Mexican food is a style of food that originated in Mexico.
Mexican cuisine is known for its intense and varied flavors, colorful decoration, and variety of spices. Mexican gastronomy is one of the richest in the world: both with respect to diverse and appealing tastes and textures; and in terms of proteins, vitamins, and minerals.
When Spanish conquistadores arrived in the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan (the ancient city on which Mexico City was built), they found that the people's diet consisted largely of corn-based dishes with chilis and herbs, usually complemented with beans and squash. The conquistadores eventually combined their imported diet of rice, beef, pork, chicken, wine, garlic and onions with the indigenous foods of pre-Columbian Mexico, including chocolate, maize, tomato, vanilla, avocado, papaya, pineapple, chile pepper, beans, squash, sweet potato, peanut and turkey. The totopo (a salted corn tortilla cooked in a fire oven) may have been created as part of this cuisine.
Most of today's Mexican food is based on pre-hispanic traditions, including the Aztecs and Maya, combined with culinary trends introduced by Spanish colonists. Quesadillas, for example, are a flour or corn tortilla with cheese (often a Mexican-style soft farmer's cheese such as Queso Fresco), beef, chicken, pork, and so on. The indigenous part of this and many other traditional foods is the chile pepper. Foods like these tend to be very colorful because of the rich variety of vegetables (among them are the chili peppers, green peppers, chilies, broccoli, cauliflower, and radishes) and meats in Mexican food. There is also a sprinkling of Caribbean influence in Mexican cuisine, particularly in some regional dishes from the states of Veracruz and Yucatán. The French occupation of Mexico also yielded some influences as well: the bolillo (pronounced bo-lee-yo, with the "o" as in "bore"), a Mexican take on the French roll, certainly seems to reflect this.
.:Pico de Gallo
Pico de Gallo has two meanings in Mexican cuisine. The most familiar to North Americans is a fresh, tomato-based condiment. It is what North Americans usually mean when talking about "salsa" or "tomato salsa." This salsa is never cooked.
The second meaning, more common in some regions of Mexico, is a spice mixture including salt and dried chiles which is served, often with lime juice, over fresh fruit. If you are unfamiliar with the regional origin of a recipe involving pico de gallo, context may be the only way to determine which meaning is intended, though for US-Mex dishes the "uncooked salsa" meaning will almost always be correct.
Ingredients
· 2 cups chopped fresh tomato
· ½ cup chopped white or yellow onion
· 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
· ½ teaspoon salt
· 2 teaspoons freshly squeezed lime juice
· 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
· 1 ½ tablespoons stemmed, seeded, and minced jalapeño or other chiles
· 1 small clove of garlic
· hot sauce, to taste
Directions
1. Cut each ingredient, making sure each piece is diced.
2. Combine all the vegetable ingredients, mixing well.
3. Then mix in salt.
4. Add hot sauce if desired.
Huevos Rancheros (Spanish for "eggs ranch-style") is a traditional Mexican country breakfast. From its home in Mexico, the dish has spread throughout the Americas.
Ingredients
· 3 tablespoons (around 15ml) vegetable oil
· 1 medium onion, chopped
· chopped chili peppers, to taste
· 1 pinch chilli powder
· 4 plum tomatoes, chopped
· 2 corn tortillas
· 2 eggs
Procedure
1. To prepare the ranchero sauce, in a skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion, peppers, and chili powder, and sauté until softened, about 3 minutes.
2. Add the tomatoes, and reduce to a simmer. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the sauce begins to thicken up.
3. In another skillet, lightly fry the tortillas in 1 tablespoon of oil. Remove and drain.
4. If necessary, add additional oil to the second skillet, and fry the eggs until they are "sunny-side up". Transfer the eggs to the tortillas, and cover with the ranchero sauce.
Serves 2
Mole (sauce)
Mole (MOH-leh, IPA: /ˈmo.le/) (Mexican Spanish, from Nahuatl mulli or molli, "sauce") is the generic name for several sauces used in Mexican cuisine, as well as for dishes based on these sauces. In addition, it is also a way of designating a dish most of the rest of the world would consider a soup. In English, it often refers to a specific sauce which is known in Spanish by the more specific name mole poblano. The word is also widely known in the combined form guacamole (avocado mole).
