Recipes by Zola - Red Chili Sauce

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Red Chili Sauce

Zola Gorgon

The Benefits of the Big City...

There are lots of benefits to living in the big city of Chicago. Most people focus on things like the offerings at the theaters and art galleries. They are a bonus, for sure. Others talk about action at City Hall (the politics in Chicago are always interesting) or the bars, nightclubs, boutiques, and shopping in general.

I'm going to focus today on the big city tamale carts. Leave it to Zola, right?

A few blocks from my place is an outdoor tamale cart. It's always parked right outside the Hispanic grocery store. Tamales are one of my favorite Mexican dishes, but frankly I'm too lazy to make them myself. I'm just not all that interested in dealing with cornhusks and the forming of the tamales. From what I hear it's not difficult, but when you can get beautiful hand-made tamales so close by, and at such a reasonable price, it hardly seems worth the extra effort. In the article I'm giving you a link for (www.fabulousfoods.com/features/tamales), it even talks about Mexican grandmothers who've decided that buying tamales made by others suits them just fine.

I usually buy tamales for a special Mexican appetizer and then I make my own sauce. The sauce is the part where I really have fun. In the summer I might make a zippy mango sauce. If I have the time I might roast chilies and do a smoky deep-flavored sauce. And today I'm offering you my latest, a red chili sauce. It's easy and versatile. You can even make an entree out of tamales. Or a fun lunch. But back to the tamale stories.

The tamale cart near my house is "manned" by an Oaxaca woman most days. She doesn't speak a lot of English and I don't speak a lot of Spanish but we get along just fine. I usually get chicken tamales but then sometimes I get a mixture of chicken and pork. They are always wonderful. We surely manage the transaction and everyone involved is all smiles.

In the Mexican tradition, tamales are almost always the main event at a Christmas or New Year's dinner; which leads me to my second tamale source. My cleaning helper, Coco.

Coco has been working for me for over 4 years now. She came to this country without a lot of English skills, so when I first hired her I had to speak a fair amount of Spanish to explain to her what I wanted done, or I had to point. It worked fine. Over the years her English skills have improved immensely and so have her cleaning skills. She tells me how she loves to clean houses and she and her sister love to clean up my place after big parties. (We give her leftovers as an extra bonus and her family loves to try the new dishes).

These days she's getting more confident in her English proficiency; even to the point where we carry on full conversations. She wants to "grow up" to be a hairdresser. (This is a mother of two young boys). In order to make her goal, the first thing they told her was she had to get better at English, so just recently, she registered for some extensive English classes. I'm so proud of her. She usually works for me on the day of her English class so we made a deal that on those weeks when she has English that we'd move her workday further into the week so she would not have to miss a class. Yesterday, when she came into work I asked what she had learned in English class. She beamed and told me how she had learned 2 things. She learned how to introduce herself to others and how to greet new people that come to her house. I was taken aback. I had never thought about how uncomfortable she'd been all this time; not knowing what to say to people when she was introduced to someone new. How uncomfortable she must have felt. She didn't know the American way to do something like that and she didn't want to get it wrong.

Funny how the simple things in life we take for granted, can be a mystery to new folks immigrating to the US.

One more time, back to tamales.

At Christmas and New Years Coco brings us some of her homemade tamales. She and her sister get together to make them. At Christmas Coco makes the sweet (dessert) tamales and at New Years Coco make the meat ones. She recently brought us some of the pork and chicken tamales as a New Year's gift. That's what inspired me to get working on a new chili sauce to serve with the tamales. The combination worked marvelously. It's such a quick dinner when the tamales are already done and all you have to do is add some chips and salsa for a starter, maybe a few beans on the side and a cookie for dessert. Simple food. Fabulous food.

Use this chili sauce several ways. You can serve it with tamales or other Mexican dishes. You can grill a steak and dip your steak in it like it's a steak sauce. Serve with chicken for a healthy, light Mexican entree or even pour some over broccoli!

Red Chili Sauce

Serves 4 to 6 as an entrée or appetizer sauce

2 Tbl of olive oil
1 small white onion chopped
1 tsp of paprika (I used Hungarian smoked paprika)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 fresh red chilies seeded and minced (See Note).
3 Tbl of tomato paste
One quarter cup of dry white wine
1 15oz can of chopped tomatoes. You can use the ones with Mexican spices or plain.
1 Tbl of sherry vinegar
1 tsp of sugar
salt (optional)

A note on red chilies: The ones I used are really over-ripe jalapeno chilies. They are not all that hot when they completely ripen. You can also use a Fresno red chili. In this case use just one. Be careful if you decide to use the tiny, fire-hot Asian chilies. They will work but your sauce will have a major kick to it.

Be careful when handling the chilies. Either use rubber gloves or wash very thoroughly after you cut them. I try not to touch the seeds or the membranes inside the chili. That’s the major hot spot. Also, don’t rub your eyes.

Directions:

Heat the oil in a medium-sized saucepan. Add the onion and cook until the onion is soft. Maybe five minutes on medium. Then add the paprika, garlic, chili bits and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more. Add tomatoes, (don’t drain them), wine, paste, vinegar and sugar. Cook for 10 minutes more until thickened.

Let cool slightly. Then transfer half of the sauce to a blender and whiz until smooth. Be careful not to splash the sauce or you’ll burn yourself. Stir the two mixtures together in a bowl. Add salt if you think it needs it.

Your warm chili sauce is ready to serve. This sauce would also taste great cold in summer. You can use it as a special salsa with chips or just serve it over a grilled piece of fish. See how versatile it is?

Enjoy!
Cheers,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.

This news arrived on: 01/14/2008

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