What could be better with a bowl of white chicken chili than to top it with a dollop of red chile sauce? And this chile sauce, made with a blend of New Mexican and Guajillo chillies, is one, nice red chile sauce.
The first time I made this sauce, it turned out well, but this time, I added a sweet green pepper and just a bit of unsweetened cocoa powder to the mix.
And I think it makes a good chile sauce a good bit better.
INGREDIENTS
•1/4 cup ground dried chiles (5 or 6)
– look in your market’s produce section
•1 tbsp vegetable oil
•1-1/2 cups chopped sweet onion
•1 green pepper, chopped
•2 garlic cloves, minced
•2 cups unsalted chicken stock
•2 cups water
•1 tsp crumbled dried oregano
•1 tsp seasoned salt
•1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
•1 tbsp masa (not corn meal)
Cut off the stem ends and remove the seeds from the chiles (don’t fret if you don’t get all the seeds), then run the chiles through a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulsing until well chopped.
Add the veggie oil to a large skillet over medium heat.
When warmed, add the onion, green pepper, and garlic, and sauté for five or ten minutes, until the onion is tender.
Add the ground chiles, chicken stock, water, oregano, salt and cocoa.
Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 20 or 30 minutes to reduce the sauce a bit.
Sprinkle the masa over the sauce and whisk to blend in – don’t worry if you end up with a few lumps.
Remove from the heat and allow to rest for ten minutes.
Remove the feed tube from a blender lid (to allow steam to escape) and pour half of the chile sauce into the blender jar.
Cover the lid with a paper towel and purée the sauce until smooth.
Transfer to another container and repeat with the rest of the chile sauce.
Serve warm, or stash in the fridge until needed and reheat.