Flautas with Tomatillo Sauce for Dinner

My son and his significant other were here to visit at the end of July, and one of his food requests was Flautas. I lived in Guatemala during the 1970s to late 1981, and had all four of my children while living there. In Guatemala, at least at that time, these things that are called "flautas" in Mexican restaurants in the U.S., were called "Mexican Tacos." Mexican tacos were always rolled into tubes in a corn tortilla, then fried. 
 

Flautas (meaning "flutes") or Mexican Tacos

In Guatemala, conversely, "tacos" were never fried, but were just a fresh corn tortilla with some kind of shredded meat (chicken or beef, usually) and possibly some fresh onion and parsley folded into the tortilla with the meat. On the table would be at minimum two choices of salsa to put onto the meat, sometimes up to 4 different kinds. Some would be tomato based salsas, some tomatillo based, some would be hot, some not. And usually there would be either pickled jalapeño peppers and/or freshly smashed chiltepe chiles (known in Mexican groceries as Chiltepin or Piquin) in lime juice. There was always something for everyone to flavor their tacos to their heart's desire and heat tolerance. They were amazing, and amazingly good!

Tomatillos in Husk

But, this blog is on the topic of "flautas," or Mexican Tacos. I found a recipe long, long ago, and the flautas turn out so good that I haven't bothered to change it much. In the past, I have made an avocado based sauce to dip the flautas in, but this time I wanted to try out a tomatillo sauce. In case you have not used tomatillos, they are small husked fruits that look a lot like green tomatoes, once the husk is removed. To buy them, either peel back the husk a bit to look, or at least feel the fruit inside to make sure it is firm and smooth. When the husk is removed, the fruit has a bit of a sticky substance on them, so don't be surprised when fingers pick up that stickiness. Tomatillos are also tart like a green tomato, so they can be used as a substitute, if necessary.

Flautas with tomatillo sauce for dinner, with rice, black beans & guacamole

I knew the flautas would turn out well, so I focused on making a tomatillo sauce that would be pleasing to the palate and a good pairing with the flautas themselves. In my mind, I felt that using a Poblano pepper would add a little heat without being too much, and of course, onion, garlic and cilantro. Salt and pepper are a must, as well as oregano, which turns up in surprising places in Guatemalan cooking. Allspice is also used often, so that would also go in. My idea was to broil all the vegetables until browned or blackened (in the case of the Poblano pepper). Whether or not to cook the sauce afterwards was a question to be answered later.

Tomatillo Sauce

Tomatillo Sauce

Makes about 1¾ cups sauce

8 medium tomatillos, husks removed
1 Poblano pepper
1 medium onion, in wedges
3 large cloves fresh garlic
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1 small bunch cilantro with stems
1 tablespoon fresh oregano leaves
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
¼ teaspoon ground allspice

Heat the broiler and have a rack on the second shelf down from top. Rinse the tomatillos, then set them onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil. Place the Poblano pepper on the sheet as well. Place under the broiler and broil the pepper until it is blackened and blistered all over, turning as needed, then remove to a zip top bag to steam until cool enough to handle. Once the tomatillos have little black or browned spots, turn over to brown the other side. Once done on both sides, remove them to a blender container, using tongs.

Separate the onion into individual bits and set them onto the baking sheet, along with the garlic cloves. Allow the garlic to turn brown on both sides NOT black!), then remove to blender container. With tongs, toss the onion pieces periodically, until they have some blackened edges and a heavenly smell, then remove them to the blender container.

Once the Poblano pepper is cool enough to handle, remove all the blackened skins. Rinse of any remaining skins, then split the pepper open and remove the stem, seeds and membranes. Place the pepper with the other ingredients in the blender container, along with the remaining ingredients. Blend the mixture to a puree and serve. No need to cook it, it tastes great just as is!  If serving later, store in a sealed container in the refrigerator.

