cook: shrimp pipián

I'd made Pati Jinich's recipe, Shrimp in Red Pipián (Camarones en pipián rojo) before, but couldn't find the recipe online. I had to go back to the public library to find her Mexican Table: The Secret's of Real Mexican Home Cooking.                  

The recipe called for toasting 6 guajillo chilies and 2 ancho chilies (I used 2 New Mexican chilies as a substitute) on a comal (I used cast iron) and then covering them in water to simmer for 10 minutes. Next I toasted 1/2 cup pepitas or pumpkin seeds for 3 to 4 minutes so that popping noises happen. And then I toasted in the same pan, 3 tablespoons of sesame seeds for 2 minutes.          

 

Into the blender went the chilies with a cup of its simmering liquid and the toasted nuts.

 

In the meantime, I was also broiling in the same cast iron, a thick slice of onion, 3 cloves of garlic and a pound of tomatoes for 10 minutes, turning over halfway.

 

The vegetables needed to cool after broiling, and so in the meantime, I added a 1/2 cup of peanuts to the blender.

I also added 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar...

 

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper...

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves, and I mistakenly added a tablespoon of vegetable oil to the blender too (it was supposed to be used to fry the pipián sauce).

I thought that's okay and blended the ingredients into a thick puree. Then I browned the pipián in a bit of the vegetable oil.

I decanted the pipián sauce into a large mason jar and fried about 1 and 1/2 cups of the sauce in a bit of oil before adding chicken broth (I didn't have shrimp stock as the shrimp I'd bought were already shelled).

After boiling down the sauce, I added shrimp and let them simmer for 2 minutes before turning off the sauce and let them finish cooking for 5 more minutes.

I had a package of cilantro lime rice from Uncle Ben's (never again, I will cook from scratch next time) that I microwaved and had simmered a couple cans of black beans with mashed garlic, garlic powder, onion powder, and chicken stock to accompany the shrimp pipián, but the meal looked rather colorless on my plate.

Back into the kitchen to chop cilantro and slice lime and avocado.

Much better and delicious.