Baked Nopal Cactus Fries with Avocado Dipping Sauce

Baked Nopal Cactus Fries with Avocado Dipping Sauce

by Victoria Challancin

Ok.  I gave in.  I caved.  I capitulated.  My heart, which knows better than my head, thought these would be better fried than baked, but in the end, I opted for the healthy version.  Yep, I baked them.  And were they ever good!  Good, of course, if you like the taste of nopal cactus, and I certainly do.

I realize that many of my readers will neither have access to cactus paddles, called pencas, in Spanish.  Others won't have the interest because they perhaps sound a bit strange.  But trust me on this one...these baked beauties just shine.  The taste, tart and clean, comes through just fine in the baked version as well.

It seems that Mexico has always appreciated the nopal cactus (one of many in the Opuntia ficusindinca species of Cactus family).  It has figured into its cuisine since recorded history and, of course, before that.  You might know it as the main component of nopalitos, a common Mexican salad.  It even appears on the Mexican flag, so great is its importance.  Why, you ask?  One obvious reason is that it grows wild over much of the republic and it is easy to cultivate as well.  A popular food source, cooked or raw, nopal has gotten a great deal of attention in recent years due to its health benefits and nutritional value.  Both the green pads, which I used here, and the cactus fruit are popular throughout all of Mexico--and were, even before people understood their nutritive value.

Health Benefits of Nopal Cactus

• Used as a treatment for type 2 diabetes
• Helps fight viral infections
• Is antiflammatory
• Excellent for treating colitis, ulcers, diarrhea, and alcohol hangovers
• Good for blood pressure
• Helps lower cholesterol
• Good source of essential micronutrients such as vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium
• Rich in anti-oxidants
• High in Calcium
• Low in calories
• Rich in dietary fiber
• Has potential role in weight control as 88% of their weight is from water, which is calorie-free and helps you feel full

Recipe:  Baked Nopal Cactus Fries with Avocado Dipping Sauce

(Recipe inspired by munchinwithmunchkin.com--I changed a good bit, so do check out the original)

4 nopal cactus pads (thorns removed), cut into French Fry strips, approximately 4 inches x ½-inch

1 cup panko bread crumbs

2 egg whites, lightly whisked

½ teaspoon Italian seasoning herbs--or 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

Grated zest of one lime

¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper

3 tablespoons flour

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Avocado Dipping Sauce

1 ripe avocado

2 tablespoons sour cream

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 small garlic clove, pressed

1 spring onion, finely minced

juice from ½ lime or to taste

1 tablespoon fresh cilantro or 1 teaspoon dill, minced

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375. Grease a cookie sheet with cooking oil spray, set aside.

In a large bowl combine panko, herbs or cumin, lime zest, and cayenne pepper. Place egg whites in a separate small bowl.  In a third bowl mix flour, salt and pepper.

Dip cactus strips into the egg whites and then coat them with the flour mixture.

Return cactus strips to the egg whites (or cashew cream) and then coat them with the panko bread crumbs.

Place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes, turning halfway through.

In the meantime prepare the sauce. Combine all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve immediately.

Similar Recipes from Earlier Posts:

In this earlier post on Avocado Fries with Cilantro-Lime Dipping Sauce, I debated the virtues of frying... and ended up frying.

And in this one I tried these Zucchini Sticks with Sun-Dried Tomato Aioli I shared a bit of my Southern heritage...trying these both fried and baked.

Parting Shot:  Buddha at Night with Flower

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

Flavors of the Sun Cooking School

San Miguel de Allende,

México

Tomatillo Jam and Morning Glory Muffins--Perfect for Easter Brunch!

