The Other Side of the Tortilla

Mexican recipes, culture and travel destinations

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47 Dessert

Mangonada popsicles

If you love a traditional Mexican mangonada, then you’ll love this spin on the classic recipe: mangonada popsicles!

The mangonada is a quintessential Mexican treat made with mango, orange juice, chamoy and Tajín and it’s a popular snack or dessert with street vendors and neverías (ice cream shops) in Mexico. The sweetness of the mango and orange juice is contrasted by the sourness of the chamoy, and together they make a perfect marriage of what’s known as an “agridulce” (sweet and sour) flavor. Agridulce candies and treats, such as tamarindo con chile, are common and beloved all over the country.

Turn the classic Mexican street treat known as a mangonada into popsicles with mango, orange juice, lime, chamoy and Tajín! Recipe via theothersideofthetortilla.com

RELATED RECIPE: Mango cantaloupe popsicles with chile powder

I’ve used store-bought liquid chamoy in this recipe because it has a very fluid, runny consistency that perfectly drips down into the mold to give the popsicles the marbled look.

Liquid chamoy is available in most Mexican and Latin American markets in the U.S., usually found near the bottled salsas such as Valentina, Cholula and Tapatío. You can pour the chamoy around the rim of each mold to get it to drip down as directed in the recipe below, or you can put the chamoy in a small plastic chef’s squeeze bottle if you want more control.

The real variable in this recipe, though, is how much Tajín you sprinkle on top! The more Tajín you use, the more sour and salty flavor you’ll get. If you haven’t had a mangonada before, I’d recommend that you start with just a pinch of Tajín sprinkled on top in case the salty-sour experience isn’t really your thing.

RELATED RECIPE: Frozen orange slices with Tajín

If you prefer not to use store-bought chamoy, here’s my recipe for homemade chamoy, which is thicker than the store-bought variety and needs to be slightly more liquidy for it to drip down the popsicle molds properly. You can achieve a similar effect by using a spoon to smear the inside of the popsicle mold if you want to make your own chamoy from scratch with my recipe.

I’ve used a Norpro Ice Pop Maker popsicle mold to make these paletas, which makes 10 three-ounce popsicles and holds the sticks perfectly in place while in the freezer. (That’s an affiliate link to my Amazon store, El Mercadito.)

RELATED RECIPE: Street food-style mango cups

Turn the classic Mexican street treat known as a mangonada into popsicles with mango, orange juice, lime, chamoy and Tajín! Recipe via theothersideofthetortilla.com
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Mangonada popsicles

Prep

Inactive

Total

Yield 10 3-ounce pops

Make this fun spin on a traditional Mexican mangonada by adapting the recipe for your favorite popsicle mold!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups fresh-squeezed orange juice (about 4 large Valencia oranges)
  • juice of 1/2 a medium lime
  • 2 1/2 cups frozen mango chunks
  • 1/3 cup store-bought liquid chamoy
  • Tajín, to taste

Instructions

  1. Juice the oranges and lime.
  2. In a blender, add orange juice, lime juice and frozen mango chunks. Blend on high until completely smooth. Set aside.
  3. Measure out 1/3 cup chamoy. Pour a little chamoy (a few teaspoons) around the edges of each popsicle mold, allowing chamoy to drip down the sides and pool a little bit in the bottom of the mold.
  4. Pour the mango mixture down the center of each mold, being careful not to let it disturb the chamoy dripping down the inside of the mold.
  5. Put the top on the mold, add popsicle sticks and freeze for at least 8 hours.
  6. To remove from mold, gently run lukewarm water over the bottom of the mold (opposite the sticks) to loosen the popsicles.
  7. Sprinkle with Tajín to taste, or pour Tajín on a small plate and dip the tips of each popsicle in a little Tajín and serve.

Notes

Inactive time listed is for time needed to freeze the popsicles.

Courses Dessert

Cuisine Mexican

 

RELATED RECIPE: Mango and chamoy popsicles for a Zoku Quick Pop Maker

3 Most Popular

Frozen orange slices with Tajín

Transform plain orange slices with a little lime juice and Tajín! Serve immediately, or freeze them for a refreshing, frosty treat!

