Mexico Wonders (part I)

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Every time I remember and look back to my beautiful Mexico a bunch of things come to mind, but the 4 things that really stand out are it's culture, people, colours and food. A few months ago I had the opportunity to go back home and see Mexico with a different point of view, the one from someone that has been far away from it's beauty for a long time. 2 years to be exact. And in this time, even though I've come to love my new country too, you always get nostalgic when thinking about the place that saw you grow and the place who made you the person you are now. Being far away has made me fall in love all over again with my roots, my people and my beautiful Mexico. This last visit I had the goal to take as many pictures as I could, and show you how wonderful warm and full of life this amazing place is. I am originally from Mexico City which is an electric and chaotic place, and even though it has approx. the same population as all Canada, it seems to work out just fine.

(Fair in Mexico City, Vintage bus)

Mexico is a very colourful place, you can find colour everywhere.. the markets, houses, festivals, even the food! This amazing quality is not only due to the fantastic weather they have, but it is also a reflection of the warmth and joy you can find down there.

(Piñatas, Fair Game, Beads stand)

I truly believe Mexico has one of the best street foods in the world, of course... if you can handle it. You can go from creamy vegetables, to tacos, fried snacks (chicharrones & chips), fresh fruits, tamales... etc.. And best of all is that everything is full of spices and flavour.

(Chicharrones/Fried snacks, Fresh fried Chips, Creamy Corn stand)

You can also find people selling fresh products from other regions of Mexico, we found these amazing guys selling Oaxaca Cheese which is just unbeatable in flavour and texture, as well as grasshoppers which are extremely popular specially in the state Oaxaca where they eat it as a snack. I know for some of you might sound crazy but it is really tasty, crunchy and healthy, so.. actually way better than chips!..

(Oaxacan Products, Requeson Cheese, Grasshoppers, Oaxacan Cheese)

To be continued...

Enfrijoladas

I had some left over salpicon I made the other day, and just got a little creative and decided to use it for Enfrijoladas which is in a way, similar to Enchiladas but instead of pouring salsa verde on top of your tacos, you pour some "Pot" beans instead. It might sound like too many beans for some people I know, but Enfrijoladas are really a pleasure to have. You will not stop until you finish them all!

Enfrijoladas

"Pot" Beans

Ingredients:
450g Black beans
12 cups hot water
1/3 cup roughly sliced white onion
salt to taste
2 large springs of epazote (herb)

Directions:
Rinse the beans in cold water and discard any small stones or dirt. Put them into a deep pot and cover with the hot water, add the onion and bring to a boil. Then, lower the heat and let the beans simmer for about 4 hrs or until they are just soft and the skins are breaking open. Add the salt and continue cooking for another 1/2 hour until the beans are completely soft. Add the epazote 15 mins before the end of the cooking time as it tends to loose flavour if cooked too long.

You can keep them in the fridge for 2 days or froze them for up to 3 months.

Assembling
Ingredients:
"Pot Beans"
Salpicon
Around 12 tortillas

Directions:
In a medium high heat pan, fry the salpicon until crispy in order to add some more flavour to it. Put some of the meat in the tortilla and roll it to make a taco. Once you have all your tortillas rolled out, in the same pan give them a quick fry just to make the tortilla crispy. Put 3 on each plate and pour on top of the tacos either one or two scoops of the beans. You can put some sour cream on top, crumbled cheese, cilantro, avocados, etc.. all the extra yummy stuff you love!...

Enjoy!

Feb 2 - Day of "La Candelaria"

For the indigenous people the purification cycle initiated with this celebration "Fiesta de la Candelaria" followed by Easter and the rest of the Catholic celebrations that were introduced by the Spaniards. This festivity has been commemorated since the colonial times in Mexico and represents the harvest and the 4 seasons which define their religious, social, commercial and cultural life.

This festivity involves dances, processions, music, theatrical representations, fireworks, food and of course the Baby Jesus blessing.

In Mexico the tradition of Dia de la Candelaria is that those who got the little Baby Jesus on the Rosca de Reyes will need to perform some tasks as they have become Baby Jesus' godparents.

As a godparent you are supposed to take Baby Jesus from the nativity scene, dress him up, present him to the community Church and take care of him for the whole year until the next Rosca de Reyes is sliced. Also he or she would be one of the hosts for the atole and tamales feast.

This ritual was born due to a mix of two cultures and religions: The Catholic religion which refers to the Virgin Mary who took baby Jesus to the temple, and the prehispanic culture where Tamales where offered to honor their Gods Tláloc, a Chalchiuhtlicue (water Gods) and the tlaloques (Gods helpers), who made the water go down to Earth and feed their harvest.

This Festivity's name, "Candelaria" which means Candles comes from the Spanish ritual of honoring Virgin of Candelaria.

Here, far away from our Mexican roots, we found the ingredients and spirit to celebrate this tradition. So..... tamales and atole were served to keep us warm on this crazy snowy day which brought around 25cm of snow.