Tomatillo Jam with a hint of citrus

Tomatillo Jam and Morning Glory Muffins--Perfect for Easter Brunch!

by Victoria Challancin

One of my good friends owns a very classy boutique hotel here in San Miguel that serves the most delicious tomatillo jam.  Because I know it to be her late mother's recipe and a personal treasure, I would never ask for the recipe.  Of course, that doesn't stop me from swooning over it and dreaming. In a recent class I decided to try make some version of this delicious treat, secretly knowing it would enhance my PBJ indulgences--and that my Mexican cooks would be dazzled.  I looked about and came up with a lovely version by Karen Hursh Graber of Mexico Connect.  I paired it with a family favorite from the King Arthur Flour Company,  Morning Glory Muffins,  which are so brimming with all things healthy that even my husband eats them.

But before I give you the recipes, let me repost a few notes on tomatillos from an earlier post of mine. For ideas on how to use them, see the original post here.

A Few Notes on Tomatillos

Let's blame it on the Spanish Conquistadors, shall we?  Blame them for exactly what this time, you ask?  That misnaming a variety of Aztec-based words that they just might not have understood at the time.  In Nahuatl, that wonderful agglutinated language of the ancient Aztecs, the word tomatl simply referred to any plum fruit with xitomatl referring to regular red tomatoes and miltomatl referring to tomatillos.  The Spanish, delighted with their new gastronomic finds, simply returned home with the term tomates, which is what they cal red tomatoes in Spain today and with tomatillo, or "little Tomato" to refer to tomatillos, the red tomato's little green cousins, or kissing cousins, as we like to say in the South, as they are only very distant relatives.

What exactly are tomatillos?  Like tomatoes themselves, they belong to the larger family of Solanaceae, or Nightshades, along with potatoes, eggplants, tobacco, mandrake, belladonna (are you seeing a connection with the "Deadly Nightshade" moniker yet?), chiles, and petunias, to name a few.  Breaking the family down a bit more, you find the genus "physalis" which includes gooseberries, ground cherries and tomatillos, all part of the kissing cousins of the Paper Lantern group, called this because some of them have papery cellulose husks which must be removed before eating.

Here in Mexico the names become even more confused.  Unlike the Spanish, Mexicans refer to their own red tomatoes as jitomates and tomatillos as tomates verdes (i.e. green tomatoes), or more commonly just tomates.  In all my years of teaching Mexican cooks, well over a thousand of them, I have never heard them call this fruit "tomatillos," though they certainly know the word; they always just say "tomates."

While typically found green in the markets, still nestled in their paper husks, other varieties also exist.  My favorite are the walnut-sized purple ones, which are slightly sweeter, and the very tiny green tomates de la milpa, or "tomatillos of the corn field," which are about the size of a blueberry.  When shopping for them, choose firm tomatillos that fill out the husk.  Remove the paper husk and scrub to remove the natural sticky substance on the surface of the fruit before using.

Nutritionally speaking, the tomatillo is a good source of iron, magnesium, phosphorus, and copper, as well as being rich in vitamin C and dietary fiber as well.

Tangy, bright, tart, the tomatillo is a perfect fruit to add a bit of zing to any number of dishes.  The interior of the tomatillo is highly seeded, yet the seeds are not removed as they often are with tomatoes; in fact, you probably can't remove them due to the way they are structured. Their tart lemony flavors lends itself beautiful to other Mexican ingredients such as avocado, and they are a perfect addition to a salad in their raw form.  And of course, let us not forget this heavenly tomatillo jam!

A healthy Morning Glory Muffin with a puddle of tomatillo jam

Recipe:  Tomatillo Jam

Mexican Tomatillo Jam

(Recipe by Karen Hursh Graber)

Mermelada de Tomate Verde

Makes about a half pint

1 pound tomatillos, husked, washed and chopped

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup water

1/4 cup lime juice

Zest of 1lime

Zest of 1 orange

Pinch of salt

Place all ingredients in a large pot, stir, bring to a boil, lower heat, and simmer until thickened to a loose jam.  It will thicken more as it cools.  Ladle into a sterilized half-pint jar, cover and allow to cool.  Refrigerate for up to 6 months.

