Destination
Puerto Vallarta
The story
Tlacoyos are one of the oldest surviving Mexican street foods, a direct pre-Hispanic descendant that predates the arrival of the Spanish by centuries and still gets sold from the same style of small comal-and-basket setup in the corner of every mercado in Mexico City and the State of Mexico. A ball of masa is stuffed with a filling — cooked fava beans, refried black beans, or requesón cheese — then shaped by hand into a distinctive oval boat-shape about 15cm long and 6cm wide, and cooked on a hot dry comal until the outside is dark-patched and crisped. The finished tlacoyo is topped with a small pile of nopales (cactus paddles, chopped and grilled), a spoon of salsa verde or roja, a scatter of crumbled queso fresco and a drizzle of crema.
Method
Soak dried favas overnight. Drain. Simmer in fresh water with the onion, garlic, epazote and salt for 90 minutes until soft. Drain, remove skins if papery, and reserve. If using pre-cooked broad beans, skip this step.
Warm the lard in a pan. Add the cooked favas and mash with a potato masher into a rough, chunky paste. Cook 5 minutes to dry out slightly. Cool to warm.
Whisk masa harina and salt. Add warm water and melted lard. Knead 2 minutes until smooth and soft. Cover and rest 15 minutes.
If using fresh, remove the spines with a knife or vegetable peeler. Slice into 1cm strips. Warm the oil in a pan; cook onion 3 minutes. Add nopales, garlic and salt. Cook 8 minutes, stirring, until the nopales stop releasing slime and start to caramelise. Off the heat, add coriander and lime.
Divide the dough into 12 balls. Working one at a time: flatten a ball into a 12cm disc between your palms. Place a heaped tbsp of fava filling in the middle. Fold the disc over the filling, sealing the edges by pinching. Pat gently between your hands to shape into an oval boat — 15cm long, 6cm wide, 1.5cm thick. Repeat.
Heat a dry heavy pan or comal over medium-high heat. Cook each tlacoyo 3 minutes on the first side, flip, cook 3 minutes on the second, then 2 more minutes on the first side to finish. The outside should be patched with dark spots and firm to the touch.
Set each hot tlacoyo on a plate. Top with a spoon of nopales, a scatter of crumbled queso fresco, a drizzle of crema and a spoon of salsa (verde or roja, or both). Scatter with coriander.
Serve immediately with lime wedges. Two tlacoyos per person is a good portion. Eat with hands or a fork — the mercado version is eaten standing up with hands.
Tips
- The oval boat shape is the signature. A round stuffed masa cake is a sope with filling; the oval is what makes it a tlacoyo. Practice on the first two — you'll get the shape by the third.
- Seal the filling well. If the filling breaks through the dough during cooking, the tlacoyo splits open. Pinch the edges firmly.
- Fava beans are the prehispanic filling. Refried black beans are the modern common alternative; requesón (a Mexican ricotta) is the third classical. Choose one.
- Fresh nopales stop being slimy when cooked properly. Salt them, then dry-cook them 8 minutes stirring; the slime evaporates. If you shortcut this, you get slimy topping.
- Two tlacoyos, two salsas. Every mercado tlacoyera lets eaters have one with salsa verde and one with salsa roja. Make both salsas and let eaters choose.
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