Jalapeños en escabeche (Pickled Jalapeños)

One of my favorite memories of living in Mexico is when we would go out for lunch on Sundays. Sometimes we would go to "El Farolito," a great place for all sorts of tacos. One of the delicious condiments I would always look forward to was their pickled chiles. They were so spicy, I could only eat the carrots or garlic, but I loved putting some of the juice on my tacos.

Here is a recipe that is even more delicious, and you can even control the heat. The recipe has been modified from the one found in Diana Kennedy's "The Art of Mexican Cuisine".

Warning: always wear food gloves when handling chiles.

Ingredients

1 lb fresh jalapeños

1 lb carrots, trimmed and peeled

10 cloves of garlic, peeled

5 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

1 lb pearl onions or 1 large onion cut in 8 pieces

3 tbsp sea salt

1/3 cup of water

12 peppercorns

1/2 tsp cumin seeds (see notes)

6 whole cloves

10 + 6 bay leaves

1/8 + 1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/2 + 1 tsp dried oregano, Mexican if possible

3 cups pineapple or rice vinegar

1 cup white vinegar

1/2 tsp sugar

1/2 cup safflower or canola oil

Peel and slice carrots into 1/4" slices. Put the carrot slices in a bowl, cover them with the salt, and let them macerate for 1/2 an hour. Drain the slices and set aside, reserving the liquid.

In a blender jar put in the water, chopped garlic, peppercorns, cumin seeds, cloves, 10 bay leaves, 1/8 tsp thyme and 1/2 tsp of oregano, blending as thoroughly as possible.

Remove the stems from the chiles and cut them into 4 lengthwise. Remove the seeds, and if you want them less spicy, also remove the veins. (See notes.) Remember to use food gloves.

In a large, deep pan, heat the oil. Add water with spices and the onions until the onions are translucent, making sure all surfaces get heated, and the water has evaporated. Add the sliced carrots (see notes) and chiles and fry over high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring and turning the vegetables over. Add the juice from the carrots, the vinegars and the remaining garlic cloves (see note), bay leaves, oregano, thyme and the sugar, bringing it to a boil for about 5 minutes.

Transfer the contents to sterilized mason jars (4 x 500ml, for example) and set aside for a day or to for the flavors to blend. Once you open a jar, keep it in the refrigerator.

Notes

I don't think I can stress enough the use of food gloves for handling the chiles. While we didn't have to do this in Mexico, in Canada it has become mandatory. I don't know why. Handling the chiles without gloves can get your hands feel like they are on fire, and the good people at Emergency cannot do much other than tell you to dip your hands in iced water, which really helps. The heat can last for many hours. If your hands feel a bit warm from handling the chiles, it is already too late, because they will get hotter as time goes by. Wearing gloves prevents all this from happening.

Removing all the veins with the seeds makes the jalapeños extra-mild; that is, no heat at all. I prefer to keep the veins. (There is a Mexican saying that I think applies here, "If it's not spicy, it has no taste. [Si no pica, no sabe]]") However, that is how my mother likes them, so that is usually how I make them. One thing you can do, although it is a bit more work, is to remove the veins from the jalapeños but keep some of them and add them to the chiles as they are cooking. You can choose the amount of veins you add back, so you can control the heat.

I don't really like the flavor of cumin, so I have reduced the amount of 1 teaspoon from the original recipe.I find this amount blends perfectly with the spices without standing out. However, if you like the taste of cumin, do use the whole teaspoon.

Adding the garlic cloves with the vinegars leave the cloves tender and not soft. This is how I like them. If you prefer them fully cooked, add them to the pan with the chiles and carrots. Likewise for the carrots, if you prefer them soft, then add them to the pan and cook them for 5 minutes before adding the jalapeños.

Of course, if you are going to open a jar right away, you don't need to sterilize it. Just keep it in the refrigerator.