Veg*n Cooking and Other Random Musings: Chiles Rellenos (Stuffed Chile Peppers)

Friday, September 5, 2008

Chiles Rellenos (Stuffed Chile Peppers)

Oh my Mexican goodness these were yum! To be more specific about the title of this recipe, these were Anasazi bean and rice stuffed poblano peppers. Honestly, I just went with the easy translation as I was having trouble figuring out how to "properly" translate that longer title (I don't know that I did this one correctly either), so Stuffed Chile Peppers is what you get!

Anyways, thankfully, we were able to get these bad boys made before our oven decided to go kaput. Looks like the maintenance people are going to try to come down and replace the heating element in the bottom of our oven today (he said he thought he had an element in the shop), but at the very least, we know that so long as someone is there to keep an eye on it, we can use the stovetop without fear of the place burning down. So at least we will be able to eat, but how I love my oven! Let's just say some of my excitement about the arrival of sweet potatoes at the farmer's market has been stymied by the recent "kitchen events".

But anyways, enough of that, onto the stuffed peppers! These were awesome and super easy to make. I was a little tentative about trying them as Brett has never really been a fan of peppers unless they are over done. He likes the flavor of peppers; I think it is something about their texture. However, he loved these and is actually coming around to the texture of peppers. He said the other day, when we were eating some of the salsa I canned last weekend (that lasted long, eh?) that he actually liked some of the still crisp onions and peppers, wahoo!

Just a reminder of the produce legend:
* = farmer's market
** = CSA
*** = Container or Community Garden

So check out these bad boys:















A picture of my plate of yummy peppers. I topped these with a little picante sauce.















Here is a picture of Brett's plate. I topped his with a little "Mexican blend" cheese.















A nice little close-up.

Chiles Rellenos
6 poblano peppers, washed and halved, veins and seeds removed *

Filling:
1 cup of Anasazi beans, cooked
1/2 cup long grain brown rice, cooked
1 cup of white button mushrooms, minced
1 yellow summer squash, minced ***
2 tomatoes, chopped ***
1 bell pepper, seeded and minced ***
1 Black Hungarian pepper, seeded and minced *
1 jalapeno, seeded and minced ***
1/2 yellow onion, minced *
4 cloves of garlic, minced *
small (8 oz.) can of tomato sauce
juice of one lime
chili powder
ground coriander
cumin
black pepper
salt

Preheat oven to 400.

Heat a few tablespoons of water in a medium skillet. Add the mushrooms, squash, tomatoes, peppers, onion and garlic and cook for 10-15 minutes or until veggies are soft. Drain any excess liquid.

Add the beans, rice, tomato sauce, lime juice, and spices and simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Stuff filling into the chiles and roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

We will be having these again very soon.

'Til next time!

13 comments:

Unknown said...

looks yummy. ive never been a fan of stuffed peppers. to much pepper for me, but for some reason yours look really good. im getting hungry!

VeganCowGirl said...

Great post J. I love stuffed peppers and this sounds so nice and light. Thanks!

jessy said...

i'm glad you can use the stovetop! whew! but i do hope they get your oven working again FAST!

your stuffed peppers look wonderful - colorful & soooo tasty! that's good stuff that Brett's coming around to pepper texture. one texture i can't handle - watermelon. it still freaks me out!

thanks for another awesome recipe, Jennifer! superw00t!

Anonymous said...

Oh this looks so good! Stuffed chile peppers = so good!

Hope you get that oven taken care of soon...at least there's always salads & raw food!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

"Oh my Mexican goodness" is right - those stuffed chile peppers look AMAZING!!

DP Nguyen said...

Sorry about your oven. Ovens are so convenient, but there are still great recipes you can cook without it.

Those peppers look pretty good. I'm not a big Mexican/Spanish-style food lover, but it does look nice.

J said...

Mihl - Eh, what can you do? We're at the whim of them at this point, but we'll make do.

Ooooh, I bet that would be good! No problem.

Selina - Thanks. This might sound odd coming from a confessed pepper lover, but I've never really liked stuffed peppers either. The thing is, I love peppers, but I mean hot peppers, not sweet ones - the skins on the sweet ones are so thick. So stuffed bells never sent me. That is why I liked these, more filling, less pepper! And poblanos are ever so slightly spicy. Brett wasn't too into the idea of me stuffing jalapenos or any other hot pepper.

:-(

Vegan Cow Girl - Thanks! They were really tasty, and the filling also goes great in a burrito. That's what I had for lunch yesterday!

Jessy - Me too, and ME TOO!

Thank you. I'm happy too. I've never been too big of a raw sweet pepper fan, but I do like them to have a little "bite" left in them.

I AGREE about the watermelon. Weird!!!!!! I've always WISHED that I liked watermelon because they are everywhere around here and I seem to be the only person I know who isn't a fan, but I can't get passed it, it's like a sponge, or a soft, gritty, I don't know, just weird!

Not a problem!

Shellyfish - Thank you!

I know, when I was thinking about how I am going to feed us this weekend, I thought of your raw food posts. I think a little raw mixed with a few stovetop recipes and we'll be just fine.

Veggie Girl - Thanks!

Dp Nguyen - They are convenient. I didn't realize how much I relied on it until I didn't have it! I like to find opportunity in chaos (a term Brett loves), so this will give me an excuse to expand my horizons and learn how to eat with out one.

We all have food styles that we don't prefer, I'm not a big fan of Indian or Italian food. Mexican happens to be my favorite though!

Anonymous said...

Looks totally delicious -- I'm always looking for healthier ways to prepare these, and stuffed with beans is a great idea!

(But since you mentioned concerns about the translation, these are properly chiles rellenos.)

Lisa (Show Me Vegan) said...

These look great! I have a couple of poblanos awaiting stuffing in my fridge too. They really make such a delicious entree.

Anonymous said...

These look so good. Really hearty. My Mom loves poblanos. I think I will get some next time at the farm stand. I wonder if they would taste good raw?

J said...

Kristin - Thank you! A lot of times, our creations are "accidently healthy" which is always nice.

Thank you very much for the translation correction. I am slowly learning Spanish via Mexican cooking, hopefully I'll get it down eventually! Thanks again.

Lisa - Oooh, I can't wait to see what you come up with. You seem to have a soft spot for the poblano. I can see why, they are really good!

Nikki - Thank you. Anasazi beans have a way of "sticking to your ribs" as they say. And the addition of the brown rice just makes it extra filling.

I'm not sure. I mean, if you like raw peppers, I'm sure it would be good. I'm not the biggest fan of raw peppers beyond salsa.

Anonymous said...

What a neat way to spice up a classic recipe :), sounds delicious!

We would like to feature your chiles rellenos on our blog. Please email sophiekiblogger@gmail.com if interested. Thanks :)

You can view our blog here:
blog.keyingredient.com/

J said...

Sophie - Thank you, they were really good.

That is really nice of you to want to feature our recipe - please, by all means, go ahead!