Canned/Tinned Tomato/Chilies Replacement?

fairestthings

Okay, I'm a foodie. I love to cook and prep. I love making my own stuff and I'm pretty obsessive about BPA, GMO's and all that "yuppy organic" crap. Let's just get that out there.

I am making chili this week for our main meal. I'm trying to "health it up" and I usually used Rotel's canned/tinned diced tomatoes with chilies. I want to replace this with a similar if not almost identical flavor but not found in a can/tin. I'm not looking for someone to try to convince me that canned tomatoes are fine, BPA is in trace amounts of receipts and I'm eating poison in other things - blah blah. I've heard it. This is just what I want to do so anyone who is a cook hobbyist or purist like myself, please step forward

I have little to no experience with chilies since my culinary hobby currently focuses on Mediterranean cooking.

TIA!

lyttlewon

Do you use roasted chiles? Put them in your oven underneath the broiler until the skins blacken and blister, turning occasionally. It takes about 15 minutes Place in a sealed paper bag until cool enough to handle and then peel the skins off. From there you can chop. I would do poblanos and a couple of jalapenos. For tomatoes just dice them up and simmer them with everything else.

fairestthings

That sounds fabulous, lyttlewon! I have never ever done that before, so I will want to try that this week for sure. I actually have no experience with any chilies, which is why I just went and asked for help Handling anything remotely that spicy makes me nervous!

lyttlewon

Poblanos are not spicy so if you don't want spice leave out the jalapeno. Also if you seed chiles it will reduce the heat. I like to wear gloves if I am handling chiles, because I have accidentally rubbed my eyes more than once. The oils are stubborn and don't wash of very easily. I don't roast my chiles I just chop them and add them straight in.

fairestthings

Thank you for the tips. My recipe is spicy enough for my 3-year-old to tolerate and still give my husband and I the flavor we want. I do try to stay away from anything too spicy. I did just have a look at a Cook's Thesaurus online and found the poblanos and chili verde to be more on the lines of the spice-factor we are looking for.

I definitely want to roast them though. When can you ever, ever go wrong with roasting?! :flowerforyou:

Mrbadbern

Roasted chili peppers freeze very well; just portion according to your family's needs.

AZKristi

Chiles are super easy, just broil them in the oven to make the skin bubble then cover for about 10 minutes and let cool. WEARING GLOVES - peel the skin off the chiles and remove the seeds from inside with a spoon.

The hardest part of recreating Rotel tomatoes from whole ingredients is getting good tomatoes. That can be nearly impossible out of season. If you use them a lot, you could always buy a bunch of peppers and tomatoes in season and prepare a huge batch of tomatoes w/ green chiles and then use canning tools to seal them in jars.

Pablano chiles are pretty mild - they are large and very dark green

Green chiles and jalapenos are moderate heat - jalapenos are dark green and the size of a large finger, green chiles are lighter green and closer to the size of a poblano (but usually thinner)

Serranos, thai, and habenero peppers are HOT - they are all small peppers and are dark green, red, and orange respectively

bizorra

I've made my own crushed tomatoes before... the trick is to get the skin off. I've done it two ways..
The painful way - score, blanch, peel and seed (OMG this takes FOREVER and makes a huge mess)
The fun way - get a food mill (like, $30 MAX), halve the tomatoes and toss em in a pot, mush em up, then pass the mush through the mill. The good stuff goes through and the skin stays at the top! (I make apple sauce this way too, no peeling!)

I have also seen blogs where people roast the tomatoes in the oven, then mush em up.

I made crushed tomatoes for pasta sauce for canning, where the skins can turn bitter. I'm not sure if the skins would pose a problem for chilli.

I think it's great to try to do things like this from scratch! There's the whole green aspect, and I think it's good to know how things got done before we just went to the store to buy a can of whatever. Good for you!

Acg67

Okay, I'm a foodie. I love to cook and prep. I love making my own stuff and I'm pretty obsessive about BPA, GMO's and all that "yuppy organic" crap. Let's just get that out there.

I am making chili this week for our main meal. I'm trying to "health it up" and I usually used Rotel's canned/tinned diced tomatoes with chilies. I want to replace this with a similar if not almost identical flavor but not found in a can/tin. I'm not looking for someone to try to convince me that canned tomatoes are fine, BPA is in trace amounts of receipts and I'm eating poison in other things - blah blah. I've heard it. This is just what I want to do so anyone who is a cook hobbyist or purist like myself, please step forward

I have little to no experience with chilies since my culinary hobby currently focuses on Mediterranean cooking.

TIA!

Chile de arbols and pasilla chiles...

lyttlewon

I make Chile Verde a ton. The big thing is to simmer the pork for a long time so that the broth reduces and tenderizes the pork. Make sure you wash the tomatillos really good, they are sticky.

fairestthings

I make Chile Verde a ton. The big thing is to simmer the pork for a long time so that the broth reduces and tenderizes the pork. Make sure you wash the tomatillos really good, they are sticky.

Oh sorry. I must've said something I didn't mean to. What I read was that Anaheim peppers are also called chili verde peppers. I didn't mean the recipe

fairestthings

I've made my own crushed tomatoes before... the trick is to get the skin off. I've done it two ways..
The painful way - score, blanch, peel and seed (OMG this takes FOREVER and makes a huge mess)
The fun way - get a food mill (like, $30 MAX), halve the tomatoes and toss em in a pot, mush em up, then pass the mush through the mill. The good stuff goes through and the skin stays at the top! (I make apple sauce this way too, no peeling!)

I have also seen blogs where people roast the tomatoes in the oven, then mush em up.

I made crushed tomatoes for pasta sauce for canning, where the skins can turn bitter. I'm not sure if the skins would pose a problem for chilli.

I think it's great to try to do things like this from scratch! There's the whole green aspect, and I think it's good to know how things got done before we just went to the store to buy a can of whatever. Good for you!

Sounds like I need a food mill for this and all my cooking! I use a lot of apples, make our own apple sauce, apple butter and whatnot and would seriously die of happiness if i didn't have to peel, cut and core them all alone LOL. It's a huge pain and mess.

Thank you for your tips!