Antojitos: Little Whims

From Baja California and Nuevo León on the northern border to Oaxaca and Chiapas in the south, from Veracruz on the east coast to Nayarit on the west, Mexico loves to eat. Here in Mexico, there's nothing more common on any menu than antojitos mexicanos: literally, "little Mexican whims."

Mexicans get hungry at all hours, and it's not entirely about physical need. Seductive aromas, exciting presentations on the plate and the crunchy sounds of chewing entice them to the 'little whims'. From the hand-lettered banner at the smallest street stand to the menu of the most elegant of restaurants, antojitos mexicanos are a staple on almost any Mexican bill of fare.

Most Mexican restaurants in the United States specialize in only one aspect of Mexican cooking—antojitos mexicanos. These are the corn and tortilla-based specialties that include the enchiladas, tacos, tamales, quesadillas, and tostadas that all evolved directly from original indigenous cooking. In Mexico today, these corn-based antojitos mexicanos are popular with rich and poor alike.  

Antojitos can include almost any traditional Mexican foods, but the term always refers to the corn kitchen. The gamut runs from budín azteca (a cream, cheese, chile and tortilla pie) to the numerous kinds of pozole (a hearty soup made with pork or chicken and fresh hominy) right through the alphabet to xolostle (a soup of chicken, corn and various spices).

Some of the most popular antojitos at restaurants and street stands are tacos, tostadas, sopes, gorditas, empanadas, enchiladas, and quesadillas. If you're North of the Border, most of those antojitos are not only easy to find in restaurants, but they're easy to prepare at home. Each is based on the same corn masa (dough).

In many cities North of the Border, you can buy prepared masa at a tortillería (tortilla making shop).  Even if you don't live next door to a tortillería (tortilla-making shop), masa harina (corn flour for dough) is available at supermarkets and Latin specialty shops all over the USA and Canada. You're sure to find common brands such as Quaker or Maseca. A word to the wise: don't try to use standard cornmeal to make masa. Masa harina and cornmeal are very different products.

Corn Masa

4 cups masa harina
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups hot but not boiling water

Place the masa harina and salt in a large bowl. Add the water and mix with your hands to make dough that comes together in a soft ball. Continue mixing and kneading until the dough is elastic enough to hold together without cracking, about 3 minutes. If you're making the dough ahead for later use, wrap the whole ball in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. Divide as needed.

Once you've prepared a batch of masa, you're well on the way to a Mexican feast.

Let's make sopes and gorditas for starters. You'll need basic utensils:

• Large, deep frying pan or wok
• Flat strainer with long handle
• A comal or heavy griddle

These basic ingredients will be used for the two antojitos:

• The prepared corn masa
• Large quantity of oil or lard for frying
• You'll also need frijoles refritos (well-fried beans) for both the sopes and the gorditas. You can buy them in cans if you'd rather take a shortcut to preparation, but traditionally you would prepare fresh beans at home.

 

Basic Preparation of Beans
One kilo (2.2 pounds) dried pinto or peruano beans
Water
Salt to taste

Clean the dried beans, removing any sticks, stones, or other foreign objects. Wash the beans in a colander under clear running water.

Put the beans in a large, heavy pot and add water to approximately three times the depth of the beans. Bring to a boil over high heat. Lower the heat to medium, loosely cover the beans, and allow them to cook until the beans are soft. Add water as needed to keep the beans from drying out. When finished, the bean liquid will be slightly thickened. The cooking process can take several hours.

Once the beans are completely cooked, add salt to taste. Salting the beans before or during cooking causes them to toughen.

Frijoles Refritos (Well-fried Beans)
Cooked beans
Lard or vegetable oil
1 or 2 chiles serrano (if desired). Slit each from tip to stem end
Salt to taste

In a large, heavy frying pan, melt the lard or heat the vegetable oil. Add the chiles and allow them to fry until they are nearly black. Carefully add the amount of beans that you will need to feed your family and/or guests. For six people, you will need approximately three cups of beans plus enough of the bean liquid to give the proper consistency to the finished dish.

Allow the beans to heat through. Once they are hot, begin to mash them and the chiles with a bean or potato masher. Add bean liquid as needed. Continue to mash the beans until they are smooth. You want the consistency of the well-fried beans to be thinner than peanut butter but not runny. Add additional salt, if necessary.