In contemporary Mexico, the term is used for a number of sauces, some quite dissimilar to each other. The most popular kinds come from the Mexican states of Puebla and Oaxaca, and there is an annual national mole fair in the town of San Pedro Atocpan in the Milpa Alta borough of Mexico's Federal District, on the southern outskirts of Mexico City.
Mole poblano, whose name comes from the Mexican state of Puebla, is a popular sauce in Mexican cuisine and is the mole that most people in the U.S. think of when they think of mole. Various stories exist about its invention, but none are generally accepted. One version holds that the recipe was refined by the nuns of the Order of Santa Clara to impress visiting political and church officials in Mexico in the 17th century. Another is that the nuns simply collected mole recipes from the local indigenous people and presented one of them.
Mole poblano is prepared with dried chile peppers (commonly ancho, pasilla, mulato and chipotle), ground nuts (almonds or indigenous peanuts), spices, Mexican chocolate (cacao ground with sugar and cinnamon), salt, and a variety of other ingredients including charred avocado leaves.
Enchiladas with mole sauce in Old Town San Diego
One of the more popular dishes which includes mole is mole poblano de guajolote, or turkey prepared with mole poblano (Mexican Spanish guajolote, from Nahuatl huexolotl). In Mexico today, mole de guajolote is widely regarded as the official national dish.
Mole can be bought ready-made from local markets or supermarkets. It comes as a kind of paste or powder that can vary in color from deep black to green or even yellow depending on the ingredients used. In modern supermarkets and corner shops mass-produced mole is sold either canned, in glass jars, or in cubes that can be dissolved in water or, more appropriately, broth.
In Guatemala, "mole" refers to a dessert composed of boiled chunks of plantain in a chocolate/spice sauce, sprinkled with sesame seeds.
| Guacamole is a spicy Mexican paste made from crushed avocado and various seasonings, usually including onions, peppers, garlic and tomatoes. Guacamole is used as a condiment, an ingredient, and as an appetizer when served with tortilla chips.
Recipe I
Ingredients
· 3 avocados
· 2 tablespoons pico de gallo
· juice of 1/2 lime
· 1 chopped Jalapeño OR 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper OR 1 tablespoon cayenne pepper
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 4 teaspoon olive oil
· 1 1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
· 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
· 1 minced jalapeño OR 2 minced serrano chiles OR 2 tablespoon minced any chile pepper like (adjust for spiciness)
Procedure
Pit the avocados. Score avocado without cutting through the skin. Scoop out one avocado with a large spoon and place in mixing bowl. Add the lime juice and stir to evenly coat the avocados. Stir in the Pico de Gallo, garlic, oil, jalapeño, salt, red pepper, and black pepper, mashing and tossing the avocado pieces until thoroughly mixed. Then scoop out the other avocados and gently mix and toss in the larger pieces. The guacamole is the right consistency when more large pieces than mashed parts remain. Garnish with a sprig of cilantro.
Recipe II
The ingredients and quantities of this recipe are tuned to the tastes of one contributor; you should experiment with it. (Especially note that it has got rather a lot of lime, and you might want to add peppers, chilis or Hot Sauce like Poppys Brand.)
Ingredients
· 2 very ripe avocados
· 1 clove garlic, crushed
· juice of 1 1/2 limes
· 1 small Red onion, diced very small
· 1 small tomato, diced very small
· 2 tbsp chopped cilantro (coriander leaves)
· salt to taste
Procedure
Put everything except the avocados into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Halve the avocados and scoop the flesh into the bowl. Using a large fork (or a blender), mash the avocados and combine with all the other ingredients. Taste the mixture and add anything you think necessary (be aware that the flavors, especially the lime, will soften a little by the time it is served). Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour to allow the flavors to blend. When it is removed from the refrigerator, there may be some brown on the top - scrape it off.
Recipe III
This alternative recipe is somewhat simpler, but gives an extremely tasty Guacamole which is great with tortilla chips or vegetables, or can be used in enchiladas, etc. It also avoids messing about with messy tomatoes, nor coriander, which some people do not like the taste of. I have tried many guacamole recipes over the years, this is both the simplest, and in my opinion, the tastiest I know.
