Salsa de Chile Ancho (Chile Ancho Sauce)

A simple and basic red chile sauce that is good for tamale making, salsa's, braising, tacos, burritos and enchiladas!

Course Salsa/Sauces

Cuisine Mexican

Servings cups

Ingredients

8-9 ounces of dried chile ancho 15-20 peppers
Water to fill pot
5 cups chicken broth or water
1/2 tablespoon Mexican oregano
1/2 tablespoon of cumin
4 large cloves of garlic or 1 TBS garlic powder
1 teaspoon fresh cracked pepper
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar OPTIONAL
Salt to taste
1 TBS chicken base or bouillon I use this when I don't have homemade broth
4 TBS pork lard(manteca) or grapeseed oil

Instructions

Directions

Fill a large pot with about 7 cups of water and heat to medium. Remove the stems and seeds from the chile ancho and transfer them into pot of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to medium/low and let the peppers slowly reconstitute. Stir now and then to turn peppers over. They will start to turn a brighter shade of red. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes before draining all the water.
Transfer the peppers to the blender. Add 5 cups of chicken broth or fresh water, oregano, cumin, garlic, pepper and salt to taste. Blend on high until smooth. Using a wire mesh strainer, strain the sauce into a larger bowl. Use the back of a wooden spoon or spatula to push all the pulp through. If using a power blender, there is no need to strain the sauce.
In a large pot, preheat 1/4 cup of lard or oil to medium heat for a few minutes. Pour in the sauce from the blender. Mix in the chicken base or bouillon. Mix in the vinegar. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and continue cooking for 20-25 minutes.
Adjust the seasoning as it cooks to your liking. I added and extra 1/2 teaspoon (or to taste) of cumin, oregano, pepper and the salt to taste. The salsa will thicken as it cooks and reduces. Cook for another 10 minutes. Cool completely before storing in an airtight container. It freezes well for up to 6 months!

Notes

Red Chile Masa for Tamales

1 1/2 cups natural rendered pork lard (Manteca)

4 cups masa harina

2 tsps. baking powder

Kosher salt, to taste

1 cup chile sauce (see recipe above)

3 cups room temperature chicken or pork broth

In your stand mixer bowl, add the room temperature lard. With the paddle attachment, whip the lard, at medium speed, for 3 minutes. Reduce speed on mixer and gradually mix in all the masa harina. Mix in the baking powder, salt and chile sauce. With the mixer speed on low, stream in the chicken broth. Continue mixing for up to 10 minutes. Stop and taste for salt. Mix for one more minute. if the masa looks to loose, mix in a little more masa harina until it looks fluffy. Transfer masa to a bowl or container with a tight lid. let sit for 30-40 minutes or store overnight in the refrigerator. When ready to use, pull masa from refrigerator and let it come to room temperature for one hour. If you like, you can fluff up the room temperature masa in the stand mixer for a few minutes. Yields up to 30 tamales.