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Flautas just fried

When it came to making the flautas, in the past I had always first cooked a whole chicken until done, then removed and discarded all skin and bones, then shredded the chicken meat. This time, with most every grocery store selling rotisserie chickens, I opted to use a rotisserie chicken and save some time. The rest of the recipe is simple and easy, though these flautas call for first frying the tortilla, to make it pliable but not breakable when being rolled, then filling and rolling and frying again, until lightly golden and crisp. It is helpful to use toothpicks to secure the edges until the flautas are fried and can hold their shape.

How many flautas can be made from a recipe using one chicken will depend entirely on how large your tortillas are. I had small ones, about 6-inches in diameter, and got about 30 little Flautas from the recipe. Using larger 8-inch tortillas, you might get 20 or so. Be aware that the filling needs to be scant, or it is impossible to roll and secure the tortilla for frying. After making a few, you will see about how much filling can be safely used per tortilla.

As I truly hate deep frying anything, this recipe is a real chore for me, and I prefer to shallow fry rather than deep fry.

Flautas

Flautas

Makes 20 to 30, depending on size

1 rotisserie chicken
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 (14-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 (4-ounce) can mild chopped green chilies
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon salt
⅛ teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper
25 - 35 corn tortillas
vegetable oil, for frying

Remove the meat from the rotisserie chicken, discarding skin and bones. Shred the meat into long shreds and set aside.

Heat a skillet and add the 2 tablespoons olive oil. Fry the onion in the oil until very tender. Add in the tomatoes, green chilies and garlic, cooking for a couple of minutes to meld flavors. Add in the shredded chicken, cumin, salt and pepper and toss well to blend all the seasonings with the chicken. Set aside to cool slightly.

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add in about ½-inch of oil. Heat the oil to quite hot, but not smoking, then one at a time, place a tortilla in the oil for a few seconds on each side, until pliable but not browned, then remove to paper toweling to drain. Begin filling each fried tortilla with some of the filling mixture, rolling and securing with a toothpick to hold the edge closed. Add more oil to the pan in small amounts, as needed to keep the level at about ½-inch deep. Once done with the tortillas, fry the rolled flautas, turning as needed until they are golden brown. Remove them to paper toweling. Serve warm with Tomatillo Sauce.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

A Sonoran Style of Beef Stew

The Sonoran desert region, encompassing the state of Sonora in Mexico, Baja California, much of southern Arizona and some of lower California, is a sizeable area, and with a lot of the Southwestern flavors to the foods involved. When thinking of southwestern food, it is not all the Tex-Mex stuff that has gotten so common (Hot dogs??? Really???). There are foods and flavors that come of long standing in those desert regions. 

Sonoran Style Beef Stew

Pumpkins and squash, beans of many types, peppers of all description, corn, tomatoes, tomatillos sweet potato, nopal cactus; these are commonly known in Sonora, Mexico, and have been used to comprise much of the traditional cuisine. Spices and herbs are also quite specific, things like Mexican oregano, thyme, cilantro, epazote, annatto seed, chili powders, cloves, coriander, cumin, and "Mexican cinnamon" (or true cinnamon), cacao, vanilla and other more exotic spices. 

My Pueblo Pumpkin Stew

Some years ago, my sister sent me a recipe from Eating Well (no longer available on their site) called Pueblo Pumpkin Stew. The flavors are just absolutely amazing, and I have made that stew many times. It is really pretty as a picture and hearty, despite being meatless. Today, thinking about what to make for dinner, I just went to look at what I had in the freezer for meat, and came up with stew meat. My husband loves stew and so do I. I got the meat out thinking to use it in one of my common stews, but on the way up the stairs, the recipe for Pueblo Pumpkin Stew popped into my head, and my mind took off, thinking of how to incorporate those flavors into a beef stew. 

First off, I felt that pumpkin or squash (in this case I used both) should be in the stew. Beans of some kind, tomatoes. Peppers. I used both the mild chopped green chilies along with a bell pepper instead of the Anaheim chilies called for in the Pueblo Pumpkin Stew. I wanted corn to be represented also, but not sweet corn. Instead I used a couple of tablespoons of Maseca, the dry mix that is used to make corn tamales, mixed into some water and added in. What an amazing boost to the flavor!  

