This is my personal recipe adapted for Instant Pot but can be done in a heavy pot also. This is classic Mexican Cooking.
Ingredients List
4 1/2 lbs / 2 kg. of Pork Butt with the fat cap removed, cut into 1.5-2â cubes
The Vegetables
1 lb. / 450g Tomatillos
1/2 a White or Yellow Onion (about 135g.) cut in 1/2â / 1 cm. thick slices
1 oz. / 30g. Garlic cloves with a layer of skin still attached
12 oz. / 300g. Poblano Chilies
(substitute Anaheim, or Hatch if you canât get Poblanos)
4 JalapeĂąos
Grilling / Fire Roasting the Vegetables
First the chilies. I use a sauce pan with a lid to let the chilies steam in their own heat after charring.
Next the cast iron skillet for the rest
Garlic and Onions, the garlic gets done faster and you donât want it to burn.
Last do your Tomatillos. You donât need them turning to mush, just charred and cooked partway.
After charring itâs time for some knife work. The chilies should be rubbed with your thumb to get the burnt skin and ash off. Donât rinse them. They donât need to be perfect, a bit of the black stuff adds flavor. Halve and remove the stem and seed cap from the Poblano Chilies, cut the stem off the top of the JalapeĂąos. Peel the Garlic cloves. If you have a food processor purĂŠe the Tomatillos, if not squeeze them in your fist to crush them up.
Roughly chop the roasted garlic and onion, dice the Poblanos and slice the JalapeĂąos into rings leaving the seeds and core. Dump it all in your cooking pot.
Finally add some lard to the skillet after itâs cooled down some! Cuidado!! Brown the Pork cubes in batches, donât crowd them. I did it in 3 batches.
As they finish add to the pot.
Spices
1 Tablespoon of Salt
1 Tablespoon of Mexican Oregano
1 Tablespoon of whole Cumin Seeds
6-7 whole Cloves or a 1/4 teaspoon of ground Cloves
About 10 twists of Ground Black Pepper
One bunch of Cilantro, cut all the stems into 1/8â / 5mm lengths while bunched going right up to and including some leaf. Reserve the leaf for adding fresh on top of your bowl.
Pan roast the Cumin Seeds until toasted and fragrant. If youâre using whole Cloves do the same and pound them in a mortar. Add all the spices to the pot.
If youâre using an Instant Pot set it for stew for 40 minutes. If youâre cooking stove top youâll need to add some stock or water to cover. It will need about 2 hours cooking time. During the last hour itâs crucial to keep a close eye and stir it regularly at shorter and shorter intervals because like Marinara it can easiyscorch and ruin the batch. If you accidentally scorch it immediately pour it in another pot leaving the scorched stuff out. Taste it and see if you ruined it. If not continue cooking on the lowest simmering heat to finish. You might need to add some liquid while itâs cooking if itâs reducing too quickly. You want it reducing and thickening the last 20-30 minutes. After I cooked in the Instant Pot I poured off the liquid into a sauce pan and reduced it to half. I had added 1 cup of chicken stock and since all the liquid and meat juices are retained in pressure cooking there was more liquid than I had planned. When it was about half the volume I added 1 teaspoon of Xanthan Gum that was mixed with 1 Tablespoon of olive oil for the time that it was cooking down. Usually you would coat the meat with flour like you do making western style stew. This creates some roux and Chili Verde usually thickens as it cooks down. Pour your KETO thickener into the boiling sauce and whisk it in. It will thicken up in a couple of minutes, mix it back in with the pot. Itâs finished, taste and add more salt if you need it.
Serve it topped if you like with some chopped Cilantro, Sour Cream and if you can get it Cotija Cheese.
This batch made nine cups. Two stuffed me!
I hope some of you enjoy this, beats the pants off American style Chili Con Carne.
Note If you canât do the roasting like I did you can use a broiler and a sheet pan covered in foil. Youâll have to research that on your own. Fire roasting can also be done on a gas stove directly on the burner grates. You best have a good ventilation system and go ahead and get that pesky fire alarm disabled first! I have done this many times either late a night or during rainy weather. I roast Red and Yellow Bell Peppers this way too.