Ingredients
· 3 whole avocados, ripe but not over-ripe
· 1 lime
· 3 cloves garlic
· 2 or 3 whole red chili peppers
· salt
Procedure
Prepare avocados by halving and removing the stone (the simplest way to do this is to hold the avocado in the palm of your hand and strike the stone squarely and firmly with a chef's knife - the knife will then pull the stone out easily. If it doesn't come out easily, the avocado isn't ripe enough). Keep one half avocado back, skin and blend the rest using a hand-held food processor, add the juice of the lime, finely chop chilies and garlic, add and blend a bit longer. Add generous salt to taste. Finally roughly chop avocado half kept back and add to paste to give chunky texture. Resulting dip will keep for several days in a fridge, shouldn't brown too much if covered (the lime juice will act as an antioxidant as well as giving a nice flavour), but in general will be found to disappear very rapidly by enthusiastic consumers!
Recipe IV (quick)
This recipe is great if you have the ripe avocadoes because you can make it in about five minutes.
Ingredients
· 3-4 ripe avocados
· juice of 1/2 lime
· mild storebought salsa
Procedure
1. Peel, seed, and mash the avocados.
2. Add the juice of 1/2 lime.
3. Stir in store bought (but fresh) mild or medium salsa to taste.
4. Serve immediately.
Variant
1. For fancier version, make your own Pico de Gallo and use instead of store-bought salsa
Recipe V (simple)
This is a rather simple recipe, needing only avocado, lime, dried chili and salt.
Ingredients
· 1 ripe avocado
· 1/2 a lime
· red pepper flakes - to taste
· salt - to taste
Note: fresh hot peppers also work well, instead of the red pepper flakes, if available - if used, slice them finely.
Procedure
Peel the avocado and pit it, then slice the avocado into small chunks, around a centimeter or half-inch per side. Juice half the lime. Add the lime, some salt, and a moderate amount of red pepper to the avocado chunks. Err on the side of adding too little spice; it's easy to add more, but too much makes the guacamole really scorch. Mash the ingredients together.
Recipe VI (simplest)
This recipe is the simplest of the group. It is very simple and more attuned to use as an aditive. This recipe is a more traditional Mexican guacamole and does not include many of the features comonly associated with the dish be Americans used to the Tex-Mex Version.
Ingredients
· 2 ripe avocados
· juice of 1/2 lime
· 2 tablespoons (app.) chopped cilantro
· salt to taste
Procedure
Pit avocado by, carefully, lodging base end of chef's knife in pit, twisting to remove, and then pinching the pit off of the knife. Remove flesh with large spoon, being careful to maintain the integrity of the flesh. Dice in large chunks and transfer to mixing bowl. Mash to desired consistency. Add lime, stire to combine. Add other ingredients, stir to combine.
Recipe VII
Similar to the first and second recipes, this varient acts very well on its own as a side dish or appetizer, also very good in fajitas. This recipe can easily be multiplied beyond the two avovado serving.
Ingredients
· 2 ripe avacado
· juice of 1 lime, thouroughly juiced
· 2-3 tablespoons chopped cilantro
· 1/4 cup (app.) of cherry, grape, or pear tomatoes halved or quartered, with 1/8 cup (app.) seeded
· juice of 1 lime, thouroughly juiced
· 4 tablespoons (app.) chopped cilantro
· 1/2 red onion, diced
· 2 jalepeño peppers, 1 seeded and 1 not, diced finely
· Kosher salt and extra virgin olive oil to taste
Procedure
Pit avocado by, carefully, lodging base end of chef's knife in pit, twisting to remove, and then pinching the pit off of the knife. Remove flesh with large spoon, being careful to maintain the integrity of the flesh. Dice in large chunks and transfer to mixing bowl. Mash to desired consistency. Add lime, stire to combine. Add other ingredients, stir to combine.
Recommended Uses
Works well on beans, in tacos and other Mexican food, or even as a topping for bread. It also can add flavor and moisture to overly dry food. However, perhaps the best use is as a dip for totilla chips.