As for spices, I wanted to run with a mixture that was truer to the Mexican desert than using Garam Masala as was called for in the Pueblo Pumpkin Stew. Granted, most of the spices in Garam Masala are also common to those used in Sonora, but not necessarily all, and there are some not at all common in the Indian spice panoply, such as annatto or cocoa. I decided to concoct a spice mixture that would encompass those flavors I was looking for in a spice mixture and came up with this:

Sonoran Spice Mix

Annatto Seeds

Makes almost ½ cup

2 tablespoons ground cumin seed
2 tablespoons ground coriander seed
2 teaspoons grated nutmeg
2 teaspoons ground Mexican cinnamon
2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons ground annatto powder
2 teaspoons ground ancho powder

Stir together well and store in a glass jar in a cool dark place. Use 1 to 3 teaspoons as needed for flavor.

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I thawed my stew meat and got started making the stew, which simmered at very low heat (220 degree oven) for a few hours. I may not have needed that many hours, but I had a doctor appointment and needed something I could leave in the oven without worry. There is not a lot of hot spiciness to this dish. Should that type of heat define "Mexican cooking" then by all means add in hot chilies to your heart's content. This is the recipe for what I created:

Sonoran Style Beef Stew

Sonoran Style Beef Stew

Serves about 6

1 large or 2 medium onions
1 tablespoon olive oil for frying, more if needed
4 to 6 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound beef stew meat, in 1-inch cubes
2 cups pureed cooked pumpkin or squash (or use ½ to 1 can pumpkin puree)
1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
3 small (4.5 ounce) cans chopped green chilies
1½ cups fresh peeled squash (butternut, buttercup, kabocha) in ½-inch dice
1 green bell pepper in 1-inch squares, about 1½ cup
2 tablespoons fresh thyme leaves
2 teaspoons Sonoran Spice Mix) see above
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons Maseca, dissolved into 1 cup water
1 (15-ounce) can white beans, well drained and rinsed

Have ready a large, oven safe, heavy stew pot with lid. Preheat oven to 220 degrees, or adjust to whatever will keep a very low simmer.

Heat a large skillet and add in the oil. Halve the onions, then slice across about ¼-inch thick, then cut across the half-rounds once. Sauté the onions in the hot skillet, tossing occasionally, until they start to brown. Add the garlic and sauté a few minutes more.

While the onions are sautéing, add to the stew pot the pureed pumpkin/squash, the fresh squash chunks, tomatoes, chopped green chilies, bell pepper, thyme leaves, Sonoran Spice Mix and salt. When the onions and garlic are done, add them to the pot. 

Add half the meat to the hot skillet and brown on all sides quickly, then add to the pot, and repeat with the remaining meat. Stir together, cover with a tight fitting lid and place in the oven for 2 hours, checking for liquid levels. Add water only if needed.

Remove the pot from the oven and set the lid aside. Stir in the Maseca and water mixture and the drained and rinsed beans. Stir well, cover and bake for another hour at least. 

As with most stews, this is great served immediately, but will also benefit from reheating.




My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

What in the World is Pozole

Nixtamalized Corn, Pozole, or Hominy, oh My!

Pozole (or sometimes spelled "Posole") is a word I had heard, but couldn't really say for certain where I had heard it. And, nor did I know exactly what it was, except for that I thought it had to do with corn. Not just any corn, but the kind used to make corn tortillas, where it has been "nixtamalized," or soaked/cooked in "cal" (calcium hydroxide or pickling lime). This corn is sometimes called hominy and sometimes pozole. 

Nixtamalized corn (hominy or pozole) is made with larger "field corn" types rather than little "sweet corn" kernels. It can be made with white corn or yellow corn (most commonly), but also with others like blue corn, red and other varieties. The process of cooking and/or soaking the corn with calcium hydroxide is: 

1. to increase the bio-availability of proteins, calcium and niacin, and . . .



Corn Tortillas pressed above and patted below

2. it loosens and softens the outer skins (the bran) of the kernels, making them easy to rub off and discard.

