I am going to make a batch of chili verde for the first time. The recipe I have is tomatillos (of course), jalapeno, onion, garlic, chicken stock, oregano and a pinch of cloves. Here’s my quandry: a lot of recipes include cumin and about double the amount of chiles and some add chili powder. I have no clue if that is authentic or if it is “It’s called chili right? Throw in stuff you would throw in red chili.”
So is GREEN chili made with cumin? A small or fair amount of chiles? What’s with the cloves? Is there a secret of “Here’s how a Mexican makes it homemade?”
I always include cumin–that, in combination with the oregano, is what gives it an authentic flavor to me. Green chili is more of a judgement call. Some types give mostly heat, others (especially roasted) can add their own flavor. I’m not sure why you would add red chili except for heat.
There’s so many styles of green chili that the answer is “yes.” I usually go New Mexico style, which usually doesn’t have tomatillos, but does have cumin. I usually do add a pinch of clove, as well. Sometimes, there’s even a little bit of tomato in the mix. Sometimes even ground coriander (which, with the cumin, gives it almost an Indian sort of note to it.) It’s all good. The Mexican style “carne/puerco con chile verde” usually has the tomatillos, and sometimes cumin, sometimes not. There’s no one “authentic” version. Look up Colorado green chili, New Mexico green chili, and carne con chile verde for ideas.
You can do it however you like. You could leave out the cumin to get a taste distinctly different from red chili. Or not. The tomatillos should already provide some unique flavor.
I use cumin but not chili powder. I also put in poblanos and anaheims (very mild chilis) for the flavor. You can adjust the heat by adding or subtracting jalapenos, but when I’m cooking for anyone outside the family, I leave them out and provide hot sauces, or aleppo pepper powder. ('cause that’s what I have. I like it better than cayenne.)
My recipe calls for mexican oregano or cilantro, but I forgot it once and didn’t really miss it.
My recipe also calls for tomatillos, which I think are a nuisance to chop but I haven’t tried leaving them out yet.
My recipe is pretty authentic, and I believe tomatillos are the defining ingredient of Chile Verde. There’s a tablespoon of cumin in it and 3 pounds of tomatillos. Heavy also on the cilantro.
This recipe serves 20, so you may want to cut it in half. Or quarters. Or make it all and freeze in manageable portions.
Authentic Chile Verde
• 6 lbs cubed pork stew meat
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large yellow onions
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon sea salt
• fresh ground pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 4 1/2 quarts chicken broth
• 8 fresh poblano chiles, seeded and chopped
• 4 fresh jalapeno peppers, seeded and chopped
• 2 yellow bell peppers, seeded and chopped
• 3 lbs fresh tomatillos, husks removed
• 1 cup cilantro leaf, coarsely chopped
In a large stock pot over high heat sear the pork in the vegetable oil until browned.
Remove the pork from the pot, reserve 3 tablespoons oil in the pan.
Saute the chopped onion and garlic seasoned with salt and pepper in the reserved oil until onions are tender.
Add the cumin, then stir in pork and chicken stock.
Simmer for 1/2 hour.
Add in poblanos, jalapenos and bell peppers.
Puree the tomatillos and cilantro in a blender, and add them to the pot.
Cook for an additional 30 to 45 minutes.
Serve with Mexican/Spanish rice and refried beans.
Chile Verde with no chile verde in it? My, my, what a world. Don’t worry about authentic chile anything. There is simply no such thing. But yes, cumin goes in everything. Unless you don’t want it. There are no laws. But green chile with no green chile in it. I can’t imagine.
I made chile verde once (I think I started a thread about it). It was out of this world, easily as good as what my favorite Mexican restaurant makes… but it was so damn time consuming I haven’t done it again. I think I figured I could drive to that favorite restaurant (which is about 30 minutes away) and back several times in the time it took me to make that dish!
there is no “one true way” to make any dish. find a recipe you like and make it that way.
cripes, it’s like when I was looking up recipes for channa masala. I found one which I wanted to try, and of course some numpty in the comments had to say “no no no, this is all wrong. My grandmother in Bangalore would never put mustard seed in it!”
I had never heard of this and decided to try it out. All I can say is that there are times when I am truly grateful for this message board and this is one of those times. I am smitten with this! I made it Wednesday evening for Cinco de Mayo dinner tonight and just sampling it as it bubbled away I can tell this is going to be freakin’ awesome! FWIW, I used two roasted and seeded jalapenos for the sauce along with 5 dried Chile de Arbol peppers, and roasted the tomatillos and garlic.
Now it only needs one more thing…beans D & R
