Cactus Tortillas (de Nopal) – Who Knew?

Jul 11, 2012 By Juan Alanis in Cositas Latinas, Culture, Food 6 Comments Tags: #mexistyle, cactus, cactus tortillas, diy, do it yourself, easy mexican snacks, easy mexican snacks for summer, easy snacks for summer, easy summer snacks, how to, how to make, how to make cactus tortillas, howto, Juan Alanis, Juan of Words, Juanofwords, lifestyle, mexi style, mexican, mexican food, mexican lifestyle, mexican snacks, Mexican style, nopal, nopal tortillas, nopales, tortillas, tortillas de nopales

Seriously?! I had no idea there was such a thing! Bueno, maybe I’m just behind the times. That’s very likely, considering most of the time I’m all on the late show trying to tell somebody about something “new” they’ve already known about “forever.” Whatever the case, you have to admit whoever came up with this recipe for nopal tortillas has to be a genius! How else could one explain such obvious brilliance?

They’re pretty cheap too!

I mean, we all know how good tacos de nopales taste, right? Tell me you don’t agree. Well now, you only need one ingredient to make them happen!

Growing up, whenever we didn’t have anything else to eat, nothing could compare to some nopales con huevos, nopales with beans, nopales with chile, and so forth, and so on. They’re such a versatile food. Not to mention quite healthy. Supposedly, each cactus tortilla only contains 19 calories, compared to close to 100 calories in each of the regular corn or flour tortillas. No wonder their such a huge hit around the globe, and especially with those suffering from Diabetes and other illnesses.

The cactus tortillas pictured here were found by Anjelica at our local Fiesta Super Market. They are, apparently, a new item for the Texas grocery store chain. However, if you can’t find them at a store near you, there are a lot of online vendors who sell them too. If you’re a bit more the adventurous type, Maseca also offers a pretty “simple-sounding” recipe you can try.

¡Ahora sí! ¡A entrarle a la Vitamina T! ¡Tacos! ¡Tacos! ¡Y más tacos!

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Manzanas Enchiladas: Chile & Tamarind Spiced Apples

Jun 28, 2012 By Juan Alanis in Cositas Latinas, Culture, Food, Los Metiches 3 Comments Tags: #mexistyle, apple tamarind, diy, do it yourself, easy mexican snacks, easy mexican snacks for summer, easy snacks for summer, easy summer snacks, how to, how to make, how to manzanas enchiladas, how to spiced apples, how to tamarind apple, how to tamarindo apple, howto, Juan Alanis, Juan of Words, Juanofwords, lifestyle, manzana tamarindo, manzanas enchiladas, mexi style, mexican, mexican food, mexican lifestyle, mexican snacks, mexican spiced apples, Mexican style, spiced apples, summer, tamarind and chile spiced apple, tamarind apple, tamarindo, tamarindo manzana

Last Saturday we ran into these apples at our local Matamoros Meat Market. We were there picking up a couple of fajita, chicken and chicharron tacos – oh, chicharron tacos are the best, though they don’t really fill me up as fast – and we were just about to pay, when Anjelica tapped me on the shoulder and said “hey look at this?” At first, I was a little confused. “What is that?” I responded. Then, it hit me.

“Oh they’re chile apples…”

Well actually, they’re called Manzanas Enchiladas. Otherwise known as Chile and Tamarind Spiced Apples, and as it turns out, they are quite the popular treat. Like so many other popular mexicanadas, these apples are covered in chile powder too. I have always said the best things in life are covered in spice!

Manzanas Enchiladas.

Of course, I also had to figure out how to make these babies. This video below was the best one I could find with step by step instructions. The audio is in Spanish, but the recipe and instructions are graphically presented in English. I’m definitely tempted to give the recipe a try. How about you?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-a9pjAfx4E]

Easy Snacks for the Summer: Mexican Corn – ‘Elote’

Jun 8, 2012 By Juan Alanis in Cositas Latinas, Culture, Food 4 Comments Tags: #mexistyle, corn with chile, diy, do it yourself, easy mexican snacks, easy mexican snacks for summer, easy snacks for summer, easy summer snacks, elote, elote con chile, how to, how to make, how to make mexican corn, how to make mexican corn on the cob, how to make mexican elote, howto, Juan Alanis, Juan of Words, Juanofwords, lifestyle, mexi style, mexican, mexican corn, mexican corn on the cob, mexican elote, mexican food, mexican lifestyle, mexican snacks, Mexican style, summer

Summertime means it’s time to ponerlos las pilas as adults, and parents. It’s the time of the year when most our kids are sitting at home saying things like I’m hungry! I’m bored. Can we go somewhere? And to which we can only reply nicely so many times. So rather than pulling out our hair this summer – as it is, mine is already turning gray – why not keep the kiddos busy with little summer projects like this one. After all, there really isn’t anything else quite like sharing a refresco and an elote with your loved ones. In this post we’ll be showing you How To make Mexican corn.

Step 1

You’ll of course need corn and a little bit of water to get started. Go ahead and remove the corn husk ends from all of your elotes – the hard part at the end – and remove the outer most husk leaves from your corn, exposing the softer inner leaves.

Step 2

Pour the water into your container or pot (that’s what I’m calling it), then add your whole corns into the pot, with their remaining husks. Once you’re done, cover it up and let the pot steam (15 minutes on high heat). You’ll want to be careful not to submerge the corn in water. The idea is to put only enough water in the pot to allow the corn to soften and steam.

Step 3

Wait 10 minutes to let the elotes cool before you remove the remaining corn husks from all of them. You’ll want to make certain they are completely clean of all corn husks by this point.

The Fixings

These ingredients are pretty standard fixings for Mexican corn on the cob, but feel free to be as creative as you want to be.

Step 4

I added butter to my elote, then mayonnaise, lemon, Parmesan cheese and Valentina sauce. Anjelica – those are her painted nails not mine, just FYI – on the other hand, opted for chili powder and queso fresco.

Step 5

Remember you can add as much of the fixings, like lemon, as you want.

Step 6

Cheese and chili are the biggest variables when making your own Mexican corn. There are so many varieties to choose from that sometimes you just have to go with what you know.