Chiles en Nogada: The Ultimate Mexican Stuffed Pepper
Includes a Vegetarian Version
Servings:
4
Ready In:
2 hours
Calories:
547
Tags:
Dinner, Cook to Impress, Takes Time
If you had to choose your last meal, what would it be? Mine, without a doubt, would this dish: Chiles en Nogada. This is a stuffed pepper smothered in a walnut and goat cheese sauce and then sprinkled with pomegranate. Not only is this entree an intricate, delicious combination of flavors, but it is a culinary gem that makes me incredibly proud of my country. This dish was originally created in Puebla for emperor Agustin Iturbide. It is associated with the celebration of Mexico’s Independence Day and is meant to resemble the colors of the Mexican flag: green for the chile, white for the nogada (walnut sauce), and red for the pomegranate. Side note: our Independence day is September 16th, don’t get me started on 5 de Mayo! Ok, I got started… we don’t celeberate 5 de Mayo in Mexico, it was a battle we won against the french #rantover
I realize the combination of flavors sounds a little strange, but you have to trust me on this one. It is absolutely delicious and a very traditional dish. Often times these stuffed peppers can be a little on the heavy side so I experimented with a lighter version that turned out pretty fantastic! Let me know what you think! Lastly, to my vegetarian friends out there, I’ve included a recommended variation in the ingredients to make this vegetarian friendly!
Ingredients
Stuffed Pepper
- 4 poblano chiles
- 8 oz ground bison (feel free to use regular beef if you can’t find bison) **
- 8 oz ground pork **
- 1/2 cup tomato sauce
- 1/2 diced onion
- 2 1/2 cloves garlic
- 1/8 tsp cinnamon
- 3 black peppercorns
- 1/8 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp xylitol or stevia
- 1/2 apple diced
- 1/4 pear diced
- 1/2 peach diced
- 1/4 plantain diced
- 1/2 tsp olive oil
Vegetarian Version for the Stuffing
- **Substitute bison and pork for 16oz of impossible meat. Include all other recipe ingredients
Nogada (Walnut Sauce)
- 1 cup walnuts (pealed walnuts are preferred)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 1.5 oz goat cheese
- 1 tablespoon xylitol or stevia
- Salt to taste
Decoration
- 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
- cilantro o parsley
Nutrition
Serving: 1 chile including walnut sauce and pomegranate
- Calories: 547 calories
- Carbs: 28 g
- Net Carbs: 20 g
- Fats: 35 g
- Protein: 33 g
- Sodium: 400 mg
- Sugar: 16 g
- Fiber: 8 g
Instructions
Step 1
If you managed to get a hold of peeled walnuts, congrats, you can skip ahead to step 2. If you were not so fortunate, start by putting letting walnuts soak in hot water for at least 30 minutes. If you can let the walnuts soak longer, even better. Begin removing the skin on the walnuts (supposedly the skin gives the sauce a bit of a bitter flavor so that is why we are removing them). The point is to get a shiny, white walnut. I’ll admit, removing the walnut skin is not a fun process. My theory is that this is primarily why this dish is only really served once a year during the August-September time frame. Don’t tell my grandma, but sometimes I get a bit fed up and don’t remove the skin off of all of the walnuts and haven’t noticed a major difference in the taste 😉
Step 2
To give the chiles a great taste, we need to “toast” them and remove the burnt skin. If your oven has a broiler, I recommend using a sheet pan with aluminum foil on top and placing the chiles under the broiler. If you don’t have a broiler, then place the chiles on a pan over high heat. I recommend opening a window for this part. Imagine that this is the equivalent of making smores. Let the chiles burn a bit (approximately 4 minutes per side) until the entire chile is a bit blackened (see the picture above). Once the chiles are blackened on all sides, we now need to remove the blackened skin. My grandma would recommend placing the chiles in a plastic bag so that the skin sticks to the bag and it is easier to remove. Another approach is to run the chiles under cold water and carefully remove the burnt skin. See the last picture for how the chile looks once the skin is removed. After the burnt skin is removed, you need to make a small opening on one of the sides to remove the seeds. Do this under cold water and try your best to maintain the shape of the chile. It is important to remove the seeds so that the chile isn’t too spicy.
Step 3
Add the olive oil, half of the onion, the peppercorns and garlic to a pan and saute for a couple of minutes. Move these ingredients into a blender and add the tomato sauce, thyme and cloves. Blend all ingredients until smooth.
Step 4
In the same pan, add the remaining onion, ground meat and salt. Cook until the meat is cooked through. Add the fruit and cook for an additional 5 minutes. Add the cinnamon and natural sweetner (xylitol or stevia) and cook for 3 minutes at medium heat. Lastly, add the mix from the blender and let simmer until almost all of the liquid has evaporated.
Step 5
Divide the mix of beef and fruit into 4, and stuff the poblano peppers with this mix. Try to maintain the shape of the pepper as you do so. A pro-tip is to flip the peppers once they are stuffed (opening facing towards the plate) so that it maintains the shape and keeps the ingredients in.
Step 6
We are almost there! Now we just have to finish the nogada sauce. Remove the walnuts from the water. In a blender (make sure it is clean and doesn’t have the tomato mix residue) combine the walnuts, almond milk, goat cheese, xylitol/stevia and salt. Taste the sauce and add a bit more salt and or natural sweetner if needed.
Step 7
Now for final touch smother the chile with approximately 1/4 cup of the nogada sauce. Invoke your inner salt bae and sprinkle the pomegranate on top of the chile along with a sprig of cilantro and/or parseley. Enjoy this traditional Mexican dish!
Full disclosure, I write these blogs in my spare time. I do not have an editor and am the only one who reviews the content. As a result, it is likely I’ll have the occasional typo or grammar mistake. If you find anything, feel free to let me know.
Lastly, I’ll admit food photography is not my forte. If you make the recipe and have a better picture, please share and I will happily post it and give you photo cred!