The muffins alone 

Cook's Notes:  These easy-to-make muffins (the grating of the apple and carrot are the most difficult part--hardly difficult at all!) are absolutely delicious.  I am always pleased that recipe makes so many, then surprised when they don't last a nanosecond in our house!  These muffins hardly need either butter or jam (I use both), but a smear of cream cheese is just wonderful.

Recipe:  Morning Glory Muffins

(Recipe from The King Arthur Flour Company)

Makes 12 muffins (I always get more than this)

1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) raisins

2 cups (8 1/2 ounces) whole wheat flour, traditional or white whole wheat

1 cup (7 1/2 ounces brown sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups (7 ounces) carrots, peeled and grated (I don't bother to peel them)

1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, and grated

1/2 cup (2 ounces) sweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup (2 ounces) chopped walnuts (or other nut of choice)

1/3 cup (1 1/2 ounces) sunflower seeds or wheat germ, optional (don't leave out the seeds!)

3 large eggs

2/3 cup (4 5/8 ounces) vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup (2 ounces) orange juice

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin, or line it with papers and spray the insides of the papers.

To make the muffins:  In a small bowl, cover the raisins with hot water, and set them aside to soak and plump while you assemble the rest of the recipe.  In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda, spices, and salt.  Stir in the carrots, apple, coconut, nuts, and sunflower seeds or wheat germ, if using.  

In a separate bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and orange juice.  Add to the flour mixture, and stir until evenly moistened.  

Drain the raisins and stir them in.  Dived the batter among the wells of the prepared pan (they will be full almost to the top)

Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until nicely domed and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes in the pan on a rack, then turn out of pan to finish cooling.

Morning Glory Muffin with Tomatillo Jam (on my mothers Wedgwood)

The tomatillo jam...with a Moroccan spoon

Happy Easter!

Parting Shot:  Detail from a Mexican Tree of Life

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

Flavors of the Sun International Cooking School

San Miguel de Allende, México

Upside-Down Comfort

Upside-Down Comfort

by Victoria Challancin

There are times when I miss my family and my roots so much that I just get over-whelmed by the need of comfort food.  I may not have lived in rural South Florida since the 70s, but roots I have there. And while I occasionally feel, in a weak moment, that I claim expedient parentage (i.e. sometimes I glam onto my French-Italian paternal links, and sometimes my mother's down-home Southern "Georgia" genes), when I look for comfort, I look toward the south, the Deep South, that is. The Deep South of the United States.  It seems not to matter that I haven't lived there really since the mid-70s when I first left for an overseas posting; I still look to my mother's home cooking for comfort.

And what better old-fashioned comfort than a basic Chicken Pot Pie, I ask?  But when I wanted to teach it in my classes for Mexican cooks, guilt took over and I just had to tart it up a bit, make it modern, pretend that it was far more upscale than it really is.  When I spied these modern, upscale, tarted up chicken pot pie disguised in 21st-century garb (in the September edition of the Canadian magazine Chatelaine), I knew I had found a perfect marriage:  comfort food + a hint of modernity to make it truly acceptable for a cooking class.

 Puff Pastry Squares with Onion and Peppers

I have made many Chicken Pot Pies, in my day.  Many.  Often pretending that they were modern and fresh, I always secretly knew that I was just seeking basic comfort, just like my Mom, and occasionally Swanson's jazzed up frozen ones, offered me in my youth.  I have made them whole wheat crusts, Cheddar crusts, latticed crust, with biscuits, with biscuit mix (yes, I know...), with herb-enriched pastry, with frozen pastry, with phyllo...and filled with many things other than the basic chicken and vegetables as well.  So when I saw this recipe, I just took the basic idea and then decided to wing it with the filling.  I forgot when writing it down that I sometimes add a splash of sherry, which my own mother would never have done.  Nor did I here, for that matter.  But only because I forgot.  

