Think, Eat, Be Healthy

Red Chile Sauce Recipe

Red chile sauce made in the traditional style of Northern New Mexico.

Red chile sauce made in the traditional style of Northern New Mexico.

This red chile sauce recipe is made from whole dried chile pepper pods in the traditional Northern New Mexican style popular in Santa Fe. It is a very simple recipe with few ingredients. There are no tomato products, meat or beans as in so many other regional chiles. Use this red chile sauce to dress meat or fish, top enchiladas or burritos or as a base for a stew.

Start by trying to find chile pods grown in New Mexico and as fresh as possible. Fresh pods will still be flexible with the seeds still attached on the inside. Older pods will still make a great chile sauce but might tend towards a bitter flavor. They will be brittle and the seeds will be loose inside the pods.

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Remove the stems. Tear the pods open from the stem end and remove most of the seeds and webbing. This will remove some of the “heat” and make for a smoother sauce. Discard the stems, seeds and webbing, or save some of the seeds for planting.

Soak the cleaned peppers in warm water for 15-20 minutes to remove dust and dirt. Soaking will also rehydrate the pods.

Drain the pods well in a colander.

While the pods are draining, prepare the other recipe ingredients. Dice a small yellow onion into 1/4″-1/2″ pieces. This recipe makes about three cups of sauce and uses ten dried chiles, so use about 1 tablespoon each of whole cumin seeds, dried sage and dried Mexican oregano. If you can’t find Mexican oregano, the more available Greek oregano will do just fine.

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Melt 2 tablespoons of grass-fed butter, or your favorite cooking oil or fat, in a heavy pan. Add the onion and spices. Saute slowly over low heat, mixing often, until the onion just starts to turn transparent. Add the drained chile pods to the pan and continue cooking for another ten minutes. Your kitchen is starting to smell really good by now.

Place everything in the pan into a food processor or blender. Add 2 1/2 cups of water. Run the processor or blender until the sauce is smooth.

Move the sauce to a small sauce pan and bring to a low simmer over low heat. Check the consistency by dipping a spoon into the chile sauce. It should coat the spoon like a good tomato sauce but be loose enough to not form peaks. If the sauce is too loose, let it reduce slowly until it will coat a spoon. If it is too thick, stir in a little more water. Add sea salt to taste and the red chile sauce is done.

Red chile sauce can add a lot of flavor and variety to any healthy whole food diet. It is loaded with antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds, capsaicin, vitamin C and many other nutrients. This sauce freezes well and can also be canned for later use. It will keep covered in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Serving suggestion for red chile sauce: red chile turkey thigh with fresh cilantro, roasted vegetables, fresh tomato and avocado.

Serving suggestion for red chile sauce: red chile turkey thigh with fresh cilantro, roasted vegetables, fresh tomato and avocado.

Note that the “heat” of the chiles varies a lot depending on where they were grown and what the weather was that year. New Mexico dried chile pods are usually graded for spiciness. If you start with “hot” chile pods, expect some very spicy chile sauce.

If you want less heat or need to stretch the sauce, more water can be added. The sauce is then thickened with a flour/water or arrowroot starch/water mixture.