Shiitake (and stuff) Stuffed green chiles

Sometimes I throw a whole bunch of random shit together and it comes out amazing. This is one of those recipes. The green peppers I used are ones I found at the coop by my house, they're the medium long green ones that are used in lots of Korean cooking, and I assume they are grown in other parts of Japan too. These ingredients may sound a bit strange in combination, but trust me, they make a crazy delicious dish! This one takes some time because of roasting the chiles and dicing everything up, but it is well worth it in my opinion. Also, remember, remember, remember that these measurements are only guesstimates on my part. I have quite a keen eye, but you don't need to follow the measurements in my recipes exactly (unless I specify so, which is rare). So yeah, happy eating:



Makes about 7 well stuffed medium sized chiles

Ingredients:

7 (or so) medium long green chiles, rinsed
Onion, 1 small, diced into bits
Garlic, 4 cloves, sliced into thin shreds
Ginger, diced into bits, about 2 tablespoons worth
2 small chile peppers (the spicy kind), deseeded and diced up
Oil, for cooking (like olive oil)
Tomato, diced up into small bits, about 1/4 cup worth
Shiitake, diced into bits, about 1/2 cup worth
Leafy greens (spinach, kale, or any greens, etc.) diced up into bits, about 1/2 cup worth
Curry powder (i.e. ground turmeric, coriander, cumin), 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons
Dried herbs, oregano, basil, parsley; sprinkle of each
Rice wine (or any white variety) Vinegar, 1 tablespoon
Soy sauce, 2 tablespoons
Mirin (みりん-fermented sweet rice wine), 1 tablespoon
Peanuts, 1/4 cup
Raisins, 1/4 cup
Shredded white cheese (optional), for topping

First, the long part. In a large non stick pan (or grill), toast the chiles. Don't use any oil, just place them on the pan and turn on the heat to medium. The skins will start to cook a bit. Let one side cook, then flip the chiles over. Let the skins char a bit on all sides. You can cover the pan to help the chiles sweat a bit as they cook. If they look like they are just gonna burn, turn down the heat, you want them to cook evenly, NOT burn. The chiles are ready when they are really soft and kind of just droop when you pick them up from the stem. Turn off the heat, remove the chiles and set aside.

In the same pan, place the onion, garlic, ginger, small diced chile peppers, and about 2 to 3 tablespoons cooking oil (I like olive oil). Turn on the heat to medium. Stir with a wooden spoon or a spatula as everything cooks. Once onions are slightly cooked, add the curry powder and the dried herbs. Continue to stir constantly so nothing burns. Cook until everything becomes fragrant, about 3 minutes or so.

Add the tomato and continue to stir occasionally. Once the tomato juices are bubbly, add the shiitake. Stir occasionally and let the shiitake soften. Then add the vinegar, soy sauce, and mirin. Stir the mixture well.

Add the leafy greens, stir, and cover. Turn the heat to very low.

While the pan is cooking all that goodness, prep your green chiles. First, if you'd like (although I did not), remove the outer skins from your chiles. The toasting you did and the letting them sit for a while should make the skins easy to peel off now.

If you're like me however, leave the skins on. It'll be a different texture, but still delicious. Now grab a chile by the stem and hold it over a cutting board. Using a small knife, start at the top of the chile near the stem and make one cut along the chile until you reach the end/bottom, i.e. cut them on one side lengthwise. The knife should slide effortlessly as the chile is soft now. A bit of juice will spill onto your cutting board. Don't throw this away!

Once you've made a cut lengthwise, carefully remove the seeds and the stem into a separate bowl or something (not on the cutting board). Everything should come off super easily as the chile is soft. Be sure not to tear the chile apart as you do this however. Place the now deseeded/destemmed chile on a plate, and continue to do this with all the chiles.

When all chiles are done, pour the chile "juice" (with no seeds) from your cutting board into the cooking pan and stir. Add the raisins and peanuts to the mixture, stir again. Let everything cook for about 1 minute and turn off the heat. Time to stuff those chiles.

Place a chile on a serving plate. Using an eating spoon, grab a scoop of the mixture and plop it into the chile. Spread evenly. Sprinkle some cheese (optional), and fold the chiles to get the mixture inside like the picture. Continue until you've stuffed all the chiles.

Now you're ready to chow down! You can serve them with rice, or place in a tortilla if you have any. I added a few slices of avocado as a topping, delish!

Note: The green chiles I used were not very spicy (unfortunately for me), so I was able to clean the seeds and pull the stems out using my hands. Use caution if you're chiles are spicy though, just a reminder.