Happy Dia de la Candelaria!

Tamales
Tamales Dough
Ingredients:
2 cups of Nixtamalized corn flour to make tamales (Minsa Brand)
2 cups of Chicken stock or water
1 tsp of baking powder
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of lard
15 corn husks dried
Filling

Directions:
In a pot bring water to a boil and add the dried husks until soft and manageable. Meanwhile, in a mixer, blend the lard until light and fluffy. I n a separate bowl add the corn flour, baking powder and salt and mix well. Add the chicken stock to the dry ingredients and mix well. Once everything is well incorporated mix the dough with the lard and make sure once m ore everything is well incorporated.
Once the husks are soft, open them and spread the dough in the middle of the husk, then put the filling in the centre and roll the husk in order to cover all the filling. In a steamer put all the tamales together and cook for almost 1 1/2 to 2 hrs.

For the Atole I used David's recipe and was super super delicious.....

Enjoy!

George Brown - The Art of Breads & Cookies..

Yes, I am starting the new year with 2 more George Brown courses that I'll be taking at the same time. As if life wasn't as busy and crazy as it is, now I'll have 2 more commitments per week. My weekends will be quite busy for the next 3 months. With late class on Fridays and afternoon class on Sundays, I'll try to become a better baker and improve in 2 areas: Breads and Cookies!..

I really really really LOVE baking bread! It is one of my favourite things to bake, it is just soooooo pretty and puffed that you cannot even believe you could have done such a gorgeous thing by yourself!.. And cookies .. ohhh cookies.... they can be tricky; a couple of mins more on the oven and they'll be hard, or an over greased pan and they will expand so much they'll loose their shape. You need to put so much care into baking those little guys that I am glad I am actually taking this course!

A couple of Notes from my class that I'll hope it will be of good use to you!...

When a recipe asks for fresh yeast and you cannot find that thing anywhere... remember that you can actually use traditional yeast or instant yeast, just know that the ratio is to use only 1/3 of the amount stated for fresh yeast.

Most of the recipes for bread ask for water and try not to replace with milk because your dough will not rise properly.

When you want to accelerate your recipe remember to dissolve your yeast in lukewarm water (40 to 45 C) and never go above 50 C.

If you want to get a crustier CRUST! remember this... the wetter the dough the better, it will stop sticking to the surface if you knead the dough right and for a long time, there is no need to add more flour.

Ohh and the most important thing of all... BE PATIENT let your dough rise properly and give it the time it needs to relax so you can bake amazing bread.

Rosca de Reyes

I know this post comes in a little late, but I wanted to share with you the Mexican tradition of Rosca de Reyes which takes place on January 6th. The Rosca de Reyes is a very elaborated bread that takes a lot of time and effort to prepare, it usually takes a couple of hours to knead the dough and a couple of days to put it all together. This bread is usually decorated with candied winter fruits such as figs and a delicious sugar paste. The traditional shape of this bread was round but over the years people have been making it oval as well, both shapes are accepted. This ring shape bread symbolizes the sky. People used to put inside the bread little porcelaine figurines which represented baby Jesus, in some cases people inserted beans as a way to keep costs down, but as everyone ended up eating the little beans, now we use little plastic figurines which are more practical and cheap.

This tradition is about celebrating the arrival of the 3 wise men and is meant to end up all the Christmas Celebrations (from the born of Jesus on Dec 25th until the arrival of the 3 wise men on Jan 6). Long story short to me this is just another excuse to continue celebrating, eating delicious traditional food and spending more time with your family. The fun part of these tradition other than eating the delicious bread, is actually cutting your slice. Everyone sits around the table and tries to slice that piece that will be free of baby Jesus figurines as those lucky enough to get them, will need to come together and organize a feast for everyone else on February 2nd which is Candlemas Day or "Dia de la Candelaria". Of course, this feast will consist of Tamales and Chocolate Caliente or Atole. Getting the little baby Jesus figurines is meant to bring you luck for the rest of the year, although I know some people who aren't really looking to be that lucky. Believe me, making this feast and pay for the tamales is not an easy job to get done. In the past and still nowadays the tradition states that before having the big dinner, those who got these figurines are supposed to take baby Jesus and present him to both, the Church and their community.

Mexico is one of the few countries where this Rosca de Reyes bread is prepared. This tradition was passed to us from the Spaniards during the time of the mixing races.
Some say that the tradition of eating this type of bread comes from the Romans who prepared it to their God "Saturn" who was meant to eat this bread to prepare himself for the harsh winter. They welcomed their God with this ring like shape bread that was filled with all sorts of winter fruits to give him energy. Later on, this tradition was passed to the Spaniards who then made it relevant to fit their catholic beliefs and on the same token passed it on to the Mexican people.
Other countries celebrate this tradition also on January 6th; the french for example, prepare the Gallette de Rois which was traditionally filled with goodies such as silver, gold, diamonds or porcelain.

 

Mexican Cuisine is now Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity