party if you’d like. Have a great week!
Love your series! I visited the Southwest a few years back and was introduced to Hatch Chiles. Green chile on breakfast burritos is one of my favourites. They’re hard to come by at home (dried red chiles is the closest it gets). Makes me want to plan another vacation to the Southwest, just for the food!
Hope you are having a great weekend and thank you so much for sharing your awesome recipe with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
This sound delicious and I packs a real punch – I probably would swap out some of the green chile for tomatillo because I am a little sensitive to heat, so I’m glad you suggested the option. Thanks so much for sharing with Made with Love Mondays, MJ!
Wow! So many choices…I don’t know what to try first LOL. This would be something for my husband and son as they tend to go for the ‘hotter’ foods, but I love trying new stuff like this for them. Thank you for participating this week. My apologies for not being around sooner. My garden has had other plans for me this week other than being on the computer ☺
Made the green chile sauce tonight and it was awesome. Saved some for the frig and froze a little container. Now that I know how good this recipe is…..I’ll be turning a big portion of my 2012 supply into this sauce….Highly recommend. Thanks for sharing
Kim, thanks so much for letting me you that you made this sauce and I’m thrilled that you liked it!!!! It’s definitely a keeper! It does freeze quite well which makes it perfect for winter enchiladas!!! Enjoy!
I have been very into green chilis lately. I don’t know that much about SouthWest cooking do you have a cookbook you really like? I will pin this thanks for sharing it on foodie friday.
Thanks Diane! Be careful getting into green chiles – they are addicting! I know you might find this hard to believe, but I don’t have a southwest cookbook to recommend. I don’t use a cookbook for my New Mexican recipes, but I do like Rick Bayless’ Authentic Mexican: Regional Cooking from the Heart of Mexico cookbook for Mexican cuisine, lots of the same flavors and ingredients. Have fun cooking with chiles!
Hey, are you from NM? I was SHOCKED to seen a nice bowl of green in Foodie Friends Friday’s Linky Party! I live in ABQ and am a green girl all the way. Great recipe!
Welcome Rachael! Yes, I live in NM – ABQ to be exact. To learn more about me and my life here, check out my about page. So glad that I shocked you with a delicious bowl of green chile! It’s addicting isn’t it?!?!
Headed over to your blog to say HI! I’m so glad you made this contact!
This is a great compilation of recipes! Thanks for sharing on Foodie Friends Friday!
Thanks Ericka! I’m glad you liked the recipes. I hope you get a chance to try one or two of them! The grits and green chile is my favorite.
This reminds me of my visit to New Mexico some years back. I was living in Colorado back then and each year towards the end of summer, I will buy half a bushel of roasted Big Jims for stews, etc. I usually peel and store them into individual portions in the freezer. Really miss roasted peppers. I will have to check out your roasted peppers post.
I didn’t know you lived in the southwest for a while. I don’t know if I could ever leave here, I’ve been here so long. Love the weather, especially the fall. Of the smell of roasting chile in the fall is wonderful! Thanks for your comments!!