Mexican Cooking

[manticle]

Remind me next week that I need to buy that kennedy book

 

[indica86]

Just planted some tomatillos after buying a can and loving it.

 

[Dave70]

Yum!
Looks like there's a fart or two in that lot.

Interestingly, or not, I find once you get into the rhythm of eating pulses and legumes a few times a week, the farty side effects seem to go away. Must be something in the mitochondria.
For example, I smashed an XL sized bowl of made from scratch split pea and ham soup last night and am no more flatulent today than regular. For me.

 

[Mardoo]

Where did you find the seed? I had some going a few years ago but had to move suddenly and couldn’t take any seed with me.

 

[manticle]

@Dave70 - It's hard to count back from 10 p/h.

I rate quality over quantity, myself

 

[indica86]

Where did you find the seed?

http://greenharvest.com.au/SeedOrganic/VegetableSeeds/TomatilloToTurnip.html < I bought the purple ones and heaps came up.

 

[Mardoo]

Awesome. Thanks! If anyone reading this thread likes cooking Mexican food, there are few better choices you can make than sourcing fresh tomatillos. It's an inimitable flavour that just makes a lot of Mexican cooking "right".

 

[mondestrunken]

OK it's been a while since I had fresh tomatillos but here is my recipe for salsa verde:

12 tomatillos, chili(es), onion, garlic, coriander leaves (you decide for yourself how much of each you want!)
Remove the tomatillo husks and wash off the stickiness. Cover with water and boil for 20 minutes and drain, saving the water. Chuck everything in the food processor, adding enough of the cooking water until everything is combined but still a bit rough.

Enjoy.

One of the top three hottest things that I've ever eaten was eggs with salsa verde for breakfast in Mexico. God damn that was unreal. I thought the green stuff is supposed to be milder than the red, but that morning it was not the case.

 

[Mardoo]

In New Mexico at least, green chile can always go hotter than red.

 

[mondestrunken]

In New Mexico at least, green chile can always go hotter than red.

Yep it's not a traffic light system, as I discovered.

 

[Mardoo]

I find it’s all go go go

 

[indica86]

tomatillos

Never used fresh and only eaten canned once. Mind was blown.

https://patijinich.com/recipe/chicken-in-a-tomatillo-chipotle-and-brown-sugar-sauce/

 

[Mardoo]

You’ll think you’ve died and gone to heaven. Well, for me at least.

 

[Mardoo]

NM style green chile chicken enchiladas. They make their enchiladas flat in NM. The green chile sauce is just ground dried green chile, garlic, onion, stock and oregano. You’d use fresh or frozen chiles in NM, but needs must.

And yeah, the green chile is half again as hot as the red.

 

[Phoney]

Nice thread resurrection.

I made a Pozole verde de pollo the other day (green hominy soup with chicken). God damn, seriously one of the best soups I've ever made. Labour intenstive, yes, but oh so good.

Recipe is here and step by step instructions here. It can be a bit of a mission to get all the ingredients together. Luckily Coles seems to sell fresh Poblano chilis at the moment and I sub'd Anaheim with the ordinary long green chilis. A Fijian grocery store near me stocks lots of Mex foods eg: Canned Tomatillos, hominy, Mexican oregano etc.

I've made Pozole verde (red hominy soup) in the past, but I think this one wins. Next time i'll try it with pork

 

[Mardoo]

Man, pozole is incredible. I love green with pork. Try roasting the pork first, it gives it another level of flavour. I use a combination of belly and neck

I’ll have to check out the Fijian shops. You wouldn’t happen to be in eastern Melbourne, would you @Phoney ? I have a hard time finding Mexican oregano here, and zero luck with epazote. I should try online.

 

[Phoney]

Actually I was going to go one up on that. 6 hour smoked pork shoulder, pulled & thrown in. Not quite authentic but what the hell

I'm in Sydney (Fiji Market in Newtown).

Epazote I had to order from fireworks. Their shipping fees suck but they're the only store I could find. Otherwise there's seeds for sale on ebay but if I wanted to grow every obscure herb under the sun I'd have to live on a farm, not in the inner city..

 

[Bridges]

Casa Iberica a shop which is on Johnson St. and now is in Alphington too. It is awesome. They definitely have mexican oregano it's listed on their site. Among other things I buy my smoked paprika there, awesome shop. Not sure they have an online shop for anyone not in Melb, but it'd possibly be worth calling to ask if they ship.
No affiliation etc just a happy customer.

 

[yankinoz]

I've never been into Mexican food for a simple reason:

Go to an Indian Restaurant and you will be greeted by Jarveesh, Pradeep and his staff
Go to a Chinese Restaurant and Lin Ho will welcome you with open arms
Japanese restaurant - even the local sushi stall - girls and guys look like they are straight out of Kobe
I will not even attempt to pronounce the surname of the lovely couple who own the Old Bar "Thai Tea and Table" restaurant here.

Mexican Restaurants all seem to be run by fat bogans called Sheila and Doug who will happily microwave you a takeaway container of something swimming in red crap with something that looks like rolled up pancakes lurking under the slop.

Mexican has always seemed too much of a learning curve. Might get onto it eventually as I live on garlic and chillies.

By and large, Bribie, you're right, but should you wander down Melbourne way, check out Mamasita's. Two guys who run it are from NYC and Mexico City. They've backed off a bit on the muy autentico parts of the menu, but what's left is still good. On the other hand I know of a Mex restaurant in a town east of Melbourne whose name I've conveniently forgotten, where the cook is from Monterey, the Mexican one, and uses her mother's recipes. Trouble is mama couldn't cook; would you believe evaporated milk in damn near every recipe?

As for the original question, where to start, try getting a range of chiles (not chillis, aargh). Look in odd places. An Indian store in Belmont has pasillas, anchos, habaneros, guajillas, moritas and more. Get a source for quality tortillas. Then start with recipes for the various classic enchiladas. Fajitas are verboten. Tortillas are with few exceptions made with corn. In Mexico tacos used to be strictly street food, until tourists badgered the restaurant owners.

I promise I'll post a recipe for enchiladas suizas en mole poblano. Tender chicken strips and gruyere cheese rolled into fresh corn tortillas and baked in a sauce redolent with four chiles, bulked with ground pepitas and blessed with flavours as diverse as cumin, cinnamon (very light) and bitter chocolate.

Bribie, given your stated tastes, try a simple sopa de ajo (garlic soup). Dice fine every last clove of a large garlic, soften in butter, add a litre of real chicken stock with a little marjoram, simmer a few minutes, pour into crockery bowls, top with toast and a good Mexican queso fresco (halloumi is a better substitute than cheddar or Monterey jack), and stick under the broiler to melt and lightly brown the cheese.

 

[Bribie G]

Unlikely to get down to Melbourne but the garlic soup sounds brilliant, especially as I grow my own.
I don't own a broiler but possibly a grill might do the job.