The corn, once cooked this way with the skins discarded but still retaining the germ, is the type used to make corn tortillas or later, corn chips. When fresh, it has a smell unlike any other. If unaccustomed to this smell, it may not appeal, but once you've gotten used to absolutely fresh corn tortillas, made from this freshly ground nixtamalized corn,  and hand-patted, seen in the lower photo right, by a woman (or even some children - and I'm not discriminating, but truly I have NEVER seen a man do this!) skilled in this process, well, all I can say is that those super-pressed-flat and too-easy-to-crumble corn tortillas you buy in a store, seen in the upper photo above, just have no appeal left - at all!

So what is Pozole, Then?

Okay then, back to the original statement. Pozole is nothing more than hominy, and hominy is nothing more than nixtamalized corn. Aha! 

Nixtamalized Dried Corn next to a nickel and a dime

When I looked online to buy nixtamalized dried corn, much of the terminology was confusing, and I was unsure if any given item was truly what I was looking for. One person, in a review, stated that to be sure, to look for the term "Mote Pelado" on the label. I had no idea what the term "mote" meant, but I did understand "pelado," which means peeled, and nixtamalized corn is peeled. Once I found what I was looking for, I just ordered it, as I was tired from looking all over the place. Then it arrived, and holy cow! Those kernels were huge! Of course once I looked at the bag, it said "Giant White Kernels." They were not kidding!

Then, I found out that there is also a stew called pozole. It is Mexican, as far as I can ascertain, though to me, flavor-wise, it could very easily be Guatemalan as well. It is made with these nixtamalized kernels, whether hominy from a can, hominy made fresh or dried and soaked hominy/pozole. The pozole stew is made either green or red. It is made with pork or with chicken - or both. 

Pork Pozole Verde

 
I started looking at recipes online as usual, then as I got an idea of what I was looking to create, I made a recipe for myself. I used my own recipe for Salsa Verde, or Green Sauce, since all the ingredients that are in the green sauce are also in a green pozole stew. I went with the green version, for this reason. Plus, I love the flavor of my own Salsa Verde! 

Pozole Stew, Red or Green, and Why? 

Mirasol Chili left & Guajillo dried version right

A pozole/stew can be made "red" or "green." The difference is in the chili peppers used to make the sauce. For a red sauce, you would use dried red chilies, mainly guajillo and ancho, as far as I can see from various online recipes I perused. Guajillo chilies are somewhat hotter/medium spicy dried red chilies that are smooth and long. They are the dried version of Mirasol Chilies, so called because "mira sol" means look to the sun, and these chilies grow pointing upwards, rather than hanging down. A large quantity of both Guajillo and Ancho Chilies are used to make the sauce for red pozole. First they are soaked, then seeds and membranes are removed, then they are blended into a fine puree, along with fried onion and garlic.

Poblano Chili left and Ancho dried version right

Ancho chilies are also a dried red chili, larger, broader and the skin is very crinkly. Anchos start their lives as Poblano peppers. Most groceries seem to carry Poblanos these days. Once a green pepper (of most varieties) matures, it turns red. Once mature, the chili, when dried, will look very dark, as you see with an Ancho pepper. As far as heat levels go, Poblanos and Anchos can be fairly hot (rarely as hot as a Jalapeno), but sometimes they are very mild indeed. 

Tomatillos of the Nightshade Family

To make my Salsa Verde, in this instance, I used Anaheim chilies, since my grocery was totally out of Poblano chilies! I used a about 8 of them in the recipe, as they are smaller and narrower than Poblano chilies. The other things that make the sauce green are tomatillos, which are a fruit in the nightshade family, just as are tomatoes and peppers of all varieties. They look like ground cherries as they have a husk that covers the fruit inside. They are similar in flavor to a small green tomato and have a high acidity.

Since I was making my Pork Pozole Verde in my slow cooker, I browned the meat, cut into cubes of about 3-inches square. Once browned, I moved the pieces to the slow cooker and added the green sauce with the remaining ingredients and slow cooked all day long. 

In most of the Green Pozole recipes I read online epazote was added to the pot.

