Vegan Green Chile Stew

When most people hear chile, they think of Texas chile which is a thick bean stew with beans, meat, and chile powder. New Mexican chile is a totally different thing.
For Green chile stew, I’m talking about roasted green chile peppers from Hatch NM. These are anaheim peppers that are grown in the Hatch Valley along the Rio Grande near Hatch NM. (The climate in this specific region give the peppers their unique flavor).
If you have ever been in New Mexico in the fall, you have smelled the green chiles roasting from seemingly every street corner. It kind of smells like someone burnt their peppers while smoking a joint. The smell used to make me gag when I first moved to NM, but now it reminds me of the magical taste of green chile stew!

What is the difference between red and green chiles?

If they don’t roast the chiles, they string them up into ristras. The chiles turn red as they dry out in the sun. One may think that they are nothing more than an iconic New Mexican decoration, but the ristras are functional to dry out the peppers to be used to make their equally popular red chile dishes.

How can I find green chiles?

I went to the University of New Mexico and then lived in Albuquerque, NM for 10 years. I loved every minute of it, but we moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania when my first child was born to be closer to family. I thought that I may never smell those chiles roasting or eat fresh roasted green chiles again. That is, until 5 years ago when a local farm sent box truck to Hatch NM and returned with a truck full of Hatch green chiles to host a chile festival!  That beautiful smell was in the air again, and I got to enjoy seeing my children  eating the chiles fresh out of the roaster!

I raced home and used our fresh roasted green chiles for my vegan green chile stew, but if you don’t have that luxury,  you can also use green chiles from a can or a jar.  The peppers range greatly in spiciness, so you want to adjust the amount of chile peppers to control the amount of heat in your stew.  I like to use about 1 cup of medium level spice chopped peppers.  If you use extra hot, it overwhelms the roasted chile flavor in my opinion.

How do I make vegan green chile “Chicken” stew?

1. Start by sautéing onion and then add some other veggies that we like, usually zucchini and mushrooms. (Chop the zucchini up super small and your picky eater won’t even know it’s there).
2. Then add a vegan “chicken” flavored broth.
3. Next, I chop up the chiles and add them to the stew.
4. Let your broth simmer to infuse the green chile taste throughout.
5. If you want green chile “chicken” stew, add a vegan chicken product like chicken flavored seitan, chick’n strips, or Butler Soy Curls. (I used Butler Soy curls because they are gluten free and have a great texture and flavor. They can be poured directly into the broth and will soak up the delicious flavor).
6. Cube potatoes and boil them separately until just barely cooked. Drain the potatoes and then add them to the pot.
7. Stir in your PLAIN dairy free milk.
8. Thicken your stew by making a roux with oil and flour or use corn or potato starch devolved in cold water.
9. Let the stew simmer on low for a little bit longer to allow the stew to thicken and all the flavors to mix.

Pro Tips: 

• Since traditional Green Chile Stew has chicken in it, I use a vegan Not-Chick’n Cubes bullion to give it a chicken flavor.
• For fat free option: just add all veggies to water with bullion and green chile and simmer for 20 minutes, then continue the recipe according to directions and use the starch method to thicken.
• If you are using freshly roasted chiles, you will need to peel most of the tough skin off the chiles and remove the stem and most of the seeds. The seeds of the peppers are the hottest part, so if you want a super spicy stew, you can leave them attached. (However, they have a tough texture, you don’t want too many).
• You can use a traditional roux, or if you want it gluten free or fat free, simply use corn or potato starch and water. The traditional roux will give you a heartier stew, but both ways are delicious!
• Be careful not to touch your eyes when handling chiles, they will burn and irritate your skin.
• It is one of those meals that tastes even better the next day after all of the flavors have mixed together!

Love spicy soups?  Try this delicious vegan Tom Yum!