TACOS AL PASTOR…
Immigrants always travel with their gastronomy, and Mexicans are no exception. But what is interesting about Mexican emigrants is the active and conscious will we have to preserve a popular cuisine no matters where we are, based on tradition, but aware that it has, and continues to be, adapted to other circumstances and other latitudes, with a conviction, above all, that it matters!
So let’s start with some tacos al pastor for any weekday in the evening…
ADOBO
The word adobo is derived from the Spanish word adobar, which means “pickling sauce” or “marinade”.
6 chiles guajillo (remove seeds and cut them into pieces)
1 dry chipotle
2 canned chipotles
5 garlic cloves
¼ onion
5 bay leaves
PROCEDURE
Mix 1/3 cup of water and 1/3 cup of apple cider vinegar.
Heat oil in a frying pan and fry lightly onion and garlic cloves, add dry chipotle, when this gets swollen add bay leaves, guajillo chili in pieces and your cider vinegar and water mix, lower the heat and cook for about 8 minutes.
SPICES
4 allspices
10 black peppercorns
5 cloves
¼ tsp. oregano
¼ tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. ginger
Grind all spices in a mortar.
Place your previous mixture in a blender adding 1 table spoon of achiote, salt and ¼ cup apple vinegar, blend it for about 2 minutes.
MEAT
1 ½ Kg thin pork steaks.
*Season steaks with salt on both sides, after with adobo, then place them in a bowl, cover and marinate overnight.
Following day:
1 bunch of coriander
1 medium onion
3 limes
half medium pineapple
half an onion
cut limes in quarters
Finely chop coriander and whole medium onion.
Slice pineapple and onion. Fry steaks in hot oil from 45 to 50 seconds on each side, pineapple slices until they become softer. When all steaks are fried, cut them in strips with pineapple. Fry onions until soft, add meat and pineapple for 2 minutes, have ready your tortilla, coriander and onion chopped, squeeze your lemon, and of course, your taquera sauce and… Provecho!
SALSA was in old days sold at the Aztec markets. Salsa is Spanish for sauce. It can be made uncooked or puréed until it becomes chunky, smooth, and/or chopped. The modern salsa uses the same ingredients as red tomatoes, tomatillo (green tomato) and chipotle, as well as the avocado. Here is one of our gourmet stars:
SALSA TAQUERA
1 can of green tomato
2 morita chilies
3 arbol chilies
1 guajillo chili sedless
2 garlic
l cloves
¼ onion
salt
Place tomatoes in hot water with onion, garlic. Toast chilies then place them into the same hot water. Remove seeds from morita chilies.
Place all your ingredients in a blender, add salt at your taste and blend them for about 2 minutes, ready for your Tacos al Pastor.
TORTILLAS DE MAIZE
Talking about history of the corn tortilla is talking about myths and realities that are part of history of ancient and current Mexico. Corn is one of the essential elements of national gastronomy, and its origins can even be traced in legends and fantastic stories of ancient Mexican civilizations.
Cultivating maize represents much more than just growing a food crop; it also keeps history and tradition alive. It has been discovered that the grass teosinte is an ancestor to modern maize, and that over time, maize was bred and cultivated into a significant nutritional source. The number one crop in the world began its journey in Mesoamerica 7000 years ago, approximately.
INGREDIENTS
2 cups (228 g) Naturelo or Maseca flour.
1,125 cups (266 ml)+ 2 tablespoons (3O ml) of water
pinch of salt
a teaspoon olive oil
This will make 12 tortillas
– Stir the flour, pinch of salt, olive oil and water in a large bowl.
– Knead the ingredients until it turns into a smooth dough. – The dough should be smooth, not sticky. You should be able to form small dough balls easily in your hands. – Let the dough sit for 30 minutes. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it sit on your counter to give the dough time to fully absorb the water. This helps to improve the taste and texture of your tortillas. – Break your dough into 12 small balls with your hands.
– Place a dough ball in between two pieces of plastic/wax paper, press down on the dough slightly to make rolling it easier. (You can use a tortilla press)
It is OK if your tortillas are not perfectly round Heat a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Use a cast-iron pan. Put the tortilla in the skillet and cook first side from 45 to 50 seconds, flip tortilla with a spatula and let it cook for up to 1 minute.
– Wrap your cooked tortillas in a clean towel. While corn tortillas are best served hot, you can refrigerate them for later use. To store them, keep the tortillas wrapped in a towel and put them in an airtight container or zip-lock bag in the fridge. They will stay good for up to 3 days.
“I bet you’re really craving some Mexican after this – get off the couch and get ready to prepare them! In all seriousness, shout out to all of Mexico for blessing our lives with their amazing food.”
Leticia Paulin
Leticia Paulin is a Mexican immigrant, living in Vasa and founder of El Colibri. El Colibri is a new business web shop, importing Mexican food ingredients for selling to all parts of Finland. The storage is situated in Vaasa, so local clients can pick their food load straight from the storage by phoning Leticia tel. +358 44 4935553. you find the web shop at www.elcolibri.fi , info@elcolibri.fi
Leticia also gives classes, teaching Mexican traditional cooking to groups and regularly at Mustasaari Opisto in Sepänkylä since some years ago.