Healthy snack: Valencia oranges with lime juice and Tajín - A gluten-free, vegan-friendly recipe via theothersideofthetortilla.com

The best part of summer is the peak availability of so many fruits; it means you can make a variety of sweet treats with little or no added sugar, such as street food-style mango and orange cups with coconut chips, watermelon aloe juice, and all kinds of paletas. With what seems like a surplus of juicy oranges at my local supermarkets, I’ve been using them in many different ways all summer. Whether it’s juicing them, eating them plain, or sectioning them to make a fruity pico de gallo or ensalada xec (a Mayan citrus and jicama salad), there are lots of possibilities.

This healthy snack is one I like to make in advance, freeze and serve by the pool or in the backyard on hot summer days. It’s great to serve to kids as well because even if they eat two servings, they’re eating only one whole orange. Plus, it’s an easy snack for little hands to hold.

RELATED RECIPE: Mango cantaloupe paletas with chile powder

This recipe is gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan-friendly.

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72 Dessert

How to make mangonadas

A mangonada is a quintessential Mexican treat, made of mango, orange juice, chamoy and chile lime salt, and they’re sold just about everywhere from street vendors to neverías in Mexico.

This post is part of a compensated campaign with McCormick & Company but the recipe and opinions here are my own.

It’s very popular, especially in the warm weather months, as it resembles an American slushie. You can grab one to go on the street or enjoy it with friends in an ice cream parlor.

Mangonada #recipe with homemade chamoy from theothersideofthetortilla.com #mexican #flavorstory @mccormickspice

If you’ve been reading The Other Side of The Tortilla for awhile, you may remember I interviewed Chef Kevan Vetter about the 2013 McCormick Flavor Forecast and how global flavor trends were incorporating Mexican flavors and sensibilities on a worldwide scale. This year marks McCormick’s 125th anniversary of the company celebrating the role flavor plays in all of our lives, inspiring flavorful conversation and giving back to communities around the world.

I’m thrilled to see that this trend and interest in Mexican cuisine has been growing exponentially and is again incorporated in the most recent report. The McCormick Flavor Forecast 2014 report includes two flavor insights particularly suited to highlighting Mexican cuisine: A worldwide obsession with chilies and a growing taste for regional Mexican fare in North America. Of the Mexican flavors considered to be trending globally this year is chamoy, a sweet and spicy condiment made with apricot, lime, chiles and salt. Chamoy also happens to be a key ingredient in the mangonada.

Chamoy is a versatile condiment, as it can be used in both sweet and savory dishes; anything from a salsa for dipping fruit or making jicaletas (jicama popsicles) to marinating meats or using it as a meat glaze.

RELATED RECIPE: Mango and chamoy paletas

Although bottled chamoy can be found in most Mexican supermarket chains in the U.S. as well as for purchase online, I like to make my own so I know exactly what’s in it. Most of the commercially produced chamoy is loaded with sugar, preservatives and dyes. My version of chamoy uses apricot fruit spread (not jelly, jam or preserves) and natural ingredients so you can feel good about indulging in this treat. There are multiple brands that offer apricot fruit spread, which is more or less a jam or preserve made with little or no added sugar.

Ground ancho chile provides a subtle, earthy spice to this homemade chamoy without being overpowering. If you want to make your chamoy on the spicier side, you can add about 1/2 teaspoon more to the recipe below. And if you need to thin out the chamoy, you can add a little lime juice and store leftovers in the refrigerator. For a modern twist to the traditional mangonada, you can try substituting pineapple juice for orange juice.

 

Mangonada #recipe with homemade chamoy from theothersideofthetortilla.com #mexican #flavorstory @mccormickspice
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Mangonadas

Prep

Total

Yield 2 mangonadas

A traditional Mexican mango and orange juice slush with chamoy and chile lime salt, mangonadas are served everywhere from street vendors to neverías in Mexico and are very popular especially in the warm weather months.