Cook's Notes:  What you are looking for here is just a basic mix of vegetables to go with your chicken and sauce(I poached the chicken here).  I have added asparagus, carrots, turnips, rutabaga (oh, I would kill for some rutabaga now, but can't yet find it here), potatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash, fresh corn...etc.  But to me the essentials really are just mushrooms, broccoli, and peas.  Yes, frozen peas.  I know.  I know.  I am stretching it here.

Upside-Down Chicken Pot Pies

(Recipe by Victoria Challancin, inspired by the September 2015 edition of Chatelaine Magazine)

Serves 4

500g puff pastry (for San Miguelenses:  from Buena Vida Bakery via Luna de Queso), thawed

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water

1 small red onion, cut into thin rings

1 red bell pepper, cut into thin rounds (or a mix of red and yellow peppers)

1 teaspoon vegetable oil for greasing baking sheet

2 skinless, cooked boneless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup flour

3 cups milk or half and half (light cream)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric (optional)

1 1/2 cups rich chicken broth

1 cup broccoli florets

1 cup mushroom slices

1 cup frozen peas

1/2 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional--you could also add a healthy splash of sherry to the broth)

1 tablespoon chopped parsley, or to taste

Preheat oven to 400F.  Unroll pastry and extend it to a square, measuring 10 x 10 inches.  Cut into either4 large squares or 16 2 1/2-inch squares (or desired size).  Score a border of 1/2-inch around each square and prick the inside with a fork.  Set on a lightly oiled baking sheet.  Brush lightly with egg wash and top each square with slices of onion and bell pepper.  Bake in center of oven until pastry is lightly golden, 18 to 20 minutes.

Melt butter in large pot. When melted, whisk in flour. Cook, whisking constantly for 1 to 2  minutes to make a roux. Slowly whisk in milk or half and half  and turmeric until evenly mixed. Bring to a gentle boil, then stir in chicken, broccoli, mushrooms, and salt. Cook until broccoli is tender-crisp, 3 to 5 more min. Stir in frozen peas and cook for about 45 seconds.  Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice, if using, and season with salt and black pepper. Spoon about 1 cup chicken mixture over each baked puff-pastry square if using large ones, or over three squares if small.  Garnish with a touch of chopped parsley, if desired.

 Puff Pastry Squares with Chicken Pot Pie Filling

 Proper Chicken Pot Pies (and under no circumstances are you to ask what is going on behind them with one of my student's experiments)

Parting Shot:

 ©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

Bánh Mì Brown Rice Salad and Oxymorons

 Bánh Mì Brown Rice Salad and Oxymorons

by Victoria Challancin

I do love the typical foolery of good oxymoron, and yet I cringe at being the creator of one.  "Oxymoron," you ask? What does Bánh Mì Rice Salad have to do with oxymorons?  Because the term "báhn mì" is Vietnamese for "bread", and there is nary a whiff of bread in this salad.  So to back up...let's examine exactly what we are talking about here.

Although I have been lucky in my life to travel extensively in Asia (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, and bits of China--many of these countries multiple times), I have never traveled to Vietnam (nor Myanmar, for that matter)--and yet, Vietnamese food is one of my favorite cuisines.  When in Paris, or other places where a concentration of Vietnamese people guarantees good Vietnamese restaurants, I always head there, loving the bright, fresh, clean taste of the food, heady with fresh herbs and just screaming "Healthy!"  Yet, I have never traveled in the country itself.  Yet.

After a bit of experience with a favorite snack sandwich to grab on the go, I thought I had a handle on the "Bánh Mì," or Vietnamese Baguette Sandwich.  That is until I read a post by a favorite Australian blogging friend, Lorraine Elliot of the popular Not Quite Nigella blog.  In Lorraine's post "The Amazing Bánh Mì Race" she reviews a selection of Sydney's ten best bánh mì sandwiches that will make you weep with envy, or at least drool.  Or perhaps lick the screen.