Variant
Avocado salad can be made by not mashing the avocado chunks. Optionally, add a grated carrot. This makes a good side dish or small meal.
Tip: An old Mexican trick to avoid or reduce the brown oxidized layer on the top is to put the whole avocado pit back into the guacamole once it's prepared. Never cut the pit in pieces; that will make the guacamole bitter. This trick doesn't really work though. The only way to prevent the oxidation is to eliminate the exposure to air. Covering the surface with plastic wrap so no air is in contact with the sauce works well. Be sure to include some lime in your recipe, this will prevent such oxidation.
Tip 2:
One of the most vexing problems with guacamole is that it spoils so rapidly. Traditional strategies, such as the use of a well-placed avocado pit or the use of prodigious amounts the lime and/or lemon juice, are used to prevent premature browning of guacamole, a young chef from El Paso, Texas, has developed a much more effective approach to keep guacamole fresh for up to three times longer than traditional methods. Through trial and error, Alfred M. Gladstein, found that the use of a various vegetable oils blended in to the concoction would keep it fresh longer and significantly postpone the guacamole from browning and spoiling. In his studies Gladstein found that mixing olive oil in guacamole worked best when serving the dish independently or with warm foods, while vegetable oil (corn or canola) worked best when the guacamole is served with cold foods and salads. When these techniques are employed, Gladstein, who is also known as Chef Jamir, found that the refrigerated guacamole would stay fresh and green for three days or more. He also notes that when serving the guacamole at room temperature, the oil-treated dish will last up to six to eight hours before starting to brown. For these and other cooking tips and tricks contact Chefed Procedure
Pit avocado by, carefully, lodging base end of chef's knife in pit, twisting to remove, and then pinching the pit off of the knife. Remove flesh with large spoon, being careful to maintain the integrity of the flesh. Dice in large chunks and transfer to mixing bowl. Mash to desired consistency. Add lime, stire to combine. Add other ingredients, stir to combine. Recommended Uses
Works well on beans, in tacos and other Mexican food, or even as a topping for bread. It also can add flavor and moisture to overly dry food. However, perhaps the best use is as a dip for totilla chips.
Variant
Avocado salad can be made by not mashing the avocado chunks. Optionally, add a grated carrot. This makes a good side dish or small meal.
Tip: An old Mexican trick to avoid or reduce the brown oxidized layer on the top is to put the whole avocado pit back into the guacamole once it's prepared. Never cut the pit in pieces; that will make the guacamole bitter. This trick doesn't really work though. The only way to prevent the oxidation is to eliminate the exposure to air. Covering the surface with plastic wrap so no air is in contact with the sauce works well. Be sure to include some lime in your recipe, this will prevent such oxidation.
Tip 2:
One of the most vexing problems with guacamole is that it spoils so rapidly. Traditional strategies, such as the use of a well-placed avocado pit or the use of prodigious amounts the lime and/or lemon juice, are used to prevent premature browning of guacamole, a young chef from El Paso, Texas, has developed a much more effective approach to keep guacamole fresh for up to three times longer than traditional methods. Through trial and error, Alfred M. Gladstein, found that the use of a various vegetable oils blended in to the concoction would keep it fresh longer and significantly postpone the guacamole from browning and spoiling. In his studies Gladstein found that mixing olive oil in guacamole worked best when serving the dish independently or with warm foods, while vegetable oil (corn or canola) worked best when the guacamole is served with cold foods and salads. When these techniques are employed, Gladstein, who is also known as Chef Jamir, found that the refrigerated guacamole would stay fresh and green for three days or more. He also notes that when serving the guacamole at room temperature, the oil-treated dish will last up to six to eight hours before starting to brown. For these and other cooking tips and tricks contact Mr. Gladstein at
| .:Refried Beans
Oddly enough, refried beans (frijoles refritos) are only fried once. The prefix "re" is a Spanish prefix meaning "very" or "well", inappropriately tacked onto a non-Spanish word.
