Mexico · Mexican cuisine of Puebla
Chiles en nogada
Roasted poblano chiles stuffed with a sweet and savoury picadillo of meat, fruit and nuts, covered with a cold creamy walnut sauce and crowned with ruby pomegranate seeds and parsley: the green, white and red dish of Puebla.
Cookhuddle Editorial Cookhuddle | Mexico
Editorial selection: recipes cross-checked against several documentary sources. They have not been tested in our kitchen: follow the precautions given and adapt times to your own oven.
Photo: Isaacvp · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source · cropped
translation Translated from Spanish. Translation by Cookhuddle Editorial. Read the original
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- Servings
- 6
- Preparation
- 75 min
- Cooking
- 65 min
- Resting
- 30 min
- Total
- 170 min
- Difficulty
- Advanced
Cuisine / tradition: Mexican cuisine of Puebla (MX) — declared by the author
- Main dish
- Fried
- Celebration
Ingredients
For 6 servings
- 6 piece poblano chiles
- 400 g ground pork
- 400 g ground beef
- 1 piece small onion, finely chopped
- 2 clove garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 500 g ripe tomatoes, roasted, peeled and chopped
- 1 piece apple, finely diced
- 1 piece pear, finely diced
- 1 piece peach, finely diced
- 40 g pine nuts
- 40 g black raisins
- 40 g blanched almonds, chopped
- 40 g green olives, chopped
- 120 ml dry sherry
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1 piece clove, ground
- 1 pinch saffron threads
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 50 g pork lard
- 200 g Castilla walnuts (fresh walnuts), shelled and peeled
- 30 g blanched almonds, for the sauce
- 100 g fresh cheese (queso fresco)
- 250 ml whole milk
- 100 ml water, added gradually
- 3 piece eggs, separated, for the batter
- 100 g plain flour, for the batter
- 500 ml oil, for frying
- 100 g pomegranate seeds
- 1/4 bunch flat-leaf parsley leaves
Method
- Step 1. Pour boiling water over the walnuts, leave for 10 minutes and peel off their brown skins. Put them with the almonds in the milk to soak while you make the filling.
- Step 2. Roast the poblano chiles directly over a flame or under a very hot grill until the skin blisters and blackens all over. Put them in a bag or covered bowl for 10 minutes, then peel off the skin. Make a lengthwise slit in each chile, remove the seeds and veins, keeping the stem.⏱ 10 min
- Step 3. Melt the lard in a large pot and soften the onion for 3 minutes. Add the garlic for 1 minute, then the pork and the beef and brown for 10 minutes, breaking up the meat.⏱ 3 min
- Step 4. Add the roasted tomatoes and simmer for about 15 minutes, until the liquid has evaporated. Stir in the cinnamon, cumin, clove, saffron, sherry, sugar and salt, then the raisins, pine nuts, almonds and olives.⏱ 15 min
- Step 5. Add the diced apple, pear and peach and cook for 10 more minutes, until the fruit is tender but still in pieces. Leave the picadillo to cool.⏱ 10 min
- Step 6. For the nogada, blend the walnuts and almonds with their milk, the fresh cheese and a pinch of salt, adding the water little by little, until smooth, thick and slightly coarse. Chill.
- Step 7. Fill the chiles with the picadillo without overfilling, so that the slit can close.
- Step 8. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks, beat in the yolks one at a time, then fold in the flour. Heat the oil to 180 °C. Dip each stuffed chile in the batter and fry for about 1 minute 30 per side until golden. Drain on paper towels.⏱ 3 min
- Step 9. Place each chile on a plate, cover generously with the nogada and scatter with the pomegranate seeds and parsley leaves. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Story and cultural note
Chiles en nogada come from Puebla and are traditionally eaten in late summer, when walnuts are harvested. The popular story says nuns of the Convent of Santa Mónica created them in 1821 for Agustín de Iturbide, with the green, white and red of the Mexican flag, but the archaeologist Eduardo Merlo Juárez states that the dish is older and appears in cookbooks from the 18th century, when it was a dessert of a chile stuffed with sweet fruit and covered with walnut sauce; the meat picadillo came later and made it a main course. Cooks vary the fruit of the picadillo and whether the chiles are battered.
Tips for success
Peel the walnuts so that the nogada is white and not bitter. Roast and peel the chiles carefully so as not to tear them. Cook the picadillo until the liquid has gone, so that the chiles do not become soggy. Make the nogada ahead and keep it cold; add the pomegranate just before serving so that it stays bright.
Serving and presentation
Serve one chile per person on a flat white plate, covered with the nogada to show the green of the chile at the edges, with pomegranate seeds scattered on top and a few parsley leaves, so that the plate shows green, white and red.
Diet and allergens
Information declared by the author. CookHuddle does not verify or certify it. If you have an allergy, check the ingredients yourself.
ContainsTree nutsMilkEggsGluten (cereals)Sulphites
May contain traces ofPeanuts
