Panocha is a thick, gruel-like pudding made in Mexico from two types of wheat flour. One is ordinary white wheat flour, the other is “panocha” — flour made from sprouted wheat. To make Panocha, you carmelize sugar until it is a light brown, add water, butter, brown sugar and spices such as cloves and cinnamon…
Mexican Food
Pasilla de Oaxaca
Pasilla de Oaxaca is a smaller, hotter variety of pasilla chile with thin walls. The pepper is 3 to 4 inches long and up to 1 ½ inches at widest point (10 cm x 4 cm.) When dried and smoked, the chile is wrinkled, mahogony-red, and tastes somewhat fruity with a deep smoky taste. In…
Piloncillo
Piloncillo is a cone of brown sugar. The cones are made from panela syrup poured into cone moulds and allowed to evaporate, crystallize and harden in the moulds. There are two kinds. The light kind (called “blanco”) is made from green sugar cane. A dark kind (called “oscuro”) is made from purple sugar cane. The…
Posole Corn
Posole is very dried, large kernels of corn. It is made by soaking harder varieties of corn kernels (usually flint corn) in lime water until swollen, and then allowing them to dry out for storage. Posole corn can come in every colour that corn does: yellow, white, red and even blue and purple. Usually, though,…
Posole Stew
Posole Stew © Benny Gradillas A Posole is a Mexican stew that has posole corn as its base. Meat, chiles, herbs and vegetables are usually added. To be completely authentic, a pig’s head should be used as the meat (the ears were considered a delicacy.) Recipes nowadays, however, just use pork and/or chicken. The posole…
Pulque
Pulque is a milky, fermented alcoholic beverage made in Mexico from the agave plant. Its taste ranges from slightly sweet to slightly sour, depending on how old it is. But “young” and “old” are very relative terms here, because Pulque only has a life span of a few days. A few days after fermentation has…
Quesadillas
Quesadillas © Denzil Green There are two different versions of quesadillas; both involve melted cheese inside a tortilla. In Tex-Mex cooking (American-style Mexican), a quesadilla is a tortilla on the bottom, cheese in the middle and a tortilla on top, making a rounded cheese “sandwich” which is then cooked and served on a plate. Both…
Queso Fundido
Queso Fundido is a Mexican term that means “melted cheese.” The cheese can be any cheese.
Refried Beans
Refried Beans © Denzil Green Refried Beans is Mexican dish consisting of cooked beans which are mashed and seasoned. The mixture should have a creamy texture and be thick enough to eat with a fork. The dish won’t have an overly attractive appearance — it is very hard to photograph Refried Beans and make look…
Rocoto Peppers
Rocoto Peppers grow on a plant with hairy leaves and stems. In the right climate, the plant is a perennial, with a life span of about 10 years. If not cut back (as it should be), it will grow up to 10 feet tall (3 metres.) The plant produces blue or purple flowers, and then…
Romeritos
Romeritos are leaves that can be used as an herb for flavour, or cooked as a pot-herb vegetable in their own right. They are small leaves that resemble a soft, non-woody version of rosemary. They have a pronounced tart taste. Non-Mexicans sometimes have a hard time trying to decide if they like the flavour. The…
Salsas
Salsa means sauce, in Spanish. Though the Spanish do make sauces, generally when you see the word Salsa there will be a Mexican sauce involved. There are raw sauces and cooked sauces. If you see the word “cruda” in the name of a Salsa recipe, “cruda” means “raw” in Spanish. You can buy commercially prepared…
Taco Day
Taco Day is the 4th of October. Have a taco party for family, friends and neighbours, with everyone assembling his or her own tacos.
Tacos
A Taco is a corn tortilla that is folded over with a filling inside. Though Mexican restaurants outside Mexico offer Tacos as part of a sit-down meal, Tacos in Mexico are something that you eat out of hand on the go, like a sandwich. They are not really meant to be a sit down and…
Tamales
In Mexican cooking, Tamales are usually small appetizers (“antojitos”); in TexMex cooking, they are larger and part of a main course. Tamales are steamed dumplings wrapped in corn dough. Though we mostly know them by their Mexican name — Tamales — they are in fact made all throughout Latin America under different names (see Language…
Tarahumara Amarillo Beans
Tarahumara Amarillo are gold coloured, plump, oval beans that have a creamy texture when cooked. The plant is a pole bean type, and delivers high yields. History Notes Tarahumara Amarillo Beans originated in the Tarahumara area of Chihuahua region in Mexico. Language Notes Tarahumara Amarillo Beans are named after the Tarahumara Indians in the state…
Tejocotes
Tejocotes are like teeny golden apples, though the colour can range from reddy-orange to a translucent golden yellow. They have a sweet and sour taste, which is reminiscent of something between a plum and an apricot. They are grown in Mexico and in China. In North America and in the UK, they are very hard…
Tinga
Tinga is a very thick Mexican adobo sauce stew. The meat in it is often shredded pork or chicken, though it can be another meat, such as quail or beef flank steak, or even smoked fish. The vegetables include tomatoes, chipotle chiles and onion It can be served on top of tostadas, in folded up…
Tlahuelompa
Tlahuelompa is Mezcal made from blue agave plants in Tlahuelompa, a city in Hidalgo state in Mexico.
Tomatillos: Small, tart green tomatoes
Tomatillos © Denzil Green A Tomatillo is a small, green tomato, about the size of a cherry tomato, inside a brown husk. Tomatillos are close cousins to tomatoes, but unlike tomatoes, they are valued for their tart rather than sweet flavour. Their taste is halfway between that of a green tomato and a sour apple….
Tortilla Chip Day
The 24th of February is Tortilla Chip Day. You can make your own if you have the time, or buy a bag. Don’t forget the dips!
Tortilla Chips
Tortilla Chips are deep-fried or baked wedges of Mexican Tortillas. They are traditionally triangular, as they would be if you cut up a tortilla into pie-shaped pieces for deep frying, but now you can buy round, purpose-made ones that were never part of a larger tortilla. Commercial production of Tortilla Chips took off in the…
Tortilla Press
A tortilla press is used for forming the Mexican flatbread called a “tortilla.” The press can be used for corn tortillas or flour tortillas.
Tortilla Warmers
Tortilla warmers are covered dishes used to keep tortillas warm at the table. Depending on the material they are made of, some can also be used to heat tortillas in.