Chicken-chile relleno with bean sauce


The poblano chiles are roasted and must be used. Likewise chicken breasts are already prepared and must be used. 

Another type of chile relleno is prepared by another means. Instead of an omelet style, the egg is used to prepare a batter including masa harina (and water), the corn-substance in tamales and used to roll flat and fry quickly into corn tortillas and also to deep fry into crisp tortilla chips. Masa harina is powdered masa, cornmeal treated with an alkali, lime the chemical not the fruit, originally pot ash. It rids the hard outer corn kernel pericarp to be rinsed away and the remaining compromised kernel smashed to smithereens and turned into powder that mixes readily with water and when digested making nutrients more readily available. It is the nutritional secret to nixtamal (thus tamale), the secret that failed to travel north with American native populations and failed to travel back with the Spaniards. The secret that imparts flavor that transports in a flash with its scent straight back to the old world long before industrialization.





Campesino means 'peasant.'  Farm cheese, white cheese. It resists melting. I'd rather have something gooey.






Equal amount of water to masa harina for a batter. Herbs and spices to suit yourself. I used Mexican oregano, s/p with 1/8 teaspoon sugar. But no baking powder nor baking soda as a pancake batter would have.










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