Homemade Chile Rellenos {Grain-free!}

I want to give a big THANKS to Mindy over at Too Many Jars In My Kitchen for posting her Chile Relleno Egg Casserole recipe and reminding me that chile rellenos exist! I used to love these back when I actually ate out at restaurants that serve them. But it had been soooo long since I had one, I forgot about them entirely. Thank you for reminding me and inspiring this homemade version of chile rellenos.

By the way, THEY WERE DELICIOUS. (*Both days; We had leftovers.)

The Sauce

Pureé the following in your Vitamix or food processor.

• – 1 medium onion
• – 3 large tomatoes
• – 1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• – 6 garlic cloves
• – 1 inch pieces of ginger, pre-minced

Pour the pureé into a sauce pan and add the spices. Simmer on low for an hour or more, until it’s nice and thick. I used an enameled cast iron pan, which allowed to cook it on extra low heat, and I simmered it for over an hour, mostly covered, stirring occasionally.

• – 1/4 tsp turmeric (buy here)
• – 1/4 tsp cinnamon (buy here)
• – 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (buy here)
• – 1/2 tsp coriander (buy here)
• – 1/2 tsp black pepper (buy here)
• – 1 tsp dried basil (buy here)
• – 1 tsp dried rosemary (buy here)
• – 1 tsp dried oregano (buy here)

(P.S. That’s Aloo Gobi in the background.)

The Peppers

You will need:

• – 6 poblano peppers
• – Your choice of cheese. Many people like Jack cheese for chile rellenos. I used freshly grated romano, parmesan, and asiago.

Preheat your oven to 400˚F and get out a glass casserole pan that’s big enough for all the peppers.

Then, grate your cheese and mix together. We just kind of eyeballed how much would fill up our 6 peppers.

Next, wash and core your peppers, being careful not to rub your eyes, as it will burn. Slice the peppers down the side for easy stuffing. My pepper is stuffed in the above picture, but don’t stuff yours yet. We have to roast them first!

Next, roast the peppers. If you have a gas stove, you’ve got it made. You can roast each chile over the flame. If you don’t have a gas stove, use a lightly buttered pan on medium heat to brown the outsides of the peppers. Use a knife to scrape off the thin outside layer of skin. The batter will stick better this way. Now, it’s time to stuff those babies!

The Egg Batter

Separate 4 large egg whites into a bowl and reserve the yolks in another bowl.

Whip the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Whisk the egg yolks well. FOLD the egg yolks into the whites *right before* frying the peppers.

Frying the Peppers

Melt a 1/2 cup or so of coconut oil in a medium frying pan. Make sure the oil is good and hot. Test the oil by putting a wooden chopstick or the end of a wooden spoon into the oil. If bubbles well-up fiercely, the oil is hot enough.

When the oil is hot, drop a large spoonful of egg batter into the center of the pan. Lay a pepper seam-side down into the egg batter, and try to bunch the batter back around it, as it will spread out a little.

Add another spoonful of batter on top of the pepper, and mold it around the pepper carefully. When the bottom is a lovely golden-brown color, flip the pepper over to fry on the other side.

When the pepper is golden on all sides, lay it in the casserole pan. Repeat the frying process with all the peppers. Then, put them in the preheated oven at 400˚F for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes, remove from the oven, serve onto plates, and top with the tomato sauce and more grated cheese. I forgot to buy cilantro at the store (because I don’t really go to the store anymore….) but I think the chile rellenos would be even MORE fabulous with fresh cilantro on top! :)

Just look at that melted cheese! Mmmmmm…