Anyone familiar with this blog knows that food is the biggest reason why we travel. It’s what excites us most about every trip!
So when we were plotting our route through Mexico in 2022, it was important for us to be in Puebla in August or September. Why? Chiles en nogada.
Chiles en nogada is a beautiful and delicious Mexican national dish that’s typically available only around August or September when pomegranates are in season. It’s the pride and joy of Puebla where we’d spend most of our time in Mexico.
You can’t just click your heels and be in Puebla in the fall so I’m excited to share this easy but authentic recipe for chiles en nogada. It was developed by Chef Alonso Hernandez who runs a popular cooking class in Puebla.
If you can get your hands on the right ingredients, then you can make this delicious Mexican dish at any time of the year.
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WHAT IS CHILE EN NOGADA?
Chiles en nogada is a seasonal Mexican dish of poblano peppers stuffed with a picadillo mixture made from chopped meat (typically pork or beef), sliced fruit (pears, peaches, apples), spices, and aromatics. The stuffed chiles are covered in a creamy walnut sauce (nogada sauce, hence “chiles en nogada”) and then sprinkled with pomegranate seeds and fresh parsley before serving.
Though touristy restaurants sometimes offer inferior versions of chiles en nogada at other times of the year, they’re typically prepared only around August and September when pomegranates are in season.
The first time we had it, it was the off-season in Puebla so the dish was made with pale pomegranate seeds. They lacked the sweetness and acidity of ripe pomegranate seeds so if you can, it’s best to wait until August or September to try this dish in Mexico.
If you can time your visit to Puebla in September, then it’s ideal to have chiles en nogada on or around September 16. Apart from being a Mexican national dish, it’s also a celebratory dish that’s made to commemorate Mexican Independence Day.
The colors of chiles en nogada aren’t just pretty to look at, they’re symbolic as well. They represent the colors of the Mexican flag – pomegranate seeds for red, fresh parsley for green, and walnut sauce for white. It’s a patriotic dish that’s a source of pride for all Poblanos (and Mexicans in general).
Like mole poblano, chiles en nogada were said to have been invented by convent nuns in Puebla. They were created to honor Mexican general Agustín de Iturbide when he visited Puebla after signing the Treaty of Córdoba.
Chiles en Nogada Recipe
An authentic recipe for chiles en nogada developed by Chef Alonso Hernandez of Casa Mexicana in Puebla, Mexico
Ingredients
For the Stuffed Peppers
- 3 poblano chiles
- 2 apples
- 2 peaches
- 2 pears
- 1 onion
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 1/2 kg of tomatoes
- 1 stick of cinnamon
- 50 g of raisins
- 100 g of almonds (sliced)
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 150 g of beef brisket chunks (or ground beef)
- 150 g of pork chunks (or ground pork)
- 6 eggs
- 250 g of flour
- 100 ml of vegetable or canola oil
For the Nogada Sauce (Walnut Cream Sauce)
- 350 g of walnuts
- 1/2 cup of regular milk
- 250 g of goat cheese
- 1 tsp of sherry, brandy, or rum
- 1 Tbsp of vanilla
- 1/2 cup of sugar
For Serving
- 1 pomegranate
- Parsley (for garnish)
Instructions
- Mince the garlic and set aside.
- Chop the onion, tomatoes, peaches, apples, and pears into small cubes. Set aside.
- Preheat some oil in a pot. Add garlic and fry lightly. Add onions and fry until transparent. Add tomatoes and then the chopped fruits one at a time. Cook everything on a low flame for about 15 minutes or until you have an even integration in the mixture. Stir constantly.
- After the mixture has cooked and softened, add a half cup of sugar, cinnamon (broken into small pieces), raisins, and sliced roasted almonds. Continue cooking on a low flame for another 10 minutes while stirring constantly.
- Chop the pork and beef into small cubes. Fry each separately to soften them before adding both to the fruit and vegetable mix. Add salt and stir occasionally, allowing it to cook until the liquid reduces completely. Set aside.
- Roast the poblano chiles over a flame until the skin blisters and gets completely dark. Place the peppers in a plastic bag to allow them to steam for about 10 minutes before removing as much loose skin as you can. Make a single cut down each pepper and remove the seeds. Dry the peppers inside and out with a paper towel and then set aside.
- Stuff the peppers with the fruit and vegetable mixture. Coat the stuffed peppers in flour and then set aside.
- Beat the egg whites until they stiffen. Add the yolks with a pinch of salt and flour.
- Preheat a pot with one cup of oil. Keep a big spoon and a slotted spatula handy because you'll need them to flip the stuffed peppers.
- Dip each stuffed pepper into the beaten egg mixture until they're completely coated. Using the big spoon, bring the coated peppers into the hot oil to gently fry them until they have an even golden color. After frying, strain the peppers using the slotted spoon and place them on paper towels to remove the excess oil. Set Aside.
- Blend the walnuts, milk, goat cheese, sherry, vanilla, and a half cup of sugar until you obtain a smooth consistency.
- Serve your poblano chiles on deep plates and then pour a generous amount of nogada sauce (walnut sauce) over them. Sprinkle them with pomegranate seeds and chopped parsley before serving.
Notes
This recipe for chiles en nogada was developed by Chef Alonso Hernandez of Casa Mexicana in Puebla, Mexico.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We haven’t had the chance to take Chef Alonso’s cooking class in Puebla yet but we will as soon as we make our way back to Mexico. Until then, here are a few pictures from a different cooking class that we took a few years ago, also in Puebla City.
A plate of poblano chiles. The poblano chile is the backbone of every chile en nogada.
Authentic recipes for chiles en nogada make use of three types of fruit – criollo peaches (pictured below), panochera apples (la manzana panochera), and sweet milk pears.
A plate of of peras de leche or sweet milk pears
Like mole poblano, a lot of prep work goes into making chiles en nogada. We started by peeling all the fruit.
The cooking class we took was held at a restaurant in Puebla so I think they made us peel more fruit than we needed ourselves. Ha!
Aren’t the peeled fruits gorgeous? Knowing they’d be used for the poblano chile stuffing got us even more excited.
Eating these local dishes is one thing, but learning how to make them yourself is another. It really gives you an appreciation for how much love and care goes into making these dishes.
Blistering a poblano chile on the stove to enhance its flavor and make it softer for ease of stuffing.
Mrs Traveleater cooking the beef and pork to incorporate into the stuffing mixture.
When the picadillo mixture is ready, it’s time to stuff the peppers one by one.
Traditional recipes like the one featured in this article call for the stuffed chiles to be coated in flour and dipped into a beaten egg mixture for shallow frying. I guess that’s the traditional way of doing it in Puebla because we did the same thing in our cooking class.
Do a search online though and you’ll find that many recipes these days skip this step. After stuffing the poblano peppers, they go straight into the pouring of the walnut sauce.
Personally, I prefer doing it the traditional way because it adds more layers of flavor and texture to the dish.
How appetizing do these stuffed chiles look? I love all the colors!
After shallow frying the peppers, it’s time to drench them in that creamy walnut sauce. Just sprinkle on top with some pomegranate seeds and parsley and you’re good to go! Enjoy!
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