Epazote or Apazote

Epazote is a weed that is used at least in Mexico and Guatemala - maybe other countries. Generally in Guatemala it is added to black beans while cooking, hopefully to mitigate the after-effects of eating beans! It grows wild all over the place down there, and I also found it growing by the wayside while living in Florida. The herb has a very peculiar and pungent smell and flavor. Up north, obviously it is not found growing wild, so I ordered dried epazote. I had grown to love the flavor it gave to my black beans, and so still use it. I used it in this stew also, but it is obviously not completely necessary.

Traditionally, the stew is served in bowls with lots of side bits to add as desired: sliced radishes, cubed avocado, lime wedges, chopped onion, hot chili powder among other things. I served mine with lime wedges, though my husband would never add more lime to a food. He's not keen on sour notes. Nor is he keen on avocados, and dislikes radishes and chopped onion anyway. SO! We just went with the stew as is, and it was still truly delicious.

Two last things: If you cannot bring yourself to hunt out the dried nixtamalized corn/pozole/mote pelado, it is possible to add in drained, canned hominy, though it should be added towards the end of cooking time so it does not totally disintegrate. Second, this can be made in a large pot on the stove or in the oven, cooking through slowly over 3 to 4 hours.

Pork Pozole Verde

Serves 8 or more

Pork Pozole Verde

2 cups dried, nixtamalized corn/pozole
4 pounds pork shoulder, cut in 3-inch chunks
oil, for frying
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2½ to 3 cups Salsa Verde, made with
6 Poblanos or 8 Anaheim chilies
more hot chilies as desired, chopped
1 onion, coarsely chopped
6 to 8 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon freshly minced oregano
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, lightly ground
1 teaspoon dried epazote or 2 sprigs fresh, optional
1 bay leaf
1 - two additional teaspoons salt, as needed
a few grinds of black pepper
1 - 2 potatoes, peeled, cubed

The night prior to making the pozole, place the dried pozole corn in a large bowl and cover with large quantities of water. Cover and soak overnight. In the morning, drain, reserving the liquid.

In the morning, combine the flour and first teaspoon salt and dredge the chunks of meat in the flour. Brown the meat thoroughly on all sides, then place them into the slow cooker. (You will need a large slow cooker for this recipe.) Add in the Salsa Verde, extra hot chilies per your spice level, the onion, garlic, oregano, cumin, epazote, bay leaf, one more teaspoon salt and pepper. Add in the potatoes and the soaked/drained pozole corn along with 2 cups of the drained liquid. During cooking, add more of the liquid if needed to maintain a soup/stew consistency.

My slow cooker has only Hi or Low settings, and I cooked it on high for 6 hours. Once the meat is tender, remove the meat chunks and shred. Return the meat to the pot and check for salt. If needed, add more. Garnish the bowls of stew with chopped cilantro and wedges of lime and serve.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Guatemala Dreaming: Trying out some typical recipes

Page from the cookbook for my daughter - note the
very stained page from my notebook.

Tomatillos (Miltomates)

Lately I have been thinking about Guatemala, talking about Guatemala and making Guatemalan dishes that I had not made in a while, as well as some I had never made. I really enjoyed my time in Guatemala. I was 20 years young and willing to learn so many things that so vastly diverged from anything I had previously known in my upper Midwest upbringing. 

I made a "cookbook" of a sort for my oldest daughter when she turned 40, with all sorts of recipes and photos. Unfortunately, though I had made many of these recipes, I had not been so photography-minded back then. Nowadays I take photos of almost anything I make, to have a record of it in case I may need it some day. With a blog, website and Pinterest, I do use a lot of photos. I do have a couple of notebooks and a handful of recipe cards I wrote out, with lots of typical Guatemalan dishes, some of which I had made often and others I have yet to try. My sister gave me the idea to make this cookbook, mainly because some of my recipes are so terribly stained you can really see how well they have been used. The result is one I am quite proud of - and yet - the pictures and the recipes are for the most part, not "mine." I "Swiped from the best with pride," as they say, filling the pages with photos I took from the internet, since it was meant only for my daughter's eyes.

