Top 4 Mexican dishes you've probably never heard of
Here at Airport High School, the students and teacher celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, typically held between Sept. 15 and Oct. 15, by decorating their classroom doors. Given the increasing presence of central American students at Airport in conjunction with Hispanic Heritage Month, we at The Eyrie thought it might be fun to explore some lesser known culinary delights. Here is a list of a few Mexican dishes that you've probably never heard of.
Empanadas de Huitlacoche is a folded corn tortilla with oaxaca cheese and corn smut with a side of green salsa. Preparation of huitlacoche: chopped, onion, chili, tomato, cilantro and bacon, and finely chopped all, put the pan a little oil or butter (to taste), start to sauté. When the bacon is fried, the huitlacoche is made. The tomato, the chile, the cilantro, the onion, since it boiled it is taken out of the pan and it is put to rest for a moment. Combine milk with water, sliced banana, salt, flour and baking powder. Knead until you have an easy-to-use dough. Let stand for 3 hours covered. Make the empanadas stretching the most with a little flour. Cut with a round shape mold and place the huitlacoche filling in the center. Fold the dough and close the edges well so that the filling is not going to come out. Cook the empanadas in hot oil until they are cooked on the inside and browned on the outside. Leave them resting on absorbent paper to remove excess grease. Lastly serve with guajillo sauce or green sauce.
Salsa de chicatana is another dish that has ants added. The first step is to toast our chicatanas, taking care that they do not burn. We roast the chilies, garlic and tomatoes. We soak our chiles in hot water until they soften. Blend all the ngredients, except the oil and onion. Or, if we have molcajete, we grind the mentioned ingredients. Chop onion and reserve. We put oil in a pan and heat. Sauté onion. Once the onion is transparent, we fry the sauce that we liquefy / grind and lower the heat. We rectify the seasoning and let it cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool and enjoy with this sauce we can make tacos of nopales with onion, and accompany this delicious Oaxaca Recipe, of Traditional Mexican Cuisine with a good mezcal.
Toqueras is like a dessert, it's made from ground tender corn. You carefully remove the corn from the leaves. Keep an olote (the corn without the grains). Mill the grains with a manual miller. Season the milled corn with sugar or salt to the taste. Put a pan to heat. Aside, put the dough in the corn leaf and cover it with another leaf. Finally, toast them in the comal.
Tamales de chipilin. Wash the bunch of Chepi and throw it away, on the other hand, in a large container, beat the butter for about 20 minutes until it is slightly thick. Add the corn masa to the bowl and continue beating vigorously for 10 more minutes, this will allow the masa to sprinkle inside the tamale leaf. Pour in the chicken broth little by little, avoiding that the dough remains with a liquid consistency, check that it is thick and you can handle it easily.Chop only the chipilín or chepil leaves, remembering to remove the stem. Add them to the dough and also add about 3 teaspoons.Continue beating so that all the ingredients are perfectly mixed. Soak the leaves for 20 minutes, drain them and fill them with 2 tablespoons of batter. Roll the sheet and fold it at the ends, then place the tamales upright, inside a steamer for an hour and a half.
Mexican cuisine isn't all tacos and queso. Traditional dishes are much more unique. Now you know! This Heritage Month, go out on a limb and try something new.