The Other Side of the Tortilla

Mexican recipes, culture and travel destinations

lime

1 Mexican Ingredients

Guide to Mexican limes

Mexican limes are widely used in the cuisine and offer a bright, acidic touch to food and beverages.

Everything you need to know about Mexican limes, a guide from theothersideofthetortilla.com

All limes pictured in this post are Mexican limes. 

Lime juice is an indispensable part of Mexican cuisine. It’s used in everything from beverages to dressing ceviche, soups, salads, fruit and vegetables, meats, in desserts and more. And it’s not just the juice; lime zest also makes its way into plenty Mexican recipes as well.

The limón chico (also known as limoncito or limón de Colima) is what most people think of when they think of Mexican limes. They generally measure between 2.5 and 5 centimeters in diameter, are more round (rather than oval) with thin, bright green skin, greenish-yellow pulp, have small seeds, and a very acidic flavor. As they age, the skin turns yellow and the flavor bitter when they’re over-ripened.

Known as limón grande or limón sin semilla, the larger Mexican limes do not have seeds….

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33 drinks

Jarritos fruity tequila cocktails

If you love to entertain and want to whip up some fun, fruity cocktails that are so easy to make, you’ll have plenty of time to spend with your guests, this is your cocktail! This is what I’ll be serving up to visitors during the Labor Day weekend while we hang by the pool and soak up the last of the summer sun.

Jarritos tequila blanco cocktail with lime

I typically stock the following flavors at home to make this easy cocktail: Fresa (strawberry), tamarindo (tamarind), mandarina (mandarin orange), piña (pineapple), guayaba (guava), limón (lime) and mango. For those who like to play bartender, you can try mixing some of the soda flavors to make more unique cocktails, such as pineapple-guava or strawberry-mango. If you like, you can also substitute rum for the tequila. Even when we’re not entertaining friends, I like to hang out on the balcony or by the pool sipping these fruity cocktails.

Note: If you use the toronja (grapefruit) flavor + tequila, you can make a version of my paloma recipe!…

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0 Comer Sano/Eat Healthy

Salsa mexicana for one

I often get asked how to make pico de gallo by my non-Mexican friends and, sometimes, new readers here. If you’re a regular reader or you know me personally, you probably know where this is going. In our house, pico de gallo is not the typical fresh salsa you may be familiar with, made of tomato, onion and cilantro. Instead, pico de gallo is a snack made with jicama, red onion, cucumber, orange, serrano chile, lime juice and sprinkled with Tajín. So, if you come to my house and ask for some pico de gallo, now you know what to expect.

What a lot of people call pico de gallo, though, we call salsa mexicana. And it’s extremely easy to make! To be clear, in most places if you ask for pico de gallo, the recipe below is what you’ll get. Since I’ve been asked several times in the last week how to make this easy, fresh salsa, I decided I might as well share it here for anyone who doesn’t already know how to make it. It’s easy to assemble in a big batch because you can play with the amounts of each ingredient to taste, but it’s a little more difficult to get it right when making a very small batch for only one or two people for a single meal, so I’ve provided directions below for the portions that I use.

A note, first: The chile is optional. I always put it in my salsa mexicana, but you don’t have to if you’re averse to spicy food. Or, if you want to go kind of half-way with it, you can cut a serrano chile open, remove the seeds and veins and chop it very finely. If you do that, you may still want to use half of the suggested portion and add more to taste as you can tolerate. But if you leave it out all together, just increase the amount of cilantro to taste. You’ll still have a nice salsa and no one will know anything is missing.

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0 MexMonday

Antojos de la calle: papitas con limón y salsa

In many places in Mexico, you can find street vendors with little carts, selling antojitos, or snacks.

Usually, the standard offerings include chicharrones (pork rinds), chicharrones de harina (a fried, puffed wheat snack that looks orange) or papitas (potato chips).

Served in a little plastic bag with a squeeze of lime juice and your choice of salsa, it’s a great snack whether you’re on the go or just want to take a leisurely stroll through the park.

I like to keep a little bag of potato chips in my desk at work so I can make a quick afternoon snack—the only thing I need to remember to bring is a lime and a small bottle of salsa.

It’s a very simple and typical Mexican snack. You can choose whatever kind of salsa you like; spicy, medium, mild or even a salsa like chamoy, which is a sweet and spicy mixture usually made with chile powder and a salted fruit brine. It’s up to you!

I like to use the salsa pictured here, salsa clasica de Búfalo (but don’t be fooled; it’s not anything like buffalo sauce you’re used to seeing in the U.S.). It’s a slightly spicy and vinegary red salsa.

All you have to do to make your own is open the bag (be careful not to tear it), squeeze half a lime (or more if you like) inside the bag and then pour as much salsa in the bag as you like. Close the bag up and shake it so the salsa and lime juice distribute somewhat evenly and then just open the bag up and enjoy. ¿Que rico, no?

  • What’s your favorite kind of antojo de la calle?

1 Meat

Arrachera borracha con rajas de pimiento

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEyhzmhA8SY[/youtube]

I’ve been experimenting in the test kitchen lately and coming up with some new recipes. Today I’m sharing my newest recipe for the #MizkanLatino cooking challenge, arrachera borracha con rajas de pimiento, or drunken skirt steak with grilled bell pepper strips. “Sabroso Grilling” was the theme for this challenge and the challenge ingredient was to use one of Mizkan’s World Harbors marinades, so I chose the Mexican-style fajita marinade….

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1 Chiles

Mexican Chimichurri Marinated Flank Steak

Who doesn’t love to grill? With the 4th of July coming up, I know that we’re going to be out on the patio all weekend to enjoy the sunshine while sipping on some limonada with friends, grilling up some cebollitas and this tangy new recipe I came up with for the #MizkanLatino cooking challenge.

José, Mr. Picky-Picky when it comes to me experimenting with new ingredients, said this dish both smelled and tasted fantastic! With his stamp of approval, you know it has to be good. A note about the use of jalapeños in this recipe: you can absolutely leave the seeds and veins in the jalapeño if you want to give your chimichurri a little kick. I removed them in the video so that the chimichurri wouldn’t be spicy, but would still have all the flavor of a jalapeño so that I could serve it to guests who were a little apprehensive about eating spicy food.

I used flank steak here (also known as falda de res) but you can substitute with another cut such as skirt steak (arrachera) if you like.

Be sure to check out the linky below throughout the week to see more videos and recipes from others participating in this challenge with me. You can also find out more about Holland House products on the Mizkan website.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UD-Ta0YKUS0[/youtube]…

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