Rajas con Crema

Charred poblanos in strips with the cream stirred in off the heat, because it splits the moment it boils.

Not vegetarian — contains cheese whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

• 6 poblano chillies
• 2 onions, sliced in long thin strips
• 200 g sweetcorn kernels, fresh if possible
• 250 ml soured cream or crème fraîche
• 150 g crumbly white cheese
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon oil
• salt
• corn tortillas, as on their own page, to serve

Method

1. THE POBLANOS ARE CUT IN STRIPS AND THE CREAM IS ADDED OFF THE HEAT, and the second half of that is the only way this dish works. Soured cream and crème fraîche both split if they boil: the fat separates out as a greasy film and the solids go grainy, and in a pan of pale cream sauce it is immediately visible and cannot be reversed. The pan comes off the stove, the cream goes in, and the residual heat warms it through in a minute. If it needs longer, the pan goes back on the LOWEST heat and is watched; the moment a bubble appears it is too late.
2. RAJAS MEANS STRIPS AND THE WIDTH MATTERS. A centimetre across, cut the length of the chilli. Diced, they vanish into the cream and the dish becomes a sauce with specks in it; in strips they stay distinct and have some bite, and they lie alongside the onion strips as the same kind of thing.
3. THEY ARE CHARRED AND SKINNED UNDER A CLOTH, AND THE CHAR IS THE FLAVOUR. Blackened all over, fifteen minutes under a cloth, skins rubbed off dry. A poblano that has merely been softened in a pan tastes green and grassy; charred, it is smoky and sweet, and in a dish this simple that is most of what there is to taste.
4. THE ONIONS ARE COOKED LONG AND SLOW UNTIL SWEET. Twelve to fifteen minutes in butter and oil over a low heat, until collapsed and golden at the edges. They are the sweetness that balances the smoke, and softened for three minutes they are merely raw-tasting onion in cream.
5. IT IS SALTED LAST AND CAREFULLY. The cheese going in at the end is salty and so is the cream, and how salty varies by brand. Nothing is salted until the cheese is in and it has been tasted.
6. The poblanos charred black all over on a dry griddle or over a flame, 10 minutes, turned often.
7. Piled in a bowl, COVERED WITH A CLOTH 15 MINUTES, then the skins rubbed off DRY -- not under the tap.
8. Stalks and seeds removed and the flesh cut into STRIPS about 1 cm wide, along the length.
9. The butter and oil warmed in a wide pan over a LOW heat and the onion strips added.
10. Cooked 12 to 15 MINUTES, stirred occasionally, until completely soft, sweet and golden at the edges.
11. The sweetcorn added and cooked 4 minutes.
12. The poblano strips added and turned through for 3 minutes, just to heat.
13. THE PAN TAKEN OFF THE HEAT COMPLETELY.
14. The soured cream stirred in and left to warm through in the residual heat, 1 to 2 MINUTES. If it needs more, back on the LOWEST heat and watched -- it must never bubble.
15. The cheese crumbled in and stirred until it begins to melt.
16. TASTED, then salted. Served with tortillas.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes