Mother's Day Brunch: Chile Relleno de Polenta

Chile Relleno de Polenta

I love Chile Rellenos, they are such a wonderful culinary gift from Mexico.  But, I find it very difficult to batter and fry the chiles without the insides spilling out and the delicate roasted chile falling apart.  So I decided that step can be skipped, and you end up with a much healthier chile without all that batter and frying.  I also don't eat cheese any more, and wanted to find a way to make a delicious chile not stuffed with meat or cheese, and Polenta was my brilliant substitution.  So here's the recipe.  I made this dish a few months back, so it's an approximate recipe.  It will be more of a general how-to, but quantities will probably be a little off.  Give me a few months of this food blogging thing and I'll get it together!

Ingredients

4-8 Roasted, seeded and peeled Chiles, choose from Pasilla, Poblano or Anaheim Chiles

2-4 servings of cooked Polenta

Onion

Jalapeño 

Garlic

Corn

Tomatoes

I will add a separate post soon explaining in more detail how to prepare the chiles. To prepare the stuffing, cook a few portions of polenta.  You don't need a lot, about a third cup of cooked polenta per chile. To Jazz the polenta up, heat some oil in a pan and add a teaspoon of cumin seeds.  After two minutes add 1/2 cup of diced onions.  Cook for a few minutes then add two diced garlic cloves and half of a seeded and diced jalapeño.   Sauté, stirring occasionally for a few minutes till everything gets a bit soft and brown.

Next add your corn, you can cut the kernels right off the cob, or use some fresh frozen corn.  About two cups, or two cobs should be enough.  Cook for 2-3 minutes then set remove pan and let cool a bit so you can handle the polenta without burning yourself.  While you are waiting you can begin the tomato sauce.

For the tomato sauce begin by heating a little oil over medium flame in a pan then add a teaspoon of cumin seeds and cook for about 2 minutes till they begin to crackle and smell toasty.  Next add 1/2 diced onion and cook for a few minutes stirring occasionally.  Next add 2 diced garlic cloves and 1/2 teaspoon of oregano and stir a bit as you cook for a few more minutes.

Now add a few tomatoes, turn the heat to low and cover for 10-15 minutes until tomatoes are soft and splitting open.  Turn off the stove and let sit, cooling, while you stuff your chiles.

Scoop polenta into the chiles and arrange in a baking dish.

Blend your tomato spice mixture in your blender, adding a teaspoon of salt then return to the pan and simmer.  Add a sliced zucchini and simmer a few minutes to soften zucchini.  Then pour this beautiful sauce over your chiles.  I put a little cheese over half my batch which is delicious if you like cheese or can be skipped if you want to stay vegan.  You can refrigerate or even freeze this dish to bake and serve at a later time, which will increase your baking time.  If you've filled your chiles with warm polenta and poured hot sauce over the top they'll only need 10-15 minutes in an oven at 350F.  Delicious with rice and tortillas!