A spicy steak stew that will keep you warm and safe on a cold winter’s night.
By Nancy Lopez-McHugh
This is one of our most favorite meals. My husband could eat it several times a week and never complain. The meal is quite a humble one. There aren’t any fancy or expensive ingredients. But you don’t need either because this dinner is crazy good. Basically all it is steak cut up into bite size pieces cooked in a spice red chile sauce, served with refried or mashed beans and corn tortillas. This recipe is quite easy prepare. But I should warn you that it is very spicy, though you could of course cut down the amount of chiles. 
Mexico On My Plate: Steak in Spicy Red Salsa
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 2-3 1x
Description
A spicy steak stew that will keep you warm on a cold winter’s night.
Ingredients
- 500 gm or 1 lb steak or tender beef cut of choice, cut into bite size pieces
- 4 dried chiles de arbol or Arbol Chiles
- 2 fresh red chiles, stems removed
- 4 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 medium tomatoes, stem removed
- 1 small white onion, peeled and halved
- 1–2 tbs olive or vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp cumin seed
- 1 tsp dried oregano, Mexican variety is best
- 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
- 1 tsp. salt, or adjust to taste
- 1 tbsp sweet pimenton or paprika, for extra color
Instructions
- Place the chiles, garlic, tomatoes and onion in a small pot of hot boiling water. Allow to simmer until the tomato begins to peel, and onion and chiles begin to soften- about 10-15 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool.
- Heat some oil in a frying pan, once warm add the steak and cook under low heat. In the meantime place the boiled ingredients and all remaining spices into a blender.(For a milder sauce remove the seed from chiles) Blend into a thick sauce. By now the steak has cooked through, turn heat to medium high and gently pour sauce into the pan. Stir to well combine. Allow to simmer for another 15 minutes.
Serve
- Serve with refried beans and either corn or flour tortillas, as well as any other accompaniments desired.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 15 mins
The result is a thick stew like meal that will fill up your body and keep you warm on a cold winter’s night. Buen provecho or enjoy!
I made this last night and it was a HUGE hit. I was able to double the recipe and it was flavorful. My friends and I are chile-heads so I tripled the chile de arbol peppers. I added parboiled potatoes during the last 15 minutes, because one of my favorite Mexican restaurants (that closed) did that to their recipe. I’m looking forward to having the leftovers for lunch. Thanks for a great recipe.