Panuchos

A tortilla puffed on the griddle, slit along the edge and sealed full of bean paste, then fried with the beans inside it.

Chicken. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, lard.

Ingredients

the panuchos

• 12 corn tortillas, as on their own page, freshly made and still puffed
• 300 g refried beans, as on their own page, made with black beans and dried stiff
• oil, for shallow frying

on top

• 400 g chicken thigh, poached and shredded
• 1 red onion, sliced thin and pickled in the juice of 3 limes with 1 teaspoon salt
• shredded lettuce
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 habanero, sliced very thin

Method

1. THE PUFFED TORTILLA IS SLIT AND THE BEANS GO INSIDE THE POCKET. This is the whole construction and it depends on catching the tortilla at the right moment. As it comes off the griddle it is domed up with steam, and that dome is a pocket between two separate skins. A knife run along the edge opens it, a spoonful of stiff bean paste goes in, and the slit is pressed shut. Then it fries with the beans sealed inside. Beans spread on TOP of a tortilla and fried gives you something perfectly edible that is not a panucho: the beans burn against the pan and the layering is lost.
2. THE TORTILLA MUST BE FRESH AND IT MUST HAVE PUFFED. A bought tortilla, or a day-old one, has no pocket -- the two faces have settled against each other and stuck -- and a knife simply cuts it in half. Which is why the corn tortilla page comes first: panuchos are made in the ten minutes after a batch comes off the griddle.
3. THE BEAN PASTE IS DRIED STIFFER THAN IT WOULD BE TO EAT. Loose beans leak out through the slit in the pan and burn in the oil. Dried down until a spoon stands in them, they stay where they are put. And they are the only seasoning inside the thing, so they are salted more than seems right on the spoon.
4. IT IS FRIED BRIEFLY AND ON BOTH SIDES. A minute or so a side in shallow oil, to firm the outside and heat the beans through. The aim is a panucho that holds its toppings without shattering -- firm, not brittle. Fried hard it snaps into pieces at the first bite and everything lands on the plate.
5. THE SLIT IS LEFT AT THE BACK WHEN IT IS SERVED. Frying seals it shut, but a panucho put on the plate with the cut edge towards the eater leaks a little bean onto the fingers. Turned round, it does not.
6. The refried beans made as on their own page with black beans, and DRIED FURTHER over a low heat until a spoon STANDS in them. Salted well and kept warm.
7. The red onion covered with lime juice and salt and left at least 1 hour.
8. The chicken thigh poached 35 minutes until tender and pulled into strands.
9. A batch of corn tortillas made as on their own page and kept in the cloth. Worked with WHILE STILL WARM AND PUFFED.
10. One tortilla taken, and a small knife run along the edge to open the pocket between its two faces, two-thirds of the way round.
11. A heaped tablespoon of bean paste spooned in and spread to the edges with the back of the spoon, then the SLIT PRESSED SHUT.
12. All twelve filled the same way before any are fried.
13. A frying pan with 5 mm of oil over a medium heat. The panuchos fried 1 MINUTE a side, until firm and lightly golden but still flexible. Drained on paper.
14. Topped with lettuce, the shredded chicken, avocado, a heap of pickled onion and a few slivers of habanero.
15. Served with the slit edge facing AWAY from the eater.

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