Romeritos

The sprigs boiled and then squeezed dry in the hands before they meet the mole, or they water it down.

Chicken, Shellfish, Egg. Not vegetarian — contains chicken, lard, shellfish.

Ingredients

the greens

• 700 g romeritos (seepweed sprigs), picked over
• 1 tablespoon salt, for the water

the fritters

• 100 g dried shrimp, ground to a powder
• 3 eggs, separated
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• oil, for frying

the sauce

• 600 ml mole poblano, as on its own page
• 400 g new potatoes, boiled and halved
• 200 g nopalitos, as on their own page

Method

1. THE SPRIGS ARE BOILED AND THEN SQUEEZED DRY IN THE HANDS BEFORE THEY MEET THE MOLE, or they water it down. Romeritos are fine succulent sprigs and they hold an extraordinary amount of water -- seven hundred grams boiled and drained in a colander will still release several hundred millilitres when gathered into a ball and squeezed between the palms. Tipped into a mole straight from the colander, that water thins a sauce that took an hour to build, and no amount of further reduction gets it back without overcooking the greens. Squeezed hard first, they go into the mole and the mole stays a mole.
2. THEY ARE BOILED BRIEFLY AND REFRESHED. Four or five minutes in heavily salted water, then straight into cold water. They are delicate and go from tender to grey collapse quickly, and the cold water stops them there and keeps the colour.
3. THEY ARE PICKED OVER SPRIG BY SPRIG AND IT TAKES A WHILE. The tough lower stems and any yellowed strands come off; what is wanted is the fine upper sprigs. This is twenty minutes of work for seven hundred grams and it is the actual labour of the dish -- a tough stem does not soften at all.
4. THE SHRIMP FRITTERS ARE FOLDED FROM WHISKED WHITES AND FRIED SEPARATELY. Dried shrimp ground to a powder, folded into stiff whites with the yolks and a little flour, and dropped in spoonfuls into hot oil. They are then added to the mole at the very end. Cooked in the sauce, they disintegrate and the mole turns gritty and strongly fishy.
5. THE MOLE IS NOT MADE FOR THIS AND IS BORROWED. Six hundred millilitres of mole poblano from its own page. It is thinned slightly with water or stock, because romeritos and potatoes need a sauce that coats rather than clings, and then the squeezed greens go in for five minutes only.
6. The romeritos picked over SPRIG BY SPRIG, tough lower stems and yellowed strands discarded.
7. Boiled in heavily salted water 4 to 5 MINUTES, then drained and plunged into COLD water.
8. Drained again, then GATHERED INTO BALLS AND SQUEEZED HARD between the palms. A surprising amount of water will come out. Squeezed a second time.
9. The dried shrimp ground to a powder.
10. The egg whites whisked to stiff peaks, then the yolks, the flour and the shrimp powder FOLDED in.
11. Spoonfuls dropped into hot oil and fried 1 to 2 MINUTES a side until golden. Drained on a rack.
12. The mole poblano warmed in a wide pan and thinned slightly with water so it COATS rather than clings.
13. The boiled potatoes and the nopalitos added and warmed through 5 minutes.
14. The SQUEEZED romeritos added and stirred through. Simmered 5 MINUTES ONLY.
15. CHECKED: the sauce should still be a mole, not a thin liquid. If it has thinned, the greens were not squeezed enough.
16. The shrimp fritters laid ON TOP at the last moment and served at once.

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