Today I would like to introduce you to a very tasty dish that is prepared in Mexico only a few weeks a year. This dish is Chile en Nogada. I have eaten this dish for the first time in Pachuca and I was excited.
The dish is a stuffed poblano chili in walnut sauce sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.
Chiles en Nogada is a very old dish, which is said to have been prepared for the first time as early as 1821 for the independence from Mexico. The special thing about this dish is that it has the colors of the mexican national flag (the green poblano chili or coriander, the white walnut cream sauce and the red pomegranate seeds). Moreover, this dish is only prepared around the time of the mexican independence day. Mexican independence is celebrated every year on September 16th. (For this special event I will write another article).
The dish “Chile en Nogada” is available from the end of August to about the end of October. The reason why this dish is served during this period is because of the ingredients. At the end of August the walnut harvest in Mexico begins and walnuts are one of the main ingredients of this dish.
The variations of this dish are gigantic, but the basic ingredient of the stuffed poblano chilies, the white walnut sauce and the pomegranate seeds always remain the same. For the stuffing, restaurants use various minced meat fillings, also with walnut kernels, fruits, tomatoes, onions, etc. Some time ago, many fillings also contained acitrón, but this has been changed by most restaurants due to the prohibition. More about Acitrón can be found in my article about Acitrón. The walnut sauce varies between sweet and salty. Among other things, it contains ground walnuts, cream and mild cheese.
So if you are in Mexico from August to October, you should definitely try this delicious dish.