Of course the French occupation of  French Indochina, now Vietnam, left a huge impact on the cuisine, often creating a happy fusion of both ingredients and techniques.  The bánh mì sandwich is one example.  The "bánh mì", or bread, here is a type of Vietnamese baguette, but one made with rice flour as well as the traditional wheat flour, or mì, which yields a lighter loaf.  The bánh mì sandwich typically is filled with "seasoned pork belly, Vietnamese sausage, grilled pork, grilled pork patties, spreadable pork liver pâté, pork floss, grilled chicken, chicken floss, canned sardines in tomato sauce, soft pork meatballs in tomato sauce, head cheese, fried eggs, and tofu," or so Wikipedia tells me.  Not having traveled the country, I can only attest to some version of pork belly in the many báhn mìs I have tried.  But my mouth waters thinking of other possibilities.

A bit more fun history of the bánh mì sandwich from Wikipedia, says that a vegetarian version of any sandwiches, such as a báhn mì made with tofu or seitan,  are not really found as street food in Vietnam, but are prepared at Buddhist temples during special religious events.  In the US, the sandwich can also be found under the name of "Vietnamese sandwich", or in Louisiana a "Vietnamese po' boy, or in Philadelphia as a "Vietnamese hoagie," the common thread being the baguette that is used as the bread wrapper.

When I saw a recipe for a salad version of bánh mì in the new edition of Coastal Living Magazine, I new immediately that I would like it.  Filled with the ingredients I expected, I knew it would have that clean, fresh taste that always draws me to Vietnamese food.  And it does!  And I could eat the lovely pickled red onion and carrots just with a fork on their own--soooo good and light.

Cook's Notes:  I doubled the amount of the rice vinegar dressing, and used Mexican pickled red serrano chiles and pickled jalapeños instead of fresh ones.  I had to peel a waxed cucumber as I didn't have any English ones.  Plus, I added some onion sprouts just because I had them and thought them pretty.  I don't think basil leaves would go amiss either, but that might be even less authentic than serving this as a salad.  Not sure.  We made this in one of my cooking classes for Mexica cooks last week and I used pork milanesas, which were already sliced thin.  I should have cooked these on an iron grill pan, to really give the pork that roasted flavor, instead of the "green" pan we used, which didn't really brown it enough.  Still, this is a great salad.

                              Bánh Mì Brown Rice Salad

(Recipe from Coastal Living Magazine, September 2015)

Makes 4 servings

3/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, divided

4 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar, divided 

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, divided

1 cup julienne-cut carrot

1 cup vertically sliced red onion

1 pound trimmed boneless pork shoulder, cut into very thin slices

2 tablespoons fish sauce, divided

1 tablespoon canola oil 

1/2 English cucumber, thinly sliced 

1 jalapeño, thinly sliced

1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves

3 cups hot cooked brown rice

Asian chili-garlic sauce (optional)

Combine 3/4 cup water, 3/4 cup rice vinegar, 3 tablespoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil. Add carrot and onion; cook 30 seconds. Remove from heat, and let stand 25 minutes. Drain.

Place pork in a medium bowl. Add 1 tablespoon fish sauce, 2 teaspoons sugar, and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; massage into pork. Let stand at room temperature 20 minutes.

Heat oil in a large cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add half of pork; cook 3 minutes or until lightly charred, stirring once. Remove from pan; repeat with remaining pork.

Combine 1/4 cup water, remaining 3 tablespoons rice vinegar, remaining 2 teaspoons sugar, and remaining 1 tablespoon fish sauce in a small bowl, stirring until sugar dissolves.

Arrange cucumber slices, pork, pickled onion and carrot, jalapeño, and cilantro on a platter. Drizzle evenly with dressing. Serve with cooked brown rice and chili-garlic sauce, if desired

Parting Shot:  A bit of fun from El Zaguán Hotel Bed and Art

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved.

Flavors of the Sun Cooking School and Travel

San Miguel de Allende, México