Huaraches

A long oval of masa with bean paste sealed inside it before shaping, finished in oil and loaded with steak.

Beef. Not vegetarian — contains beef, cheese whose rennet the source does not name.

Ingredients

the bases

• 500 g masa, as on its own page
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 200 g black beans, cooked and mashed to a stiff paste
• oil, for frying

on top

• 400 g skirt or flank steak
• 1 tablespoon oil
• salsa verde, as on its own page
• 150 g crumbly white cheese
• 1 small white onion, finely chopped
• a handful of coriander, chopped

Method

1. THE BEAN PASTE GOES INSIDE THE MASA BEFORE IT IS SHAPED, AND THAT IS WHAT DISTINGUISHES IT. A ball of masa is opened out, a spoonful of stiff bean paste put in the middle, the masa closed over it and sealed, and only THEN is the whole thing pressed out long. The beans end up as a dark seam running through the middle of the base, cooked into it. Spread on top instead, they are a topping like any other and the base underneath is plain masa.
2. THE PASTE MUST BE STIFF OR IT BURSTS OUT. Beans mashed wet will find the thinnest part of the masa under pressing and break through, and a base that leaks sticks to the plastic and tears. Mashed and then dried out in a pan until a spoon stands up in it, the paste presses out with the dough instead of escaping it.
3. IT IS SHAPED THE LENGTH OF A SHOE SOLE, which is where the name comes from and also why it cannot be pressed in a tortilla press. Twenty centimetres long, eight wide, oval with blunt ends -- done by hand between two sheets of plastic, pressing from the middle out towards each end with the heel of the hand.
4. IT IS FINISHED IN OIL AND NOT ON A DRY COMAL. A few millimetres of oil in a wide pan, and the base goes in after its turn on the griddle. The outside blisters and crisps while the bean seam inside stays soft, and that contrast is the thing. Cooked dry throughout it is a large plain flatbread.
5. THE STEAK IS COOKED HARD AND FAST AND RESTED. A smoking pan, two or three minutes a side for something as thin as skirt, then off the heat for five minutes before it is sliced ACROSS the grain. Sliced straight away the juice runs out onto the board; sliced along the grain it is stringy however well it was cooked.
6. The black beans mashed and dried in a pan over a low heat until a spoon will stand in them. Cooled.
7. The masa kneaded with the salt and divided into 4 balls.
8. Each ball flattened in the palm, a heaped tablespoon of bean paste placed in the centre, and the masa drawn up and SEALED over it. Rolled smooth again.
9. Pressed between two sheets of plastic, by hand from the middle outwards, to an oval about 20 cm long, 8 cm wide and 6 mm thick.
10. A dry griddle over a medium heat: 3 MINUTES a side, until freckled and firm enough to lift in one piece.
11. A wide frying pan with 4 mm of oil set over a medium-high heat. The bases fried 2 minutes a side until blistered and crisp. Drained on paper and kept warm.
12. The steak rubbed with oil and seasoned, and cooked in a very hot dry pan 2 to 3 MINUTES a side.
13. RESTED 5 minutes, then sliced thinly ACROSS the grain.
14. Each base spread with salsa verde, piled with steak, and finished with cheese, onion and coriander.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Mexico · All recipes