I made chili colorado for the first time last night. It tasted pretty much like what I remember from Tito’s Tacos, so I guess it was successful. But I was reminded that I’ve always found chili colorado to be a little lacking in the strong flavour department.
I used chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, and pepper. I may have used just a tad too much cumin, but that’s OK. The SO liked it and said it was good, but she did admit it needed ‘something’ after I said it did. I didn’t use any cayenne pepper because she prefers things to be less spicy than I do. I don’t think ‘heat’ is what it needs. Jalapeños or serrano chilis wouldn’t taste right anyway, since this isn’t ‘chili’ chili. But to my palate, it just needs… ‘something’; one more additional spice.
Any suggestions?
We had ‘tacoritos’ yesterday; i.e., ground beef taco meat, lettuce, tomato, cheese, sour cream, and guacamole wrapped up in a flour tortilla. Kinda ‘Mexicany’ like Taco Bell, but not real Mexican food. Just one of those things we grew up with that we like on occasion. We only sampled the chili colorado since we were full. The chili colorado will be consumed wrapped up in a flour tortillas.
If you toast, simmer, then grind the dried chiles instead of using chili powder, you will get a better end product.
“Chili powder” is a blend of God-knows-what. If you don’t want to fiddle with preparing the dried chiles on your own, go to a Mexican market and look for chile powder that is labeled as to WHAT kind of chiles it includes.
I’m making a batch today, to include in the filling of my homemade tamales!
~VOW
How does one get them outside of NM? I don’t see them sold even at the high end crocery stores in the Bay Area, but I haven’t looked at the local mercados, either.
Lime juice. Maybe it’s my Los Angeles roots, but for me the difference between Mexican food that tastes “right” and food that comes close but misses is almost always lime juice. At least a few drops belong in everything.
Otherwise I agree that toasting your own chilis instead of chili powder is probably the way to go.
[QUOTE=NAF1138;15754945
Otherwise I agree that toasting your own chilis instead of chili powder is probably the way to go.[/QUOTE]
Oh, I just assumed the OP was making his own. All the chili colorado recipes I have start with dried red chiles. I don’t think I’ve seen one that called for powder.
:smack: And now I see the OP says he used chili powder. Well, there you go. There really is a big difference.
when i make my scratch chili i usually use a blend of dried habaneros, guajillo, ancho, and pasilla negro chiles, with the bulk (50-60%) of the chiles being guajillo.
i never toast my dried chiles but i think i might try that next time.
i usually just pop the caps off to remove the seeds, put them in a mixing bowl, and cover with boiling water and let them steep for about an hour. peel off the skins, and then i then pop chiles and water into a blender and puree. this is about a thousand times more flavorful (estimate :dubious:) than any chili powder you can buy off the shelf.
I’m taking about 3-1/2 pounds of dried Hatch chiles back with me when we return to SCal this week!
You can order them online.
The chile colorado sauce I’m making this very minute doesn’t have Hatch chiles in it, though. Just California, Guaijillo, and Negro dried chiles. I tasted a dab, and it’s GOOOOOD.
I toasted them outside on the BBQ grill. I recommend that over any other toasting methods, because cough it can get cough-cough rather INTENSE cough-choke-gag during the toasting process. Even now, just SIMMERING the chiles in a covered pot on the stove can clear out the old sinuses.
(and this isn’t even a HOT batch!)
I simmer my chiles in V8 juice for the extra flavor. I’ll add garlic, oregano, salt, and maybe a tiny bit of sugar to smooth it out.
~VOW
I always make my own chili powder. Maybe it’s the freshness of that over storebought that would make the difference.
Add some mild fresh chiles like poblano or Anaheim. Not enough to make chili but still add that subtle flavor. Maybe even grill them beforehand. Remeber chili colorado is still a chili and needs some of that flavor.
Basically, chili colorado is Mexican and chili con carne isn’t. Chili colorado is eaten with tortillas. Chili con carne is eated with a spoon, or Fritos.
Raley’s and Bel Air here in Sacramento carry Mojave brand dried (whole and powdered) chiles, includng NM, in the ethnic food aisle. Since Nob Hill Foods is owned by Raley’s, I would expect you could find them there.
“Chili” is tomato sauce, beans, ground beef (or veal, or pork, or turkey) with a tablespoon of McCormick’s (or Gebhardt’s) chili powder, and maybe some cumin.
I make a mean chili, I put in a lot more stuff, sometimes even whole small onions, and if I know the people eating it aren’t wimps, I’ll even throw in some jalapeño slices.
Chile colorado (note the difference in spelling!) is made like I said above: start with the dried chiles, toast them, take the seeds out, simmer them, strain them, and then add garlic, cumin, and a bit of Mexican oregano. Use that as a sauce to stew the meat (usually beef) until it falls apart. Cut the meat in chunks, return to the sauce, and serve in a bowl with warm tortillas and beer.
~VOW
I’ve got a pot of it in my kitchen. I’m using chile colorado in my tamales I’m making tomorrow. Half will be pork, the other half will be black bean and corn.
~VOW