Ingredients

For the homemade chamoy:
  • 1/2 cup apricot spreadable fruit (not jelly, jam or preserves)
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons McCormick Gourmet Collection ground ancho chile pepper
  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
  • 4-5 large dried apricots, rehydrated in warm water for 30 minutes
For the mangonadas:
  • 2-3 tablespoons chamoy
  • 2 cups frozen mango chunks
  • 1 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice (about 3-4 large navel oranges)
  • Chile lime salt, such as Tajín, to taste

Instructions

For the chamoy:
  1. Add 4-5 large dried apricots to a cup of warm water and allow to soak for 30 minutes to rehydrate. When the apricots are rehydrated, discard the water.
  2. Add 1/2 cup spreadable fruit, juice of one lime, ground ancho chile pepper and apple cider vinegar to a food processor and run on high until completely smooth.
For the mangonadas:
  1. Add 2 cups frozen mango chunks to blender and pour orange juice on top. Seal the top of the blender and blend on high until completely smooth.
  2. Spoon chamoy around the inside of the glass, then pour the mango and orange juice mixture into the cup.
  3. Top with more chamoy and swirl with a spoon.
  4. Sprinkle chile lime salt on top and serve.

Notes

The prep time in this recipe includes 30 minutes of inactive prep time for soaking the dried apricots.

Cuisine Mexican

40 Dessert

Paletas de fresas con crema

Fresas con crema are a traditional, popular dessert all over Mexico.

Irapuato, a town in the state of Guanajuato, is particularly known not only for its bountiful strawberry fields, but also its roadside stands where you can get freshly picked berries or an impromptu treat of fresas con crema. Most of the roadside stands keep a cooler with crema on ice for highway travelers hankering for this sweet and simple treat. With only three ingredients—strawberries, cream and sugar—it’s easy to fall under this dessert’s spell.

You’ll love these popsicles so much, you’ll want to eat them all spring and summer long until you can’t get any more strawberries.

#Paletas de fresas con crema (Mexican strawberries and cream popsicles) #recipe from theothersideofthetortilla.com

Variations on the traditional fresas con crema mostly come in the choice of the “crema” part of the recipe. Some people like to use crema Mexicana, while others may use a canned version known as media crema table cream. These Mexican strawberries and cream popsicles are made a little less dense—but equally creamy—with a quick homemade whipped cream made from scratch. Paletas de fresas con crema are one of my absolute favorite desserts for spring and summer, and my friends, family and co-workers all love when I make a big batch of these popsicles to share. During the hottest days of the summer, I suggest freezing them overnight before serving so they aren’t quick to melt in the heat.

Mexican strawberries and cream #popsicle #recipe from theothersideofthetortilla.com
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Paletas de fresas con crema (strawberries and cream popsicles)

Prep

Inactive

Total

Yield 10 3-ounce pops

Fresas con crema, a traditional Mexican dessert of strawberries, cream and sugar, gets a warm-weather makeover as popsicles.

Ingredients

  • 1 pound ripe strawberries, stems removed
  • 1/2 cup Zulka Morena sugar (a Mexican non-GMO sugar)
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3-4 tablespoons sugar

Instructions

  1. Wash and dry 1 pound of strawberries, then remove stems.
  2. Slice strawberries and put them in a deep bowl. Sprinkle 1/2 cup sugar over the strawberries and stir gently to coat. Allow strawberries and sugar to macerate for 1 hour to draw out the juices.
  3. While the strawberries are macerating, measure 1 cup heavy whipping cream and put it in the freezer for 1 hour, gently stirring once after 30 minutes so no ice chunks form.
  4. After 1 hour, add the macerated strawberries to a food processor (I use a Cuisinart mini prep) or a blender and pulse a few times until the strawberries are chopped but not liquified. Add them back to the bowl.
  5. Clean out your food processor cup or blender and dry thoroughly. Remove the heavy whipping cream from the freezer and add to the food processor cup or the blender. Add 3 tablespoons sugar (or 4 tablespoons if you like your fresas con crema to be very sweet). Run the food processor or blender on high until you have a thick, sweet whipped cream. (Be careful not to overwhip,or you'll end up on your way to making butter.)
  6. Spoon the whipped cream into the bowl of macerated strawberries with a flexible spatula and gently fold the whipped cream into the berries.
  7. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for a minimum of 6-8 hours or overnight.

