One of my favorite dishes is chiles rellenos. I remember my mom making this growing up and my favorite part was the gooey, firm but chewy cheesy inside. I would secretly sneak into the kitchen and open up extra ones just to eat the cheese in the center. Sorry mom! that was me! Chiles rellenos are special. It's chiles poblanos that you char the outside until black. Cover them to steam and then peel the charred outer layer. You make a small enough slit on the side to remove the veins and seeds and fill it with beautiful Mexican Ranchero (Crumble cheese) on the inside. Then you separate the egg whites and whip them, whip the yolks and fold them together ; dip it in the batter and fry. I'm telling you, this is something special.
The key here is assembly. Char all the peppers and cover them. Make the filling; Peel the peppers; stuff the peppers and pat dry; then finally whip the eggs so that you can dip and fry them. If you take long, the eggs will separate. If they do, all you have to do is whisk it until it combines again. This recipe makes six stuffed poblanos. Adjust the eggs to your needs, its better to have left over than not enough. My mom always fried the left over egg and I loved it. My recipe has onions and quesadilla cheese on the filling. If you prefer with out the onions, just replace it with more quesadilla cheese.
Serving Size About 6 filled peppers
Ingredients
Poblano Peppers 6 each
Queso Fresco 1-10 oz package
Chihuahua (VV Supremo) 1.5 cups, shredded
White Onion, diced 3/4 cup
Whole eggs, seperated 5 each
Kosher Salt 1/2 tsp
Vegetable oil enough to fry
Step 1 : First char the outside of each pepper until charcoal black. There are many ways you can do this but I do the old school way. I turn my stove on high and using tongues, I place each pepper two by two in the direct heat on top of the coils. I let it char making sure I turn it around. Once they are all charred, I place the pepper on a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap for about 10 minutes to let it steam and loosed up. After that, using your fingers or a napkin, remove the charred outer layer of each pepper and discard. Now that you have your naked peppers, go ahead and cut a slice on the top side, enough to reach in and remove as many seeds and veins as you can (its ok if you can't get most out). Then pat dry and set aside.
Step 2 : Now you can crumble the queso fresco. I like the use the VV supremo brand rancherito queso and place it in bowl. Next add the chihuahua shredded cheese to the same bowl. Also dice the onion small and add that to the bowl too and mix them. Next divide the filling into 6 portions and fill each pepper as evenly as possibly through the small cut you made. Set aside.
Step 3 : Only do this step if you're ready to proceed to the fryer. You can use a cast iron or any pan enough to fit two peppers at a time (6-8 inch fry pan). Cover the pan with oil half way and place over medium heat.
Next using beaters, beat the egg whites on high in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the salt and continue to mix until soft peaks form. Next in another bowl whisk the egg yolks until light and fluffy and fold into the egg whites.
Step 4 : Finally, dip each pepper in the egg mix and place in the oil to fry. Fry for about 4 minutes on each side, making sure you flip and fry both sides. NOTE! If the egg mix looks separated or it separates into a liquid on the bottom, its ok! whisk again until it mixes, this is normal. Just make sure you whisk before dipping the pepper or else the egg will not stick to the pepper. Serve warm and enjoy! You can serve with rice.
Cooking Hacks
If you don't mind gluten, another way to prevent the egg from sliding off the pepper is the following. Before frying, coat the pepper in flour and then dip in the egg, this will make it very easy for you to fry.
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