Chiles Stuffed with Beef

Last night I stumbled across a recipe book entitled, simply, "Mexican: a collection of over 100 essential recipes." There are a pretty wide range of simple Mexican recipes in here, but the recipe for stuffed poblano peppers really got me excited. So, on a whim, I was off to the store to cook dinner for two with this new recipe. Verdict? These lil guys are mucho chingon. Awesome.

Ingredients:
4 large fresh poblano chiles
all purpose flour, for dusting
vegetable oil, for frying

Spicy beef filling:
1 lb. ground beef
1 onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
4 tbsp. dry or sweet sherry
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cloves
pinch of ground cumin
salt and pepper
14 oz. canned chopped tomatoes
1-3 tsp. sugar
1 tbsp. vinegar
3 tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro
2-3 tbsp. coursely chopped toasted almonds
Tomato Sauce (I used spicy canned Mexican hot sauce)

Batter:
3 eggs, separated
6-8 tbsp. all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
1/2 c. water

Method:
1. Preheat boiler to medium. Roast the chiles under hot broiler until skin is charred. Place in a plastic bag, twist to seal well, and let stand for 20 mins. Make a slit in the side of each chile and remove the seeds, leaving the stalks intact. Set aside.
2. To make the filling, brown meat and onion together in a skillet over medium heat. Pour off any extra fat, then add the garlic and sherry and boil down until liquid has nearly evaporated.
3. Add cinnamon, cloves, cumin and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the tomatoes, sugar, and vinegar, and cook over medium heat until tomatoes have reduced to a thick, strongly flavored sauce.
4. Stir in the cilantro and almonds and heat through. Stuff as much of the filling into the chiles as will fit, then dust each with flour. Set aside.
5. To make the batter, in a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs yolks with the flour, salt, and enough of the water to make a thick mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Fold the eggs whites into the batter, then gently dip each stuffed chile into the batter.
6. Heat the oil in a deep skillet until very hot and just smoking. Add the chiles and fry until they are golden brown. Serve hot, topped with tomato sauce.