Chiapas Simojovel Chile Paste (Salsa de Chile Simojovel)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Dry cast iron comal or heavy clay comal
• •Volcanic stone molcajete with tejolote, or a metate if you have one
• •Small heatproof bowl for soaking chiles
• •Small clay serving bowl from the Chiapas highlands or black clay vessel from Amatenango del Valle

Instructions

1. 1

   Sort the chiles

   Wipe the chile simojovel with a dry towel. Pull off the stems and shake out only the loose seeds. Do not rinse them. Water takes away the smoke on the surface, and that smoke is why you bought this chile. If the chiles smell musty instead of clean and smoky, take them back to the vendor. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.

2. 2

   Toast the pepitas

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Add the pumpkin seeds and toast for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring constantly, until they puff slightly, pop in the pan, and smell nutty. Do not let them go dark brown. Pepita is the body and the fat of this paste. Spread them on a plate to cool so they do not keep cooking.

3. 3

   Roast garlic and chiles

   On the same comal, roast the unpeeled garlic cloves for 6 to 8 minutes, turning often, until the skins are spotted black and the cloves feel soft. Set them aside. Toast the chile simojovel in small batches, 10 to 15 seconds per side. They should deepen in color and smell smoky, never blacken. These chiles are small and they burn fast. Burned simojovel turns bitter, and there is no fixing that later.

   The chile simojovel is not chile pasilla. It is smaller, sharper, and smoke-dried. Do not let a lazy label at the store confuse you.
4. 4

   Soften the chiles

   Put the toasted chiles in a heatproof bowl and cover them with hot water. Hot, not boiling. Set a small plate on top to keep them submerged and let them soften for 10 minutes. Drain them, reserving 1/2 cup of the soaking water. The soak loosens the chile flesh so it grinds cleanly. Boiling water pulls bitterness from the skins.

5. 5

   Grind the paste

   Peel the roasted garlic. In a molcajete, grind the salt and garlic into a paste. Add the softened chiles a handful at a time, grinding hard against the stone until the skins break down. Add the toasted pepitas in three additions. Keep grinding until the mixture changes from a loose red mash into a thick rust-colored paste that drags under the tejolote and leaves streaks on the stone. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.

   A blender works if your hands cannot manage the molcajete, but use short pulses and the least soaking water possible. Do not liquefy it. This is paste, not soup.
6. 6

   Season with vinegar

   Work in the vinagre de caña one tablespoon at a time. Add reserved chile soaking water one tablespoon at a time only until the paste can be spooned but not poured. Taste for salt. It should be sharp, smoky, nutty, and direct, with heat that arrives clean. If it runs off a tortilla, you used too much water. Grind in more toasted pepita to bring it back.

7. 7

   Rest and serve

   Scrape the paste into a small clay bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes before serving. The vinegar settles, the pepita thickens, and the smoke comes forward. Serve at room temperature with warm corn tortillas, frijoles de olla, tamales de chipilín, eggs, or chicharrón. Store leftovers in a clean jar in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. Let it come back to room temperature before eating.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chile simojovel from a Chiapas vendor if you can. The chiles should be small, red to dark brick, dry but not dusty, and smoky without smelling moldy. Bad chiles make bad salsa. Start at the market, not the stove.
• •Do not replace this with Yucatecan recado rojo or an Oaxacan chile paste. Those are serious preparations from their own states, but they are not this. No me vengas con atajos.
• •If you cannot find chile simojovel outside Mexico, make a different salsa or use 1 ounce chile morita with 1 ounce chile de árbol as a practice version. That gives smoke and bite, but it is a compromise, not salsa de chile simojovel.
• •Use raw hulled pepita, not salted snack pumpkin seeds. Salted pepitas taste stale once ground, and the paste will be harsh before you even season it.
• •Hoja santa is called momo in Chiapas and Tabasco. If you set momo leaves beside the bowl with chaya leaves for the table, name them correctly. The leaf is not decoration. It tells people which kitchen they are standing in.

Advance Preparation

• •The chiles can be wiped, stemmed, and stored in an airtight jar up to 1 week before grinding.
• •The finished paste tastes best after resting for at least 20 minutes and holds well for 7 days in the refrigerator.
• •For batch cooking, double the recipe and store in two small jars instead of one large jar. Less air in the jar keeps the chile flavor cleaner.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 30g)