August 18, 2005
Chiles Rellenos Al Chino
The Swiss do not, as a matter of fact, melt queso over their enchiladas. The Chinese do, however, stuff chile peppers, and this is a Chinese recipe. The title is in the tradition of our practice of calling the wee wifey's beloved Moo Shu Roo "Pork Burritos with Plum Salsa".
1 lb. raw shrimp
5 medium mushrooms (as noted)
4 scallions
6 water chestnuts
1/4 cup roasted peanuts
1/4 lb. ground pork
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 Tbsp. light soy sauce
4 turns of the pepper grinder
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
2 Tbsp peanut oil
5 large chile peppers
Shell and devein the shrimp (or pay extra for them) and mince. If you are using the traditional dried Chinese black mushrooms, soak them in water until soft. Gently squeeze dry, cut off the stems and mince the caps. Shiitaki mushrooms, widely available fresh, are a convenient substitute. Small ones in the groceries around here are about the size of the reconstituted black ones. Similarly mince the remaining plant ingredients. Mix the mince with all the remaining ingredients except the peanut oil and peppers.
Split the chili peppers in half lengthwise, and deseed. Exercise all due caution, and you shouldn't be rubbing your eyes anyway. Stuff the pepper halfs with the stuff you mixed together. Fry in the peanut oil over medium heat, about three minutes on the meat side and another two on the pepper side.
One could also substitute napolito for the mushrooms, garlic for the scallions, jicama for the water chestnuts, pinõn for the peanuts, chorizo for the ground pork, olive oil for both of the others, and salsa popular de habenero for the soy sauce, mixing and matching to taste. The garlic would not be inappropriate in an otherwise Chinese mix; it would just be typical of a different region than where this came from. If you want to go farther in the Mexican direction, Chihuaha or Jack cheese could be added. If you want to go all the way, play with the filling, but follow the procedure posted here, which I would not presume to edit.
From the title, I thought you had an old recipe I used to use where I made the filling, added some chopped up chilies and rolled it up into wonton wrappers to look like peppers. Those were then deep fried. Mine was really just cheese and onions. I'm going to have to try your filling!
Posted by: Punctilious at August 25, 2005 12:41 PM