Why Serve Cream With Chiles?
There’s a good reason spicy Mexican food is often served with dairy. Milk proteins neutralize the spicy capsaicin molecules in hot chilies. So you get less of the bite of the chile and more of the actual flavor of it. Meaning you will be able to better taste the wonderful roasted poblano chiles if they are bathed in a creamy sauce.
How to Make Rajas Con Crema
In this case, the rajas sauce is made with Mexican “crema”, a sort of sour cream that’s a lot like crème fraîche, along with milk, and Monterey Jack cheese. First you roast the poblanos directly over flame to get them charred, for flavor and to make the easier to peel. Then you cut them into strips, and simmer them with sliced onions in the cream sauce. Serve them as a side to Mexican dishes, or rolled up in warmed tortillas. So good! Most of the recipes I’ve found online for this dish have the strips cut fairly thin, about 1/2 inch thick or so. But in Ixtapa, where I was first introduced to rajas, roasted poblanos in crema, the peppers were sliced thick, one or two inch wide strips. So that’s how I’ve reproduced them here. You can find Crema Mexicana at any Mexican market, or in California, any major grocery store. If you can’t find it where you are, you can substitute with creme fraiche, which is very similar. You can also use a broiler to blacken the chile peppers, but direct flame is the best way. Sometimes with a broiler the chiles end up cooking too much before they blacken. They should still be a little firm. This is easier to control when you cook them directly over flame. Serve with warmed corn or flour tortillas. How to Roast Chile Peppers over a Gas Flame Roasted chile poblano with crema soup - from Serious Eats Rajas con crema - from The Other Side of the Tortilla Rajas con crema in the LA Times
