Brunch

Red Chile Sauce | Peri's Place For Recipes

Ingredients

1-4 dried chile peppers, a mix is good
1-4 whole cloves of garlic, unpeeled
1-2 teaspoons of whole cumin seed
2 15 oz. cans stewed tomatoes
salt
pepper
sugar (optional)

Method

  1. Bring approximately 2 cups of water to a boil.
  2. Set a heavy, preferably cast iron skillet on medium heat.
  3. Add the peppers and the garlic to the pan. Turn often with tongs while roasting.
  4. When the peppers are soft, fragrant, and pliable, put into a bowl and cover with hot water. 
  5. When the garlic is toasted and soft, set aside. Peel when cool.
  6. Add cumin seed to hot pan and toast lightly.
  7. When peppers have soaked about 5 minutes, pull from water and drain well. Separating out seeds now will help keep the heat down.
  8. Place soaked peppers, roasted garlic, toasted seeds, tomatoes, salt, and pepper into a blender and blend until the consistency you prefer. 
  9. Check seasoning and adjust as needed. Sugar can help balance the acidity from the tomatoes.

Good to Know

One could probably cook the remaining sauce down, but I found it to be just right straight out of the blender.

This recipe is easily adjusted for your palette, spicier or less, garlicky or less.

I made mine with 2 large dried chiles, an ancho-pasilla and a california-negro, and removed as many of the seeds as I could.

I used 3 large cloves of garlic.