traditional mexican cooking, one recipe at a time. served with a pizca of culture and travel.

Wordless Wednesday: ¡Ay, Mamey!

I was doing my weekly shopping trip when I spotted a sign for mamey from the next aisle over. I practically ran to grab one since they’re one of my all-time favorite fruits. But when I arrived, I realized… these mamey were gargantuan. They were the biggest ones I’ve ever seen… and I’ve seen a lot of mamey! Is it me, or are these freakishly large? The kiwi practically look like chiclets next to them.

If you’re not familiar with mamey, they’re a lot like a sweet avocado–a bit thicker, rougher skin, but a similar consistency on the inside. The sweet flesh is pink instead of green. Such a treat. Next time, I’ll be sure to take a photo of the inside to show you. I’m not sure how it’s possible that I haven’t written about mamey here before, but I can’t wait to go buy some more to make batidos de mamey.

• What do you think? Are these mamey the biggest ones you’ve ever seen?

Tamales de puerco para Día de la Candelaria

It’s Día de la Candelaria and I have to confess: I’ve been so busy with non-bloggy things (you know…normal life, work, family obligations, Mr. H’s birthday, etc.) that I just haven’t had a chance to make my own tamales yet, let alone photograph and write up my recipe to share. But I promise I will soon.

In the meantime, I wanted to share with you a very special recipe from my friend Leslie that really touched me when I read it this morning. I immediately asked her if I could share it with all of you. Gracias, Leslie, for sharing this story and your abuela’s recipe, and for letting me borrow this photo to show everyone your beautiful tamales de puerco.

 

Head over to La Cocina de Leslie for her abuela’s recipe for tamales rojos con puerco; she’s provided an awesome step by step guide with photos to help you through the recipe—especially great if you’re making tamales for the first time ever. Bet you can’t guess her abuela’s secret ingredient!

• What are your favorite kind of tamales?

Wordless Wednesday: The last enchilada

I made enchiladas verdes for dinner earlier this week. To make them a little healthier, I changed up the recipe a bit and didn’t lightly fry the tortillas as usual; instead I just heated the tortillas on the comal to make them pliable enough to roll up with chicken inside. And I used just a little less cheese for melting on top. They were still so good! These were the last two that ended up as lunch the next day.

• What do you do to cut calories, but not taste, from your family’s favorite dishes when you’re trying to eat healthier?

Wordless Wednesday: Chia seeds in bulk

A few weeks ago, I was running errands with my Dad and we stopped at Costco. I could not believe my eyes when I saw a two-pound bag of chia seeds! Not sure how I feel about buying them in bulk.

• Are chia seeds that de moda right now?

Atole de fresa

Long, cold winter nights mean one thing in my house: we’re making hot drinks to warm us up! One of my favorite cold-weather drinks is atole, especially because it’s customary to drink with breakfast or after dinner. The two most common flavors are vanilla and strawberry—atole de vainilla y atole de fresa. If you make it with chocolate, it’s called champurrado.

It’s a masa-based drink where the dissolved masa acts as a thickening agent to make this hot drink the kind of hearty treat that will really stick to your ribs. I’ve talked before about the availability of atole that comes in powdered packets, but next to my champurrado recipe (which uses prepared store-bought masa from my local tortillería), this version using Maseca instant corn masa flour is even easier to make and a sure step above the flavor from a packet. It’s a homemade taste without all the work of grinding your own nixtamal or having to dissolve masa using cheesecloth. It’s what you might call a semi-homemade version, if you will.

This drink dates back to pre-Columbian times in Mexico and is well documented as a form of sustenance amongst the Aztec and Mayan cultures. Historical texts tell us it was often flavored with fruits, spices or chiles.

Sometimes atole is also made with different colors of corn (I’ve personally tasted atole made with white, yellow and blue corn bases) and milk or water as the liquid. I don’t like my atole to be too thin so I have a habit of making it very thick at the beginning and then thinning it out with milk or water as needed. If you prefer yours to be thinner, you can use all water instead of milk, and reduce the portion of Maseca instant corn flour to your liking.

If you want more berry flavor, you can add another whole cup of strawberries and use more water than milk so it doesn’t thicken too much or dilute the berry flavor.

This recipe produces the best strawberry flavor when you use berries that are very ripe. A trick to my recipe is that I macerate the strawberries before I put them in the blender (which just means I slice them up and, place them in a bowl and sprinkle sugar over them to allow the natural juices to come out).

If you won’t consume the atole immediately after cooking, store in an airtight container with plastic wrap pressed to the top of the liquid so a skin doesn’t form over the top. If a skin does form, you can gently remove it with a spoon, but then you’re not getting to enjoy your whole batch. A final note: make sure the Maseca you’re using is specifically for tortillas and not tamales or you’ll get a different consistency.

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