Tex Mex Paste
Unfortunately for all us lazy people, one of the key flavors in the tex mex bowl is this paste, which Hello Fresh originally very helpfully supplies a little packet of. However, when recreating the recipe for the bowl, I realized I did not have the same access to those little packets and would have to make my own. Luckily, there are likeminded people on the internet who did all the work of recreating the paste for me so I could still be mostly lazy.
More unfortunately, though, it's a surprisingly involved recipe for the end results being a seemingly simple paste to make a sauce from. The silver lining is it makes a metric truck ton and ideally, only a tablespoon or so is used at a time. Double jar it, freeze 3/4, and refrigerate the other quarter.
| Measurement | Ingredient | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2 heads | Roasted Garlic | |
| 1/2 | White Onion | Diced |
| 4 oz | Chipotle Peppers in Adobo sauce | |
| 21 oz | Fire-Roasted Tomatoes | |
| 4 1/2 tsp | Rice Wine Vinegar | |
| 5 tsp | Tomato Paste | |
| 4 1/2 tsp | Garlic Chili Paste | |
| 6 tsp | Cocoa Powder | |
| 4 tsp | Salt | |
| 3 tsp | Chipotle Chili Powder | |
| 1 1/2 tsp | Cayenne Powder | |
| 1 1/2 tsp | Ground Coriander | |
| 1 1/2 tsp | Dried Oregano | |
| 1 1/2 tsp | Paprika | |
| 1 1/2 tsp | Ground Cumin | |
| 1 1/2 tsp | Garlic Powder |
- Roast the garlic. It's not that complicated, trust. Roleplay as the French and cut the tops of the heads off, wrap in tin foil, drizzle olive oil on, close it all up, and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes at 400F.
Your house will smell weird (not that delicious garlicy smell like when you pan fry it, sadly) and your fingers will burn when you squeeze the garlic out of the paper bits after, but it makes it taste better.
- Create the spice blend, set aside.
- Puree onion and roasted garlic.
- Add tomato paste, chipotle peppers, and fire-roasted toatoes to onion/garlic blend and puree all that.
- Put the sauce into a saucepan, add spice blend, vinegar, chili paste, and cocoa powder.
- Stir thoroughly, bring to a simmer, and heat for 15 minutes.
LISTEN. COVER THIS UP. PUT A LID ON THIS BITCH OKAY. IT WILL BUBBLE AND POP AND MAKE A MESS AND BURN YOU. ASK ME HOW I KNOW.
- Let it cool and once it cools, you can use an immersion blender to make it smoother. As it cools, it will thicken. Jar it and freeze/refrigerate it. When you make sauces with it, 1-1/2 tbsp should be enough.
Nutritional information
- Shhhh, it's okay, it's a sauce, just eat it babes
