Chiles rellenos

Ingredients

Chillies

• 8chiles pimientos or poblanos

Escabeche

• 500 mlwater
• 250 mlwhite vinegar
• 1 tspsalt
• 1 tspsugar
• 2bay leaves
• 1 tspblack peppercorns

Filling

• 400 gminced pork
• 200 gminced beef
• 1onion, chopped
• 3 clovesgarlic
• 2tomatoes, chopped
• 2carrots, finely diced
• 150 ggreen beans, finely diced
• 1potato, finely diced
• 1 tspthyme
• 1 tsporegano
• ½ tspground cloves
• 2 tbspoil
• salt

Batter

• 4eggs, separated
• 3 tbspflour
• a pinch of salt
• oil, for frying

To serve

• French bread rolls
• thin tomato sauce

Directions

1. Roast the chillies over a flame, steam them in a covered bowl for 10 minutes, then rub off the skins.
2. Slit each one, remove the seeds, and soak them in the vinegar escabeche for at least 2 hours.
3. That vinegar soak is what makes the Guatemalan version distinct. It cuts the richness of the filling and it is why these taste noticeably sharper than their Mexican cousins.
4. Fry the meats with the onion and garlic, add the tomato, then the diced vegetables and herbs, and cook until dry, about 25 minutes. Cool it completely.
5. Dry the chillies thoroughly, inside and out. Any escabeche left clinging will make the batter slide straight off in the oil.
6. Stuff them firmly and press the slit closed around the filling.
7. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, then beat in the yolks one at a time and fold in the flour and salt. The batter should hold its shape on a spoon.
8. Dust each chilli lightly in flour, then coat it thickly in the egg batter, holding it by the stem.
9. Fry in about 2 cm of hot oil, spooning batter over the top as it sets, for roughly 3 minutes a side until golden and puffed.
10. Drain on a rack rather than paper so the batter stays crisp underneath.
11. Serve hot with a thin tomato sauce spooned over, and a French roll to eat it in, which is how it is sold at Guatemalan fairs.

Technique

• Dry chilli, stiff whites, hot oil. Wet chillies and slack batter account for almost every failure.
• The egg batter is a Spanish colonial technique, and the pickling is the local addition on top of it.
• They are just as often eaten cold the next day, tucked into a roll as a torta.

Substitutions

• Poblanos, which are milder and more widely sold.
• A vegetarian filling of the same diced vegetables bound with cheese.

Variations

• Served cold in a bread roll as a street torta.
• With a heavier hand on the cloves, which some cooks prefer.
• The Mexican version, filled with cheese and not soaked in vinegar at all.

History

Peppers, typically poblano in Mexico or similar local varieties in Guatemala, stuffed with cheese or meat, battered in egg and fried, generally traced to colonial-era Mexican convent kitchens, where nuns are credited with developing many of the layered, labor-intensive Spanish-Indigenous fusion dishes considered classics of Mexican and wider Mesoamerican cooking today. The technique spread south into Guatemala and other Central American countries through the colonial period and after, with Guatemalan versions typically favoring a lighter, fluffier egg batter and often a milder pepper than the punchier versions found further north. Each country and region within the wider chiles rellenos tradition maintains its own preferred pepper, filling and sauce, without any single version being treated as more authentic than the local variations.

Frequently asked questions

What is Chiles rellenos?

Chiles rellenos is a main from Guatemala: peppers stuffed with meat and vegetables, egg-battered and fried. Peppers, typically poblano in Mexico or similar local varieties in Guatemala, stuffed with cheese or meat, battered in egg and fried, generally traced to colonial-era Mexican convent kitchens, where nuns are credited with developing many of the layered, labor-intensive Spanish-Indigenous fusion dishes considered classics of Mexican and wider Mesoamerican cooking today. The technique spread south into Guatemala and other Central American countries through the colonial period and after, with Guatemalan versions typically favoring a lighter, fluffier egg batter and often a milder pepper than the punchier versions found further north. Each country and region within the wider chiles rellenos tradition maintains its own preferred pepper, filling and sauce, without any single version being treated as more authentic than the local variations.

How long does Chiles rellenos take to make?

Chiles rellenos takes 45 min plus 2 hr soaking of preparation and 45 min of cooking. The recipe makes 8 chillies. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Chiles rellenos?

Yes, within limits. Poblanos, which are milder and more widely sold. A vegetarian filling of the same diced vegetables bound with cheese.

What is the most important thing to get right in Chiles rellenos?

Drain on a rack rather than paper so the batter stays crisp underneath.