A while ago I received a package of chipotle morita (thanks, miss A! 😉 and I was waiting for a good opportunity to put it to use. I ended up preparing it for my students in a Mexican cooking class, a better moment.
Chipotle morita It is one of a multitude of types of peppers that exist. Within Mexican culture, peppers change their name depending on how they are presented. Fresh has one name, dried another, smoked too and because of the size too.
For example, the chipotle morita is a dried, smoked red jalapeño. The morita is because of the size.
Of course there is the inherent spiciness (5,000-8,000 SHU), but as it was dried and smoked it was a little mild. However, the most important thing is not to kill the smoke. In reality, the first flavor note is the smoke itself, followed by the spiciness.
It goes very well with general Mexican dishes, but is especially great with meats because of the smoke. Roast meat inside the tortilla and the salsa is beautiful.
The original recipe for this requested salsa tomatillo (Physalis philadelphica), brother of physallis. But as I wasn’t going to find the fruit around here, I adapted it using green tomatoes. In this case, it is more used as a vehicle for the pepper flavor, so no major problems.
Chipotle Morita Sauce
Makes: 300 g
- 300 g green tomato
- 2 units pimenta chipotle morita
- Water (boiling)
- refined salt
1 cup: 250mL | 1 tablespoon: 15mL.
- In a frying pan over medium-high heat, toast the peppers until they release their aroma (~2-3 minutes), transfer to a bowl.
- Cover the peppers with boiling water and let rest for 30 minutes.
- Back in the frying pan, toast the tomatoes until they have charred-burnt spots.
- Add the toasted tomatoes and hydrated peppers (only the peppers) to the blender. Beat until very homogeneous, about 4 minutes on high speed.
- Adjust the salt, if desired.
- Conservation: store in the refrigerator and use within 3 days.