Gorditas
To prepare serving plates of the gorditas de frijoles, you'll need the following ingredients:

• Thinly shredded cabbage
• Salsa verde or roja
• Crumbled queso Cotija or queso fresco
• Chopped fresh cilantro
• Small-diced, fresh white onion

Make a ball of masa a little larger than a tennis ball. Flatten it to about a five-inch round. On half of the round, heap a large spoonful of frijoles refritos and a small spoonful of cheese. Fold the filled masa in half and shape into a thick, flat disk approximately three inches in diameter. Fill and shape as many as you will need.

Heat enough lard or oil in the wok or large, deep frying pan to fry two or three gorditas at a time. Slide the gorditas into the fat and allow them to fry until deep golden brown. Remove the gorditas from the fat with the strainer and then keep them hot on the comal or griddle. Drain on paper towels if needed.

To serve, split each gordita in half approximately one-third of the way from one edge of the disk. Open a flap of the gordita and place on a plate. Top with either salsa verde or salsa roja, shredded cabbage or lettuce, the cilantro, the diced onion, and crumbled cheese.  You can also add freshly cooked shredded chicken or beef.

Sopes
Make balls of fresh masa approximately two inches in diameter. Flatten each ball using just slight pressure of your hands until you have a disk approximately three inches in diameter. Pinch the entire circumference of the disk to form a vertical edge about one-quarter inch high. Set aside and continue to form the sopes.

Slide the sopes a few at a time into the same hot fat in which you fried the gorditas. Allow the sopes to fry until they are light golden brown but not crisp. Remove from fat with strainer and drain if necessary. Keep warm on the comal or griddle.

We can fill sopes with the same ingredients that we used for the gorditas, of course, but variety in flavors would be better if you're planning to serve the two antojitos at the same meal. We'll fill the sopes with shredded chicken or beef or some diced potatoes as well as with frijoles refritos.

For shredded chicken filling, poach boneless chicken breasts, cool, and shred.

For shredded beef filling, simmer a flank steak in enough water to cover, along with a clove or two of garlic, a chile Serrano or two, a teaspoon of sea salt, and half an onion, until the meat is very tender. Slice the steak into two inch pieces (across the grain) and shred.

For potato filling, dice several medium-size, white potatoes into small cubes. Cook in salted boiling water until tender. Drain. Fry in a little hot fat until light golden brown.

To assemble the sopes, smear the inside of each one with a teaspoon or two of well-fried beans. On top of the beans, add two tablespoons of either shredded chicken, shredded beef, or diced potato. Top with salsa roja or salsa verde, shredded lettuce, minced onion, thinly sliced radishes, and some crumbled cheese of the same kind you used for the gorditas.

Empanadas
Next we'll prepare empanadas. These are delicious savory-stuffed, folded, and fried tortillas  You'll use the same equipment that you used to make gorditas and sopes, with the addition of a tortilla press. Once you're used to pressing tortillas, this recipe will be easy to prepare.

 

Empanada Filling
The beef and vegetable filling for the empanadas could not be simpler.
1 pound lean ground beef
1 white onion, minced
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 chile Serrano, minced
1/2 pound frozen peas and carrots
1 tablespoon fat
Salt to taste

In a large heavy frying pan, melt a tablespoon of fat and sauté the onion, garlic, and chile until soft. Add the ground beef and continue to fry until the beef turns an even color. Add the vegetables, sauté briefly, and add salt to taste. Set aside.

 

Tortillas for Empanadas
Place a small sheet of plastic on the lower surface of a five-inch tortilla press. Make a golf-ball size ball of masa. Flatten slightly between your hands and place the flattened ball on the plastic. Place another sheet of plastic between the masa and the top surface of the press. Close the lid, push down on the handle, and open the press. Peel the plastic away from both surfaces of the tortilla. The tortilla will be approximately four inches in diameter.

Holding the raw tortilla in your hand, put a heaping tablespoonful of filling in its center. Fold the tortilla in half, enclosing the filling. Pinch the edges lightly to seal. Slip the raw empanada into the hot fat—the same hot fat you used to fry the gorditas and the sopes. Fry until golden brown and crisp. Remove from the fat with the strainer; drain. Repeat until you've made as many as you need for your crowd. The filling freezes well if you have more than you need.

To serve, arrange the crispy empanadas on a serving platter or put several on individual plates. Let them overlap one another. Pour a small amount of salsa verde over them and garnish with shredded lettuce and a sprinkle of crumbled cheese.

These three deliciously different antojitos  mexicanos will give you a real sense of being right here in the heart of Mexico. Put a mariachi CD in the player and get the whole family to help you with the preparations for your meal. All of you will enjoy the fun of preparing these typical and simple dishes from South of the Border. 

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