Ingredients
· beans, especially pinto beans or black beans
· home-rendered lard
Procedure
1. If using dried beans, wash them and examine them for any rocks, then cover with water in a medium pot and simmer until they are very soft. You'll need to cook the beans a long time on very low heat. You may add salt to the water. You may add onion halves or a ham bone, which you can remove at the end. You may wish to soak the beans overnight in the refrigerator before cooking them. Expect the cooking to take at least 3 hours, if not 6 or more.
2. If using canned beans, rinse them. Try to make sure they are not slimy or too salty.
3. Get a large wide pot or tall-sided frying pan.
4. Smash the beans, perhaps with a potato masher.
5. Add home-rendered lard, totalling up to 20% of the total. (25% of the amount prior to adding)
6. Fry the beans, stirring and turning them until they thicken as desired.
Pupusa
is a stuffed corn-tortilla, usually served with a spicy coleslaw called curtido. This recipe makes both.
Pupusas are hand-made and thick. Like all corn tortillas, they are made using corn masa. They are stuffed with one or more of the following:
· cheese (queso) (usually a soft Salvadoran cheese called Quesillo)
· fried pork rind (chicharrones)
· chicken (pollo)
· refried beans (frijoles refritos)
· queso y loroco (loroco is a shrub flower bud from Central America)
There is also the pupusa revueltas (with mixed ingredients of cheese, pork, and beans). Pupusas are from El Salvador, but immigrants have brought the dish to Southern California, where there are now many pupuserias (places where pupusas are sold). Pupusas are usually served with curtido and tomato sauce. They are eaten with the fingers.
Preparing the dough
There are different brands of corn masa to make the dough. MASECA, which can be found in most large supermarkets in the international section, is one of them but there are others. Follow the instructions on the bag for making tortilla dough, and make as much dough as needed. (One pupusa uses about as much dough as two tortillas.) Once the dough has been prepared set it aside while you prepare the filling.
Three Fillings
Cheese
· 3 cups of shredded cheese (use hard and cream cheese mixed together; you can mix frying cheese, mozzarella and ricotta)
· 3 or 4 tablespoons of heavy cream
· 1/2 to 1 cup of ground loroco (this will be hard to find in the U.S. So you can use very finely chopped green peppers or scallions instead)
· salt to taste
Make a paste with these ingredients. To avoid the paste leaking, it should not be too soft.
Chicharron (Pork Rind Filling)
· 1 cup cooked bacon (cooked with garlic, see below).
· 4 - 5 tomatoes
· 1 green pepper
· salt to taste.
Cook bacon with some garlic (optional). Set fat aside but do not discard. Once cooked, grind bacon with the tomatoes, 1 green pepper, and salt to taste. Mix with some of the bacon fat until it has a soft consistency
Revueltas
Ground and fried beans (they can be canned or prepared from your favorite recipe).
When filling the pupusas add beans, chicharrón and cheese (or combine two of the three).
Making the pupusas
With two tablespoons of dough make a ball using your hands and later clap your hands until you make a round, thin (1/8 of an inch thick) tortilla. Continue making more tortillas this way. Put filling over one tortilla, cover with another and push down the sides to close them. This is the "beginners" method.
People who have experience do it this way: make a ball with the dough. Insert your thumb in the ball and make a hole in the center. Fill that hole with the filling, close the hole by pushing the dough on the sides up. Clap your hands carefully so that the filling doesn't come out and flatten the ball.
Cook on a slightly greased griddle, pan or electric pancake griddler and cook over low-medium heat (325-350°F) first one side, then the other until they are cooked. Each side will be ready when it no longer sticks to the pan (depending on the thickness of the tortillas, this might take 4 minutes or more per side).
Pupusas are topped with pickled cabbage and tomato sauce.
Curtido (pickled colesaw)
· chopped cabbage that has been quickly passed through boiling water
· medium onion, sliced
· carrot, finely shredded
· cooked green beans, not too soft (optional)
· beets (optional)
· horseradish (optional).
· red pepper, finely chopped (optional)
· vinegar
· water
· 1 teaspoon oregano
· salt to taste
In a glass or plastic jar with wide opening mix all the ingredients. Add vinegar and water to taste. Mix with a wooden spoon (never metal). Put the mix in the refrigerator and let it rest for a week so that the ingredients pickle.
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