Guatemalan Pan con Chile Relleno

Rudy Giron: Guatemalan gastronomy &emdash; Pan con Chile Relleno

Guatemalan chiles rellenos used to be stuffed chillis, normally guaque chilli, bell pepers, jalapeño, depends mostly on what is on season and how spicy you want your chiles rellenos. The stuff in Guatemalan chiles rellenos is a mixture of minced meat, carrots, green beans and other spices; all of that covered in an egg batter, and fried.

The picture above was inspired by this comment by loyal reader Claudia:

…I know that before anything you have to smoke your chiles, you roast them over flame slowly and then peel the skin off. My grandma lived in zone 10 and we would go to church on Sundays for Mass and after mass was the best part— we’d get chiles rellenos and buy franceses (like a loaf of french bread but sectioned so it can be easily broken off) and have that for breakfast. My mom makes them very very randomly. It’s a lot of prep when you have to make everything from scratch. One more thing — our chiles rellenos, are different from the Mexican chiles rellenos because the way they are made in Guatemala they don’t come with any sauce on top of them, just parsley sometimes for decoration and flavor. That’s the beauty of chiles rellenos, you can have them for breakfast, lunch or dinner…

Here is the Guatemalan Chile Rellenos recipe shared by another loyal reader Juan Velásquez.

Ingredients:

10 Pasilla chiles
1 lb of ground pork
1/3 lb carrots*
1/3 lb green beans*
1/3 lb potatoes*
Note that the ratio of veggies to pork is 1 to 1
1 small white/yellow onion
2-3 cloves of garlic
2 springs of thyme
1 bay leaf
Capers (as much/little as you like)
2 table spoons of whte vinager
salt and pepper

Stuffing

1) Cut carrots, potatoes, green beans in very small pieces
2) Finely chop onion and garlic
3) Brown ground pork
4) Add chopped onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes
5) Add cappers, thyme, vinager, bay leaf, salt and pepper
6) Cover and cook at medium/low heat until veggies are tender
7) Put aisde (uncoverd) and let cool down

Chiles

1) Roast chiles on stovetop
2) Peel skin off and seed them
3) Make a small incision
4) let them cool down
5) stuff chiles (you may need a couple of toothpicks to prevent the stuffing to come out)

Egg Batter

Beat the egg whites in a bowl until nearly frothy, then add the yolks and a bit of all purpose floour and a few drops of water. Beat the ingredients together.

Preheat oil, sumerge chiles in egg batter and fry until golden brown. Transfer the chiles to a paper towel to capture the excess oil.

Enjoy!

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