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New Mexican Red Chile Sauce

Commercially available red chile pods are categorized by heat level: mild, medium, hot, and extra hot. As with any agricultural product, there is some variability. Look for certified New Mexico grown chile. The town of Hatch in Southern New Mexico is probably the most well know chile-growing region but Chimayo in Northern New Mexico grows some pretty awesome chile, too. If you can’t find New Mexican chile in the markets near you, you can order it on line. I think that using whole pods rather than ground chile (chile molido…NOT to be confused with chili powder!!!) makes for a better texture. See the note at the bottom for a method using ground red chile. Remember, ground New Mexico Red Chile only contains chile pods, nothing else!!! Recipes for Red Chile usually start by specifying a particular number of chile pods. However, many of the pods in any batch of chile are broken. My solution was to weigh the pods, after removing seeds and stems, so that I no longer had to guess about how much broken up chile pod equals one whole pod.
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Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings: 2 cups
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 ounces dried New Mexico red chile pods weighed after stems and seeds are removed
  • 2 cloves largegarlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups water

Method
 

  1. The starting point: whole dried chile pods.
  2. Break off the stem of each chile pod and empty out the seeds and pith. You might have to break the pod in one or two places to get out the seeds. Try not to break it into small pieces, however.
  3. The stems, seeds, and pith ready for the compost heap!
  4. Weigh out 1 ½ ounces of chile pods after stem, seeds, and pith have been removed.
  5. Put the chile in a bowl.
  6. Cover the chiles with very hot tap water.
  7. Steep the chiles in the hot water until softened, 15- 20 minutes.
  8. Lift the chiles out of the water and into a colander, attempting to leave as many of the seeds behind as possible. Despite your best efforts, there will still be some!
  9. Discard the water used to soften the chiles.
  10. Put the softened chiles, garlic, and 1 ¼ cups of fresh water in a blender.
  11. Puree until smooth, one to two minutes.
  12. Pour the chile puree into a saucepan.
  13. Use the remaining ¼ cup of water to rinse out the blender jar. Add this to the saucepan.
  14. Add the salt to the chile puree.
  15. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer uncovered till thickened, about 20-30 minutes.
  16. Adjust salt near the end of cooking.

Notes

Some cooks like to toast the chile pods in the oven. I have done this but I don’t believe it adds enough flavor to justify the extra work.
The water used to soak the chile can be bitter so I always discard it and use fresh water for making the sauce. The seeds and pith can also add a bitter note.  You’ll never get rid of all the seeds but eliminate as many as possible.
Chile Molido (Ground Chile or Chile Powder, not to be confused with Chili Powder!)
If you want to use ground New Mexico red chile pods (chile molido) rather than whole pods, first puree the garlic with some of the water. Add the garlic puree to the ground chile. Add the remaining water a little at a time, stirring well, to avoid lumps. Add the salt and proceed with simmering as described above.
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