Tlacoyos

A pointed oval of masa stuffed with fava paste and cooked on a bare comal with no fat at all, topped with cactus.

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

Ingredients

the tlacoyos

• 500 g masa, as on its own page
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 200 g dried split fava beans
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon oil

on top

• 300 g nopalitos, as on their own page
• 150 g crumbly white cheese
• ½ small white onion, finely chopped
• a handful of coriander, chopped
• salsa verde, as on its own page

Method

1. IT IS A POINTED OVAL AND IT GOES ON A DRY COMAL WITH NO FAT AT ALL. Both halves of that matter. The shape is a lens -- wide in the middle, tapering to a point at each end -- made by rolling the stuffed ball under the palms and then flattening it, and it is what the name is attached to. And the cooking is bone dry: no oil on the iron, none brushed on the surface, nothing. The outside dries to a thin matt skin with dark blisters and the inside stays soft, and the taste is of toasted corn rather than of frying.
2. THE FAVA PASTE IS STUFFED IN BEFORE COOKING AND NOT AFTER. Dried split favas cooked down with garlic to a thick purée, cooled, and sealed inside each ball of masa before it is shaped. It cooks in there, and the finished tlacoyo cut across shows a pale green seam.
3. SPLIT FAVAS AND NOT WHOLE ONES. Whole dried favas keep their thick skins and need peeling one by one after soaking, which is an hour of work for the same result. Split ones are already skinned and collapse to a purée in forty minutes.
4. SIX MILLIMETRES THICK, WHICH IS THINNER THAN IT WANTS TO BE. A stuffed parcel pressed out naturally comes to a centimetre or more, and at that thickness the dry comal cannot get heat to the middle before the outside is hard. Pressed down to six millimetres it cooks through in three or four minutes a side.
5. THE NOPALES GO ON LAST AND THEY MUST BE DRY. Cactus holds a lot of water and releases it readily; spooned on wet it soaks straight into the masa and the whole thing goes limp. Drained well and even patted on a cloth first, it sits on top instead of sinking in.
6. The split favas rinsed, covered with 1 litre of water with the garlic, and simmered 40 MINUTES until completely collapsed.
7. Beaten to a thick purée with the oil and a teaspoon of salt, then cooked a few minutes more if loose: it must be stiff enough to hold a shape. Cooled.
8. The masa kneaded with the salt and divided into 8 balls.
9. Each flattened in the palm, a tablespoon of fava purée placed in the middle, and the masa closed over and sealed.
10. Rolled under the palms into a short fat sausage, then pressed between plastic into a POINTED OVAL about 12 cm long and 6 mm thick, tapering at both ends.
11. A comal or heavy frying pan over a medium heat, COMPLETELY DRY.
12. Cooked 3 to 4 MINUTES a side, until matt, freckled and firm, with dark blisters where it touched.
13. The nopalitos drained thoroughly and patted dry.
14. Each tlacoyo topped with salsa verde, then the nopalitos, then cheese, onion and coriander. Eaten hot.

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