Notes

Active prep time is 1 hour and 15 minutes; inactive time is for freezing the popsicles until solid.

To loosen the posicles from the molds, run the bottom of the molds under cool or lukewarm water for a few minutes. They should slide right out.

*If you use processed white sugar for this recipe, you will want to reduce the amount of sugar by 1/3 to 1/2 and taste along the way to make sure that it's not too sweet for your liking. I prefer not to cook with white sugar and do not keep it in my pantry.

Courses Dessert

Cuisine Mexican

 

Supplies I used to make this recipe:
Progressive International Ice Pop Mold
Wooden popsicle sticks
Cuisinart Mini Prep Plus food processor
 

85 How To

How to keep your guacamole fresh and green

There’s an easy way to keep guacamole fresh and green—without using the pit, adding too much salt, covering it with water, milk or any of the other “tricks” you might find with a quick Google search. If you’ve ever woofed down a whole bowl of guacamole just to keep it from going brown in the refrigerator, your life is about to be changed. I promise this tip is the green-guacamole-for-days jackpot!

My family is always asking me to make guacamole. Always. I make it for parties and barbecues, when people casually drop by and even when somebody calls and asks, “if I drop off the ingredients, will you make it for me?” My dad is by far the biggest culprit of the weekend phone call requesting a drive-by guacamole drop-off. I used to tease him that if it weren’t for the guacamole, he wouldn’t stop by as often.

But with a jam-packed schedule and some travel time occasionally involved on one or both ends to get the ingredients and then deliver the goods to their final destination, it’s not always easy to make the guacamole and deliver and serve it right away. Yet, nobody would ever know that it’s usually been in the refrigerator for a full day beforehand because my guacamole always arrives perfectly green and fresh as if I just made it.

I’m going to reveal a method and kitchen tip that is going to turn you into a guacamole hero. But be warned; I can’t be held responsible if friends and family start calling to drop off ingredients because you earn a reputation for having the greenest guacamole they’ve ever seen!

Need a basic guacamole recipe? I’ve got you covered. Also check out my fruity guacamole recipe with pineapple and pomegranate seeds. You might also like my mango guacamole recipe.

The BEST way to keep guacamole fresh and green for days via theothersideofthetortilla.com

HOW TO KEEP YOUR GUACAMOLE FRESH AND GREEN

STEP 1: Choose avocados that are barely ripe. They should give only very slightly when you press the skin. Prep all the ingredients (onion, chile, lime, tomato, cilantro, etc.) before you cut the avocados open. The flesh should not be too creamy/soft when you open them and you shouldn’t find brown or dark spots on the flesh at all.

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12 Most Popular

Cebollitas

How to make Mexican cebollitas on the grill. These onions are a staple side dish at any Mexican barbecue! In English, these onions are known as spring onions, and in Spanish, they're called cebollas or cebollitas cambray. Recipe via theothersideofthetortilla.comAt any parrillada, you can count on one side dish being the same, no matter what kind of meats are chosen for the main dish: cebollitas.

I love grilling. The smell of the charcoal, the crackling sound of the fire roasting the food and the anticipation of what’s about to land on my plate. And whenever we grill in Mexico, my suegro (father-in-law) is the king of the barbecue.

This dish is so simple and easy (and almost totally impossible to mess up even if you’re not a grilling pro), it’s the single dish that most reminds me of a Sunday parrillada in Mexico.

RELATED RECIPE: Calabacitas con elote

You can add as much or as little lime juice and salsa Maggi, a Worcestershire-style seasoning sauce, or soy sauce as you like – it all depends on your taste buds. The Maggi sold in the U.S. doesn’t taste the same as salsa Maggi sold in Mexico, so I sometimes substitute soy sauce.

Not only is this dish often served at barbecues and family gatherings, you can also often find them at little street food stands around Mexico. I especially love to pair this side dish with tacos de rib eye and my Mexican chimichurri-marinated flank steak….

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