Mom's Chilaquiles as served at Chula in La Quinta, California as seen on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, season 35.
Recipe courtesy of Chúla Artisan Eatery

Mom's Red Chile Chilaquiles

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  • Level: Advanced
  • Total: 7 hr 20 min (includes resting time)
  • Active: 1 hr 15 min
  • Yield: 1 serving

Ingredients

House-Made Chips:

Mom’s Red Chile Sauce:

Pulled Pork:

Poached Egg:

Onion Date Jam:

Directions

  1. Preheat a small skillet on medium-high heat. Pour in the grapeseed oil and add the onion. Let the onions sizzle and saute slightly until golden brown. Add the Chips on top of the onions and stir.
  2. Add Mom’s Red Chile Sauce over the top of the chips and simmer for 20 seconds. Pour the contents of the skillet into a serving bowl.
  3. Using serving tongs, add the Pulled Pork to the top of the chips.
  4. Add the avocado on top of the pork, then set the Poached Egg on top of the avocado slices.
  5. Sprinkle the chopped scallions and queso fresco over the top of the chips. Add small dollops of the Onion Date Jam on top of the chips.
  6. Add the microgreens to garnish the top of the egg.

House-Made Chips:

  1. Cut each tortilla into 6 triangular pieces. Put aside.
  2. In a deep saucepot, add the oil and heat on medium-high heat until the oil is at 350 degrees F or is creating movement in the pot, 15 to 20 minutes. Add some of the tortilla triangles to the oil. Let fry, moving them around with a long-handled metal slotted spoon or spider, until golden brown, 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to a sheet pan lined with paper towels to absorb the oil. While chips are still hot and slightly oily, sprinkle a generous amount of salt over them. Repeat the process with the remaining tortilla pieces.

Mom’s Red Chile Sauce:

  1. Add the chile pods to 6 cups of the filtered water in a pot. Bring to a boil, then let boil until the chile pods soften, about 15 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool for 30 minutes before adding to a blender. Confirm that the blender top is snugly fitted before blending. Holding a folded kitchen towel on top of the blender lid, turn the blender on low speed, gently blending the water and pods together until a bright red puree develops. Pour the blended puree mixture through a sieve into a deep container to catch the chile puree. Press the chile pod skins with the back of a rubber spatula against the sieve to extract the maximum amount of red chile puree.
  2. Transfer the puree to a saucepan, then add the remaining 1 cup filtered water on low heat and whisk in the cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano and salt.

Pulled Pork:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. In a baking dish, put the cushion meat. Pour 3 cups water over the meat, then make the dry rub. In a bowl, combine the cumin, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Pinch generous amounts of dry rub and press onto the cushion meat, coating the top and sides thoroughly.
  3. Cover with foil and bake for 4 hours. Remove the baking dish and let sit for 30 minutes before pulling the meat apart with 2 forks. Mix the shredded pork with the pan drippings in the baking dish.

Poached Egg:

  1. Heat 2 cups water in a saucepan on high heat and bring to a boil. Add the vinegar and stir the water in a counterclockwise motion. Crack open the egg into a small bowl. Pour the egg out of the bowl into the whirlpool of boiling water and cook for 3 minutes. Scoop out and add to the Chilaquiles or serve on top of toast.

Onion Date Jam:

  1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add the oil, then onions and dates. Stir and cook until the onions have caramelized into a dark golden brown color, about 25 minutes.
  2. Add the filtered water and bring to a boil. Add the raw sugar and stir until it has dissolved and the onion date jam has cooked down and is thick and caramelized.

Cook’s Note

Store the Onion Date Jam in the refrigerator for up to 14 days. It tastes great on eggs, toast, Brie and steak.