Saturday, August 7, 2010

Chile Colorado aka Carne Roja aka Mexican Vindaloo

I love carne roja. On the rare occasion that I find it in a restaurant I usually can't eat it because it is made with pork. I've tried to make it a couple times, but I never get it quite right. I made it for guests yesterday. I started it very early so that I could get it right. I prepared it thinking of it as Mexican vindaloo, and it turned out really well. I used some tomato puree that I made from tomatoes from the farm and cayenne peppers from my minigarden.

Carne Roja

Potatoes
Oil
1 or 2 onions
Beef
Chile powder
Garlic powder
Comino
Bay leaves
Tomato sauce
Water

1. Wash, chop and boil potatoes until tender. I hate it when the potatoes aren't fully cooked, so I cooked them first.
2. Shred onion. I used one, but could have used two for the amount that I made.
3. Cut beef into small pieces.
4. Saute onion in oil until softened.
5. Add beef and cook until browned.
6. Stir in spices and cook for 1-2 minutes.
7. Add tomato sauce and water. Stir and bring to a boil. This is where I added in the tomato puree and slit open cayenne peppers.
8. Simmer stew, stirring occasionally, for about 2 hours. Add potatoes for last half hour of cooking.

I served this with tortillas, guac and Spanish quinoa. Cooking it for two hours ensured that the meat was tender, and pre-cooking the potatoes ensured that they were nice and soft. The guys loved it, so there are barely any leftovers.

3 comments:

Nicole said...

I'm totally stealing the Spanish quinoa recipe.

Nicole said...

Also, it's creul (hee hee) and unusual punishment to mention all that delicious food and not have pictures. I wanna see! I'm so nosy. Please forgive me.

k. said...

Nicole, there's no stealing involved. I'm not possessive at all of my recipes. You don't have to chop the cilantro. Also, I've noticed that the very top layer of the quinoa doesn't always turn clear, but the rest is done.

I know, I get so hungry that I don't want to stop and take photos, so I should take them when I'm cooking. I always forget to take the first step, or the before photo. Oh well, I'll try to remember next time.