Lentil Chiles Rellenos with Creamy Walnut Sauce – vegetarian Chiles en Nogadas

Lentil chiles rellenos with creamy walnut sauce are a delicious meatless play on the famous Mexican dish, chiles en nogada. Oh the colors, flavors, and textures! These have the traditional almond crunch, dried fruit sweetness, and warm spices, not to mention the creamy white sauce and crimson pomegranate garnish. 

But the filling in these chiles begins with rustic lentils and golden meaty mushrooms. When you bite in, pretend you’re in the heart of Mexico.

In Mexico, seeing chiles en nogada on a restaurant menu, I always wish for vegetarian version. Probably sacrilege. One time I asked if the chef to make me chiles en nogada without the meat. He obliged, but I was totally dissapointed. They came served cold, which I learned is traditional.  Now I can’t even remember what they were stuffed with.

Here’s what I think–and so will you!– is a fantastic meatless rendition, mild green chiles filled with flavorful lentils, served hot, with warm creamy goat cheese walnut sauce.

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The meatless filling is sautéed onions, garlic, and mushrooms with cooked lentils, plus chopped almonds and dates. An unexpected addition, 5-spice powder, perfectly complements and bumps up the flavors in both the sauce and filling.

The goat cheese walnut sauce is easy to whip up. Simply blanch the walnuts and let them soak to soften, then blend with milk, goat cheese, honey, 5-spice, and cinnamon.

Typically, chiles en nogada are made with poblano chiles. Here, for ease and quicker assembly, I use canned mild green chiles. For closer to the traditional chiles en nogada, follow the chile roasting and peeling instructions in my recipe for Poblano Chiles Stuffed with Potatoes and Cheese. This recipe for Chickpea Chiles Rellenos also shows how to prepare poblano chiles for stuffing.

Create a fiesta starring the colors of the Mexican flag with these lentil chiles rellenos with creamy walnut sauce, chiles en nogada. Serve with Mexican rice and a simple salad with cumin lime dressing. Tequila anyone? How about some bright pink hibiscus margaritas?

Lentil Chiles Rellenos with Creamy Walnut Sauce recipe notes:

• You may already know that relleno (ray-yay-no) means filled. If the menu offers chiles rellenos, it’s a given that the chiles are stuffed with something. It could be cheese or spicy meat, or sautéed vegetables, potatoes, or beans–whatever you put inside, they’re chiles rellenos.
• Sturdy green canned chiles that don’t tear when stuffed are Ortega original fire roasted chiles, which I found at Smith’s, our local Kroger store.
• Make ahead: Stuff the chiles and freeze them, then thaw and bake when you want. The walnut sauce also freezes well and easily comes back together under gentle heat. You can bang the pomegranate seeds out ahead of time too.
• Check out this video showing the easy way to remove the seeds from a pomegranate.

#Eat Seasonal:

Virtually, Becky of The Vintage Mixer blog  gathers a group of recipe-writing bloggers every month to come up with recipes featuring a fruit or veggie from her seasonal produce guide. Lentil Chiles Rellenos with Creamy Walnut Sauce showcase chiles from October’s list.

Be sure to check out The Vintage Mixer’s first post this month, a roundup of seasonal produce recipe ideas. And, for more ideas, follow the blog links below to see what everybody else made this month. We hope our recipes encourage you to get in the kitchen and cook something seasonal!

Turkey Pumpkin Pot Pie by Kitchen Confidante

Roasted Chicken with Figs and Butternut Squash by Vintage Mixer

Chorizo, Black Bean, and Kabocha Squash Chili by Flavor the Moments

Roasted Root Vegetable Soup by Joy Food Sunshine

Spiced Zucchini Pear Cake with Brown Butter Glaze by Completely Delicious

Orange Spiced Salmon with Spaghetti Squash by Foodie Crush

Pork Chops with Roasted Pears, Sage and Shallots By Simple Bites

Marinated Zucchini with Red Peppers and Garlic by Project Domestication

Roasted Red Cabbage Wedges with Za’atar by Floating Kitchen

Make it a fabulous week–get in the kitchen and cook something delicious!

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5 from 2 votes

Lentil Chiles Rellenos with Creamy Walnut Sauce

Amazing flavors and textures shine in this meatless play on the famous Mexican chiles en nogada. The chiles, filling, and walnut goat cheese sauce can all be made ahead of time. Makes 12 to 15 chiles rellenos. Figure 2 rellenos person. If your chiles are larger (like poblanos), consider serving only one person.

Prep Time25 minutes mins

Cook Time50 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Mexican, Vegetarian

Keyword: chiles en nogada, chiles rellenos, lentil recipes

Servings: 10 chiles rellenos.

Author: Letty | @lettyskitchen

Ingredients

For the walnut sauce:

• 1 ¼ cups walnuts
• 1 ¼ cups whole milk
• 8 ounces goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon 5-spice powder
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon

For the lentil filling:

• 1 cup brown lentils (see note)
• 3 cups water
• ½ teaspoon sea salt
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• ¾ cup chopped onion (one medium)
• 8 ounces mushrooms , diced in 1/2-inch pieces
• 3 cloves garlic , minced
• 2 tablespoons apple juice
• ⅓ cup chopped dates
• ⅓ cup chopped whole almonds
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• ½ teaspoon dried oregano
• ¾ teaspoon 5-spice powder
• Freshly ground pepper
• 10 to 12 Mild whole green chiles (see note)
• Pomegranate seeds
• Parsley or cilantro leaves , for garnish, optional

Instructions

Make the walnut sauce:

• Place walnuts in a saucepan with cold water to cover. Bring to a boil and cook 5 minutes, to soften the nuts. Drain. Bring the milk to just below a boil. Turn off the heat and add the softened walnuts. Let sit 10 minutes.
• In a blender, blend the milk and walnuts with the goat cheese, honey, salt, 5-spice powder, and cinnamon until very smooth, about 2 minutes. Taste, adding salt if you think it’s needed. Transfer to a saucepan and heat through, but do not boil. Keep warm. This sauce thickens as it stands—you may need to thin with more milk.

For the chile filling:

• Rinse the lentils, checking them over for little rocks masquerading as lentils. Put them in a pot with the water and salt. Over low flame, simmer until tender, 20 to 30 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a bowl.
• Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high flame. Add the onions, mushrooms, and garlic, and cook until the onions are soft and take on a little color. Remove from heat and deglaze the pan with apple juice. Mix into the cooked lentils, along with the dates, almonds, salt, oregano, 5-spice powder, and about 20 turns from the pepper grinder.

Assemble and bake:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Rinse the chiles and pat dry. Fill each chile with lentil mixture. (You may have some filling leftover.) Place the chiles in a casserole dish.
• Cover and bake 20 minutes, until heated through.
• Serve hot, with warm walnut sauce, and sprinkled with pomegranate seeds.

Notes

• Green or black lentils can be substituted for the brown lentils.
• The sturdiest canned green chiles, ones that don’t tear easily when stuffed, are Ortega original fire roasted chiles, which I found at Smith’s, our local Kroger store.
• One (4-ounce) can whole green chiles yields 3 or 4 chiles. One larger (7-ounce) can yields about 6 chiles.

Nutrition

Serving: 2g

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