Pork-and-Green-Chili Stew

- Total Time
- 45 minutes
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
Advertisement
Ingredients
- 1½pounds pork butt or shoulder, trimmed of excess fat and cut into small strips or chunks
- 1medium onion, roughly chopped
- Salt
- 1tablespoon minced garlic
- 114-ounce can diced tomatoes, with their liquid
- 2cups roughly chopped roasted or broiled green chilies (see recipe)
- Garlic powder, optional
- Warm flour tortillas or rice for serving
Preparation
- Step 1
Put a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat. When the skillet is hot, add the pork and cook, stirring occasionally to keep it from sticking, just until the meat juices evaporate, about 8 minutes (you’re not looking to brown the pork here). Add the onion and a sprinkle of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until it softens slightly, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Step 2
Add the garlic, tomatoes and 1 cup water, not quite enough to cover the mixture. Bring to a boil, and let it boil vigorously for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chilies, a sprinkle of salt and a sprinkle of garlic powder if you’re using it. Reduce the heat so the mixture bubbles gently but steadily, and cover partly. Cook until most of the liquid evaporates, 6 to 10 minutes (there should be some juices left in the bottom of the pot, but the mixture shouldn’t be soupy). Taste, add a little more salt if necessary and serve with warm flour tortillas or over rice.
Private Notes
Comments
Instead of water, I boil a bunch of tomatillos and put them through a food processor. It gives the stew a nice tang and a bit more thickness to the consistency.
I use Mexican beer instead of water and add more garlic/onions. I love the idea of tomatillos. Water just makes the underlying flavor a bit thin.
I've been making this for years! It is delicious and the only thing I do differently is roll the pork in flour and brown it prior to adding the remaining ingredients; makes it thicker. The beauty of this is you can add as much or as little if anything, to suit your taste. I've never measured anything in this before. Probably I use more garlic. This is and authentic Colorado chile which came from a Mexican and I've never seen it in the Internet before.
Pork came out tough as cooked. Additional 1-2 hours at 300 o got it to perfection. If you have never tried low and slow, you’re missing out. Who likes tough pork? Not me!
Hatch chiles are a wonderful thing! I roasted and blended several tomatillos to augment the water as a few other comments suggested, and enjoyed the extra savory broth rather than allowing it to cook down.
How do you prepare the chiles?