At this point in time, I could nearly fill the book with food photos of my own. I have been consistently making dishes and getting photos where possible. I wish that I had photos of all the places I visited back in the 1970s; sadly, I do not. Short of a nice long photography trip back to Guatemala, I have little hope of ever having those type of photos for a book. It was a most interesting time in my life and one I will always treasure. One of the many spices I learned about while there was Annatto:

Annatto - Bixa orellana

Annatto Seeds (Achiote)

Annatto seeds, called achiote (a-CHO-tay) in Guatemala, are a spice from the pods of the Bixa orellana tree. The tree produces fruits that are vaguely heart-shaped, with thick, spiky hairs all over them. When the fruit matures, the pod opens to reveal the orangey seeds inside. The seeds are orange to red in color, and the outer, powdery orange coating on the seeds is what is used for flavor and color in so many of the dishes in Guatemala as well as many of the other central, South American and Caribbean cuisines. It will make rice a lovely yellow color similar to saffron, though with a different flavor component. Depending on how much annatto is used, more flavor can come through, lending a signature flavor to things such as Hilachas, the recado that goes on top of tamales or chuchitos and Arroz con Pollo. This is by far an incomplete list, as these seeds are use widely and extensively. 

I was cautioned, while in Guatemala, to avoid ever grinding the whole seed, as the inner seed is bitter and will ruin the flavor of a dish. I have never substantiated this admonition. 

While I mainly write of these seeds as a spice, the reddish color they lend is also used in other varied ways. In some of the native cultures of these countries the red color, which rubs off of the seeds easily, is used "cosmetically" as a lip or cheek color. Many American processed cheeses, as well as some Cheddar or Colby cheeses are given their appetizing yellow orange color with annatto seeds. 



"Pollo en Jocon"
or Chicken in Green Sauce

So that brings me back to the present. I love the flavor of Green Sauce or "Salsa Verde". It uses tomatillos as the green base, along with all other green things, such as green pepper, celery, parsley and cilantro. I have been making it recently and using it to braise pork, which is heavenly, but not Guatemalan so far as I know. What I had never really made was Carne or Pollo en Jocon. This is a stewed dish with either beef or chicken, and a green sauce thickened with corn tortillas or corn masa (a substitute can be using corn masa flour as the thickening agent). It is served over Guatemalan Style Rice, usually made as the Guatemalans do, with the addition of onion, carrot, peas, celery and/or green pepper. Sometimes annatto seed is cooked in oil and this colored oil is also added. Since my son and his wife were coming to visit this past weekend, I decided sort of last-minute to make the Carne (Beef) en Jocon. It was a real hit; so much so that the kids were arguing over the leftovers later. I decided to make it again, since they obviously had not had their fill, and this time with chicken.

Today, for whatever reason, I started thinking about Pepian, another very typically Guatemalan dish, and one I have never made. It is another stew type dish, made with beef or chicken usually, but this sauce is more red, and made with tomatoes, toasted sesame and pumpkin seeds, dried chili peppers such as ancho and guaque and possibly some annatto seeds for color. It is also served over rice, but may have the addition of vegetables such as carrot, potato or chayote squash. There are so many wonderful flavors in Guatemalan cooking and sometimes I become nostalgic. I am so grateful both for the time I spent in that country and for my ability to cook all these wonderful dishes.



My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Pollo en Jocon; a Gutemalan Dish Using Green Sauce

Pollo en Jocon is basically a cooked chicken in green sauce. The dish can as easily be made with a beef roast (making it "Carne en Jocon") as with chicken, and I can tell you from experience that green sauce is truly excellent paired with pork also.

A few days back I wrote about making green sauce, or Salsa Verde. The recipe is absolutely delightful, and I really need to make more to keep around. I also promised a picture, which I have here, for this post. Though my husband is mostly unfamiliar with green sauce, being an upper Midwest guy (I am an Ohio gal myself, but got where I am via Guatemala for 12 years), he really liked the flavors of the chicken in the green sauce, so I took that as a big coup; winning his approval.

