This looks fabulous -- so rich and smooth! Do you know -- Elise or any readers out there -- if this would traditionally have been made with a mortar and pestle? If so, I'm guessing you would grind the solid ingredients and then stir in the water as needed, right? I'm eager to try this but I'm doing without a blender or food processor at the moment....

Nice! I have my green chile recipe down to a science, but I modify the spices slightly each batch in search of perfection or depending on the "flavor mood" I am in when I make it. Although I love green (pork) chile, red chile is preferred over enchiladas for me at least. It will be nice to not buy canned. I will have to try this out. Thanks!

There's really no excuse for not making your own! I learned mine from a Mexican colleague, Jose, and it's almost the same as yours -- only I add a good bit of cumin, and boil the peppers with a whole onion, in large chunks. For a nice tanginess I'll also put in one or two tomatillos, but my standard is just peppers, onion, garlic, comino, and salt.

Now I got a craving. Heeee!

I love the color of this sauce.
Mike (Donna Thomas) is trying to get me to do more scratch Mexican cooking. Maybe when I get more time, like when the boys are in college.

I did this for the first time and made two mistakes which I will NOT repeat. First, I chose not to use gloves when picking the seeds out and handling the peppers. PAIN. Next, I did not let the chili mixture cool completely when I put the slop in the blender. The heat and steam forced the top off and my curtains are still splattered with red. I got very lucky that the stuff didn't fly towards me. Shudder. It's a very labor intensive dish, but even with all of that, it was still densely flavored and luscious. I chose to serve it in some Chile Colorado.

When I was taught to make red chile sauce (in New Mexico), I learned to make a roux to thicken the sauce in the last cooking step. I agree with Steve about the gloves, *especially* if you wear contacts like I do. If you take them out after cooking chiles, you'll think someone pepper-sprayed you the next morning. Ouch! I buy bulk food prep glove boxes and use them whenever I cook with chiles.

This is a simple one I've used for quite a while. I use ground New Mexico chillies, but you can use what you prefer.

4 Tbsp corn oil
3 Tbsp chili powder
1 1/2 tsp cumin powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
5 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp + pinch kosher salt
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
3 cups water

Heat oil in medium sauce pan over medium heat. When hot, add dry ingredients and mix well. Stir for about one minute. Add water and continue stirring until thickened to a thin gravy.

I grew up watching our housekeeper who was from the interior of Mexico make her red sauce and this brings back wonderful memories. Preeta's question made me think back to how she prepared the sauce without a blender. She used a ricer to grind the wet chiles into a paste and then added reserved liqued to make a sauce of whatever consistency she needed. I think a mortar and pestle, or probably better a molcajete, would work instead of a blender.
I've always added cumin to my sauce, probably because it is my absolute favorite spice. My mother-in-law once joked that I bought more cumin in bulk every 3 months than she has used in a lifetime. This sauce is the perfect base for two of my favorite dishes: cheese enchiladas (with onions, but no meat please) and chile con carne (plenty of meat here). Even though it's 95 degrees outside here in Texas, I think I'm going to break my summer "no cooking in the oven" rule and whip up a batch of enchiladas.
For those who love traditional Mexican cuisine, I highly recommend Roberto Santibanez's new cookbook, Rosa's New Mexican Table. Roberto is the brilliant chef behind the Rosa Mexicano restaurants, and I was lucky enough to take a cooking class with him earlier this week. It was amazing. I've just put up a post on my blog about what I learned in my class and the fantastic food he prepared for us.

I like to fire-roast fresh chilies first. It adds a smokey quality that isn't as overwhelming as something like liquid smoke.

Hi Elise!

I made a guajillo chili sauce this weekend that was SO good (but hot) so I think my sauce was much more of a hot sauce, and this is a versatile milder sauce.

I also used vinegar and garlic, adding a few other dimensions of flavor beyond the pure chili.

Here is the link:
http://homecookkirsten.blogspot.com/2007/06/carne-asada-tacos-with-avocado.html

I really adore all chili sauces, thanks for the recipe! :)

Elise,
Could you make some suggestions on how to use this in making enchiladas?
I noticed you have some beautiful sounding enchilada recipes, but I'd love to incorporate this sauce properly and not mess things up :-)
(In fact, any recipes incorporating this sauce would be fabulous.)

I grow hot peppers and each fall we make hot sauce. It's really hot! Just a few drops are all you need to add to your recipe. I use a combination of Habanero, Jalapono and Tobassco peppers.
Remove stems from the peppers.
Course chop the peppers.
Put a one inch layer of the chopped peppers in a wide mouth jar.
Cover the peppers with a dusting of course salt.
Continue layers of peppers and salt until the jar is full.
Cover the top with cheese cloth and put in the fridge for 1 week.
After a week cover the peppers in the jar with white vinegar up to the top and return to the fridge for another week.
After that week liquefy the entire contents of the jar in a blender.
Strain the seeds from the mixture and return the mixture to the jar and put back into the fridge for one more week.
Skim the clear vinegar that will rise to the top of the jar.
Bottle the remaining contents of the jar and enjoy.
This year we are going to experiment with adding garlic, fruit, etc for something new.

You're not kidding. I've tried numerous recipes for red sauces, and green ones too. The good thing is, I usually like them all! Looks like I'll be trying another one.

Elise, that has to be one of my favorite pictures of yours. Great contrast!

I also was taught to make it this way, with one slight addition, lard or veg. shortening. Just a tablespoon or so to add a nice gloss to it.

The postings happened last year but I just saw the recipe and wanted to add my comments. First, I would like to know how to use the recipe that Mark sent in. At first I thought it was for pickled chiles, like you can buy canned in the grocery stores, but since everything is blended together into a sauce, I'm not sure what it would be used for and what kind of taste it would add. Also, I live in Tucson, Arizona and I have never heard of adding cloves to red chile sauce. Also, here we can buy the red chile ground or in a paste so you can get a head start. To me, it also needs a lot of salt to bring out the flavor!!