Feliz Cinco De Mayo: Traditional Mexican Recipes

In Celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I asked my aunt, Maricarmen Lopez, to share some of her favorite recipes. Maricarmen is a catering chef and baker in Morelia, Mexico.  I added some side notes in italics to expand and on the recipes.

Enjoy

Milo

Mexican Appetizer: Chips and Salsa Verde

• 3 green tomatoes
• 3 serrano peppers (you can do two if you don’t want it too spicy )
• 8 small branches of cilantro
• 1 large garlic clove
• Chicken Broth (preferable) or water
• Salt
• Tortillas Chips

1. Boil all the ingredients in the chicken broth or water –minus the salt—just put enough liquid that it covers the tomatoes.
2. Remove the half of the cilantro and blend the rest of the ingredients
3. Add salt to your taste
4. Serve with tortilla chips

Traditional Mexican Soup: Sopa Tarasca

• 1 Tomato- cut into medium pieces
• ½ medium onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 Pasilla Dried Chili Peppers ( I have seen these at the grocery store, either in the Mexican aisle or with the rest of the chilies)—if you can’t find it then skip this ingredient.
• Unsalted Tortilla chips (Break in half)
• Boiled Pinto beans in 3 part chicken broth, 1 part water*Instruction below
• Avocado to taste- cut into small square cubes

 *Boiled Pinto Beans –Beans are a staple in Mexico.  Click here if you want to watch a video of how to cook beans.  Please note that this recipe uses water, my aunt recommends 3 parts chicken broth and 1 part water. I have also used my slow cooker and cooked them overnight for 8 hours.  Make sure to have about 5 inches of liquid depth above the beans.

1. Fry  tomato, onion, garlic, and Pasilla Peppers
2. Blend one cup of beans with three cups of its broth. If you want to make the soup thicker you can add more beans
3. Once the beans are blended add the tomato, onion, garlic and pasilla peppers and blend again.
4. Add salt if necessary
5. Serve and put tortilla chips and avocado to taste

Mexican Entrée:  Pastel Azteca (Aztec Cake)

Here is another recipe that is easy to make.  You will see that the ingredients have either ranges or no quantities. It is because the Pastel Azteca is similar to lasagna, the quantity of tortillas, chicken, cheese and depends on your taste. It depend if you like a lot of cheese, or a lot of meat, or sauce. It also depends on the number of layers you want and the size of your pan.

• 24-32 Tortillas
• 2-4 Breast of boiled pulled chicken
• 6-8 Servings of the Salsa Verde * Recipe Above
• Mexican Cheese blend
• Sour Cream

1. Deep fry the tortillas. ( Personally, I have done it without frying the tortillas, but taste so much better if you do fry them)
2. On a Lasagna baking tray pour little bit of the sauce.
3. Put a layer of tortillas, Add more sauce, then a small layer of chicken, then cheese, then sour cream.
4. Repeat the process until you are satisfied with the depth of you Aztec Cake. (3-4 layers)
5. Cover with aluminum paper and put in the oven for half hour at 350 degrees
6. After the 30 minutes, remove the aluminum paper and add some sauce and cheese on top. Let it sit in the oven until melted.

Traditional Mexican Dessert: Mexcian Buñuelos

This is a very popular dessert in Mexico. At first, it sounds a little complicated but is rather easy, fun and fast. However, it does require a special mold, I found it online for $28.00. There are different stores that sell it just look for “Mexican Buñuelos mold”. If you like making dessert, I highly recommend it. There are even sets that have different shapes.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of milk
• 1 cup of flour + 2 Tablespoons
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 liter of Canola Oil
• ½ of Sugar and ½ Cinnamon mixed together (you will determine the amount as you make them)
• Buñuelos mold (see intro)

1. Mix the milk, flour, eggs, salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar together.
2. The mixture has to be really cold; it is easier to let sit overnight and remix it the next day.
3. Use a deep pan and pour the 1 liter of Canola Oil in and heat it up until is very hot.
4. Once the oil is hot, dip the mold in it for 5 seconds. Remove the mold and dip it on the dough—make sure that you only dip it until the edge of the top, don’t submerge it all the way.
5. Then dip the mold again in the oil. The dough will automatically fall off the mold. It does sound a little complicated so I attached a video of someone doing it. The video is in Spanish but you can see how she does it.  Start from minute 3:10.

5. Make sure that the Buñuelos are lightly brown on both sides and then remove (it’s a good idea to let them drip for a little bit).
6. Cover the Buñuelos with the sugar and cinnamon mixture.
7. Repeat the process until all the dough is used.

Feliz Cinco de Mayo

 

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