Pollo en Jocon

Guatemalan sauces very often contain sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds, called "pepitoria". These are in most of the sauces, whether sweet or savory. Things like mole, whether a savory mole over chicken, or a sweet mole over plantains, contain these seeds, toasted and ground. Guatemalan tamales have these seeds in the sauce that is made to go over top of the tamal. Again, the tamales there have 2 versions, a sweet and a savory, and the sauce starts out the same for either one, with the same seeds involved in the recipe. These are a couple of examples, but the use is widespread. 

A word about the sesame seeds: they need to still have the hull intact, which means they are not the kind found in the little jars in the spice section of the grocery. Unhulled sesame seeds are a dull, flat tan color, and not the pretty, shiny, polished little things in the jars. The shiny ones in the jars will not brown properly in the dry skillet. Look for unhulled sesame seed a at your local health food store. 

With that in mind then, I was quite surprised to find that in the two recipes I had found

Carne en Jocon

for Jocon, somewhere in Guatemala (one was a newspaper clipping), neither one had used sesame seeds or pumpkin seeds. Hmmm. One of the two recipes did not even mention using day old tortillas in the sauce, which is a very common thickening agent. Instead of thickening a sauce with flour or cornstarch, in Guatemala they will use cookie crumbs to thicken a sweet mole sauce, or bread, soaked and stirred into a sauce as for Hilachas (or Ropa Vieja), or tortillas, soaked and blended up into a sauce like Jocon. So, in one of the recipes they suggested thickening the sauce If it is too thin, with tortillas. Corn tortillas here in the U.S., made with a lot of additives and preservatives, pressed and sold in packages that seem to be able to last forever - these really will not easily soften and dissolve. To make this easier, keep a small package of Masa harina for corn tortillas in your freezer and pull it out for times like this. It thickens beautifully and gives the authentic flavor needed. Just moisten some corn masa flour with water and stir into the stew and cook until it thickens to your desired stew consistency.

Understand that this dish is supposed to be a stew of a sort. Once the green sauce is made, the rest of the recipe (as I made it) is just cooking the cut up chicken in the green sauce, and then put to cook for a while in this sauce to infuse flavors. 

Pollo en Jocon or Carne en Jocon

Serves about 6

Pollo en Jocon

1 whole chicken, cut up,  (for Pollo en Jocon)
OR 
2 lbs beef stew meat (for Carne en Jocon)
olive oil, for browning
1½ cups (more if desired) Salsa Verde / Green Sauce
1½ teaspoons salt
1 - 2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon unhulled sesame seeds
1½ tablespoons raw, green pumpkin seeds

2 tablespoons corn tortilla flour (Masa Harina or Torti-ya)

Heat a dry skillet over medium heat until very hot, then add in the sesame seeds. Stir constantly, and they will begin to pop and snap. Once they turn a light brown, turn them out immediately to a plate to cool. Add in the green pumpkin seeds and stitrring constantly, toast them until they begin to get browned spots but do not let them burn! Once browned a bit, turn out to the plate with the sesame seeds. Once cooled, place the toasted seeds into a spice grinder or coffee grinder used only for grinding spices and grind fine.
Have the recipe for green sauce already made, either fresh or frozen. Heat some olive oil in a heavy duty oven safe enameled cast iron stew pot or Dutch oven and brown the chicken pieces or stew meat. Pour the green sauce over the meat and add in the salt, bay leaves and oregano. Stir in the toasted and ground seeds. Bring to a boil and cover with tight fitting lid. Place covered pot in a preheated 300 degree oven for 1½ to 2 hours for chicken and about 2 to 2½ hours for beef. Ensure that there is plenty of liquid in the pot, adding water if it gets low during cooking.

Once the meat is cooked through, Stir together the Corn Tortilla Masa flour with a little water to dissolve, then stir into the pot and allow to cook for about 15 minutes more, to thicken. Serve with rice.
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If you would like to thicken your sauce with a corn tortilla or two, soak it in hot water until very soft and then blend or just crumble before adding to the sauce.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, trying new things weekly. I would love to hear from you, to help me continue my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.