Chipotles in Adobo - homemade and gluten free

Many modern American recipes call for Chipotle Chiles in Adobo sauce - a tablespoon or two. Some of the best fusion cooking recipes include this flavoring. Unfortunately for the gluten free community, the canned chipotles readily available in supermarkets often contain wheat flour (weirdly, because there is no wheat flour in original Mexican recipes for this sauce.) Gf-Zing! has developed this good, gluten free recipe for this smoky, extremely spicy sauce, based on a number of recipes including some translated from Mexican websites.

The recipe presented here is a combination of the "best of" recipes for quick-cooking chipotles in adobo (adobados) from around the web. The original recipes can be time-consuming, calling for soaking the chilies in vinegar for four days, reducing large quantities of vinegar by boiling, or they may give instructions for a half pound of chiles! The following recipe will make a modest amount of sauce, enough for a small family. Store it in small containers in the freezer - we use 8 little take-out containers and put a couple of tablespoons of the sauce in each one.

1 ounce dried chipotles (this could be 8-12 peppers)
1/3 cup onion, chopped
5 Tablespoons gluten free cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, sliced
4 Tablespoons gluten free ketchup
2 Tablespoons chopped roasted green chilies (canned)
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 peppercorn
3 cups water

Soak the chiles in boiling water to cover for one hour, to soften them up. Using the point of a small, sharp knife, make a slit in the side of each chipotle chili and remove the seeds and the hard stem end out of the chili. Be very careful, as you trim the chili peppers, not touch your face with your hands - these chilies are very spicy and the chemicals that cause the spice of the peppers (capsaicinoids) can burn mucous membranes. You may notice that breathing the vapors from the chilies may make you cough as well - so use good ventilation.

Put the chilies and all the other ingredients in a 2 quart saucepan and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce the heat to a simmer, and cook for 1 or 1 1/2 hours until the chilies are soft like overcooked peas. Keep an eye on things so the sauce doesn't boil down too much. The total quantity of sauce, at the end, will be 2 cups. Put all of the sauce and chiles in the blender and puree completely. You may want to add another 1/4 teaspoon of salt and a pinch of sugar to adjust the flavors.

Store in small containers in the freezer.

If you take an interest in the huge variety of Mexican sauces, and you can read Spanish, try this website.

Make sure that all the ingredients, including spices, are gluten free! © Gf-Zing! | Alice DeLuca