This vegan lentil soup is quick, simple, filling, and tasty.
| Prep Time: | 40 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr |
| Servings: | 12 |
| Yield: | 6 cups |
Ingredients
- 3 ancho chile peppers
- 3 pasilla chile peppers
- Water to cover
- 2 cloves crushed garlic
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 3 cups chicken stock
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Place chile peppers on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven until slightly toasted. (Note: When you can smell them, they’re done.)
- Remove from the oven and slit them open. Remove the seeds and veins, then put them in a bowl with boiling water to cover. Allow them to sit for 30 minutes, then remove them from the water, reserving the water. Scrape the pulp from the insides of the chile peppers and discard the skins. (Note: The skins will give the mixture a bitter flavor.) Return the pulp to the water and set aside for later.
- In a large saucepan over medium heat, saute the garlic and onion in the butter or margarine for 5 minutes, or until onion is tender. Add the flour and mix well. Add the stock, stirring until thickened, and then add the reserved chile pulp mixture. Finally, add the oregano and the cumin.
- In a blender or food processor, puree the mixture until smooth. Season with salt to taste.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 71 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 7 g |
| Cholesterol | 12 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 2 g |
| Protein | 2 g |
| Saturated Fat | 3 g |
| Sodium | 336 mg |
| Sugars | 1 g |
| Fat | 5 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
This is an amazing recipe. I used chili powder and paprika in place of the whole peppers and it was still good. My daughter said better than many restaurant sauces. And there’s a lot of great Tex Mex recipes in Dallas.
This is really good. Just the right amount of heat. I did change 2 things. I used 2 poblanos and 4 Anaheim due to those being on hand. When roasting it was taking forever at 350 (and it’s a new gas stove as of today) so I turned to 430 and it roasted them well. Thanks for posting. Already added to my favorites.
I never want sauce from a can/jar ever again after having this sauce. I used 3 poblano and 3 Anaheim peppers. It had a nice smokey flavor and a beautiful green sauce. Definitely making again:)
Very nice sauce! I didn’t have fresh chillies so I used half a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes and seeds and half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper. I also added a teaspoon of paprika. I used the sauce with some beans, roasted and chopped red peppers, and minced beef, for enchiladas!
Mmmmm…….great recipe. Tastes like one I had in Clovis, NM many years ago!
I used this sauce to make beef enchiladas with Charley’s Slow Cooker Mexican Style Meat, Kraft Mexican cheese blend and flour tortillas…it was delicious! My daughter’s eyes got big and she said they tasted like the local Mexican restaurant. This sauce was so fresh and it definitely made the dish great. This recipe made more than needed for a 9×13 Pyrex so I will increase it by about a quarter next time and make two 9×13 dishes and freeze half. I could not find Ancho or Pasilla peppers at the grocery store so I decided on using Pablano and Jalapeno after studying the pepper use and hotness chart the store provided. It turned out to be more of a white or green sauce rather than red like the picture here on the website. I will definitely make this sauce again.
This sauce made my enchiladas taste great! This has been my go to recipe for years. The sauce should be a shade of red, if not then you bought the wrong kind of pepper. It is time consuming, sometimes I don’t feel like peeling the chilies, so I just blend it all together & strain. I follow the recipe as is & the thickness is perfect. If it’s too runny, you put too much water over your dried chilies. If the flavors not there add salt & occasionally if I don’t add enough onion, I add a little onion powder to taste. I double the recipe & freeze half of it.
I used green chilies instead of ancho and pasilla peppers. The taste is outstanding!
We were curious about making our own enchilada sauce so we gave this a try. The chilies, like several reviewers said, were a royal pain even though I tried to ‘steam’ off the skins we still had to scrape the pulp. I also went to 3 different markets looking for the chilies- we’re in an urban area with ethnic groceries and large “international” sections and good cross-section of produce in the regular markets but sadly no Latin grocery near us. I wound up getting New Mexico peppers instead of ancho/pasillas. Hubby bought a jar of sauce in case the recipe didn’t work out; we followed the recipe, it smelled good and tasted OK but was lacking something. Added about 1/4 cup of the jar stuff and it immediately came together. We went on to make delicious enchiladas with my homemade refried beans. Will definitely try this again when we find the right peppers.
I am giving this recipe a 5 star rating based solely on taste. The sauce is wonderful! Otherwise, it is a pain in the rear to make and very time consuming. Perhaps with more practice I can be satisfied with the time it takes to make this recipe. The results are worth it. I followed the recipe exactly as is except for one thing: I used a hand blender. Please save yourself the grief of blending in batches and risking getting burned by using a hand blender.
Super eazy, super yummy!
This sauce was delicious! I only made a few minor changes, based on the ingredients I had on hand. I used about 10 Guajillo chilis and 5 of the smaller, hotter arbol for a rather pleasant afterburn. I also used Knorr tomato bouillon w/chicken flavor instead of the plain chicken broth. I used the sauce with shredded pheasant to make enchiladas and it was a spicy hit. Thanks for the excellent recipe!
This sauce was absolutely PERFECT! The only thing I did differently was only used 2 cups broth instead of 3 and left out the onion because I just don’t like onions. I had a hard time removing the skins so I just gave up and pureed them in with it and it was wonderful anyways. I loved the flavor it had and was really happy how it turned out. I was looking for something that more closely matched the authentic taste of my favorite Mexican restaurant and this was exactly what I had in mind, thanks for the recipe! (Also, mine ended up being a very dark red color, it sounds like there is quite a variety of what color others have turned out!)
I gave 4 stars because of the pulp prep on this. Like many other reviewers, I just seeded, removed stems, and toasted on comal before soaking. No problems with color. For bitterness, add a little sugar till its to your liking.
USE THE WHOLE CHILE! I loved this sauce, but had to rate 4/5 because scraping the pulp out of a dried chile is absurd! Toast (I used a comal on the stovetop instead of the oven), reconstitute, and the just use whole. That’s what I learned in cooking school in Mexico, that’s how we make mole, pipian rojo, and lots of other authentic Mexican dishes, and it saves a ton of time and flavor. Well-toasted chiles aren’t bitter. Great recipe! I recommend extra salt and lime wedges for serving.
good sauce, but all that pepper prep work seemed useless. i just roast them over a flame, or even on skillet, pan, whatever, for a few seconds. removed only the stem, and they were good to go.
Nice job! I would add that to skin peppers, after you remove them from oven, place them in a tightly covered plastic container with some water in the bottom. Put directly in fridge. After they cool, the skins will almost fall off of the peppers.
this is THE BEST enchilada sauce! i was worried when i saw that the sauce was white (im used to seeing red or brown) but it is the best sauce ive ever had in either a restaurant or at home. i dont worry about which kinds of chili peppers i buy. i always just get whats available at my store. WONDERFUL!
This sauce was really good. Rich, deep, smoky flavor. I am not sure you need the flour or maybe just a little bit. I did add a 12 oz can of V-8 juice to cool the heat of the chilies down. I made cheese and onion enchiladas with this sauce and flat on the plate, I Always top my enchiladas with a fried egg, or 2! You break the golden yolk over those cheesy, spicy disks of goodness and the egg just gives them another depth of flavor. Terrific!! Thank You Bill for a yummy sauce and I am not sure I will buy canned sauce again!! This is sooo much better!:)
MAde as is and REALLY enjoyed it. Worth all the effort!!!!
This recipe was great. Could use a little more information on how much water to put with the peppers. If you try this recipe the flour amount will vary in order to get the proper thickness of the sauce.