Chicken Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Bean Chili

My (composite) recipe for Mexican stuffed peppers with bean chili. Most likely it's not very authentic (apparently beans and chili don't exactly mix), but it's a great dish nonetheless.

My husband asked me to serve some kind of a chili with the peppers, when I first made Mexican stuffed peppers, so I combined a few recipes I found on the internet, and this is what I came up with (roughly  - recipe can be freely altered, ingredients added or left out, quantities changed to fit your personal taste).

The dish will serve four hungry people.

Ingredients for the stuffed peppers:

4 poblano peppers

1 lb chicken breast or chicken thigh meat, cubed in small, 1/4 inch pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

2-3 peeled and chopped tomatoes and 4 oz tomato sauce, or one 14 oz can chopped tomatoes

0.5 lb mushroom (optional), finely chopped

0.5 teaspoon ground cumin

0.5 bunch cilantro

1 cup grated Cheddar

1 tbs lime juice

2 tbs olive oil or vegetable oil

salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Ingredients for the chili:

1 medium onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1  (14 oz) can black beans, drained and washed

1 (14 oz) can kidney beans, drained and washed

1 cup frozen corn (thawed) or 1 (14 oz) can corn

1 (14 oz) can tomato sauce

prepared chili con carne seasoning, or: 

1 teaspoon chili powder or crushed pepper flakes

1 teaspoon ground cumin

a pinch of cayenne pepper

half a bunch of cilantro

1 tablespoon olive oil or vegetable oil

Preparation:

Position oven rack 4 inches from boiler, and heat broiler on high. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Slit the poblano peppers from stem to tip, remove the seeds, place them on the baking sheet and broil them turning once, until skin is blackened and charred all over (approx. 10 minutes). Place the peppers in a zipper bag or in a small glass bowl with a lid, and let them cool for at least 10 minutes. Remove the blackened skins and place the peppers in an oiled baking dish.

Prepare the meat: In a large skillet heat 1 tablespoon olive or vegetable oil on medium high heat, and saute the onion and garlic until softened and translucent (about 5 minutes). Add the meat and cook on medium until meat is no longer pink. Season with salt, pepper and cumin, then stir in the tomatoes and the tomato sauce, bring to a boil and add mushrooms. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until the mushrooms and the meat are fully cooked. Stir in the cilantro and the lime juice.

Divide the filling among the peppers, stuff them and sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Bake at 400 degrees until cheese is melted and begins to brown (about 30 minutes). You can speed up the process by using the baking sheet you broiled the peppers on and just broiling the stuffed peppers for about 10 minutes (in this case, you might want to prepare the chili before broiling the peppers):

Preparing the chili: saute the onions and garlic in 1 tbs olive or vegetable oil for 5 minutes, add the chili powder, cayenne pepper, cumin and cook for 1 minute, making sure not to burn the spices. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato sauce, cook for 5 minutes, then stir in the beans and the corn and cook for another 10 minutes. When ready, stir in the cilantro and serve the chili with the peppers and steamed rice of your choice.