Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquirel is the story of Tita, a girl destained for sadness and loneliness. She is the youngest daughter at a ranch in turn-of-the-century Mexico and due to family tradition, is not allowed to marry as she must take care of her mother until her mother's death. Not a destiny I would like. As you can imagine, she finds a man she loves, Pedro. When he is preparing to ask her mother, Elena, for Tita's hand, Elena is furious that Tita wants to break family tradition by marrying and insists that Pedro marry Rosauro, one of Tita's older sisters. Elena enjoys resorting to cruelty to get to Tita to behave in the way Elena deems fit. Tita is understandably heartbroken as she not only has to watch her sister marry the man she loves, she must cook the wedding feast.
But this is not the part of the story that I wish to focus on. I want to talk about the food! The book is divided into twelve parts, one for each month and each month has a different recipe. For instance, in January there are Christmas Rolls, February she makes the dreaded Chabela Wedding Cake, in March Tita makes Quail in Rose Petal Sauce, April is Turkey Mole with Almonds and Sesame Seeds and of course the list goes on. The author tells of the life of Tita, while also explaining how to cook each of the recipes she discusses. A very unique and interesting way to tell a story.
Tita was born in the ranch kitchen and ever since her birth the kitchen is where she is most comfortable. In fact, under the watchful eye of the ranch cook, Nacha, (who is like a mother to Tita) Tita learns all the traditional recipes and eventually becomes the ranch cook. Interestingly, her cooking is most magical. When her tears, which are her way of expressing any emotion, fall into the food, they affect the person who eats it. If she is sad, the people become sad, if she is happy, they too become happy. And since Tita has very deep and intense emotions, her food can affect people very strongly. One of the funniest (and I suppose I mean dark funny) instances of this was at Rosaura and Pedro's wedding. While Tita prepared the wedding cake, she felt an intense longing, jealousy and sadness about the wedding and about not being able to be with Pedro. When the wedding guests ate the cake, they too felt incredibly sad and each of the guests became terribly sick. I am not able here to express the level of sickness each of the guests suffered...just think of the worst thing imaginable at a wedding...then double it. How amazing to be able to affect other people's emotions like that with your cooking!
Although there were twelve different recipes in Like Water for Chocolate, I am not going to use one of them. Instead, as I am inspired to cook some Mexican food, I will use one of my favourite Mexican recipes, enchiladas, refried beans and Spanish rice. Am I alone in saying that refried beans can be just the yummiest thing ever!?! In August Tita makes Champandongo, a recipe similar to enchiladas...almost a mexican lasagna with layers of tortillas, cheese and beef (and we know how I feel about lasagna!).
Enchiladas are corn tortillas rolled around a filing and covered with a chilli pepper sauce (enchilada sauce, yum!). They can be filled with a variety of ingredients, including meat, cheese, beans, potatoes, vegetables or seafood or, frankly, any other combination! They originated in Mexico, where the practice of rolling tortillas around other food dates at least back to Mayan times (awesome!). Originally they were street food and were just tortillas dipped in chili sauce and eaten without fillings. They have come a long way! I hope you enjoy the recipes below.
Chicken Enchiladas
Ingredients:
2 large onions, chopped
4 medium jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/4 cup chili powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
2 28oz cans diced tomatoes, drained
2 1/2 cups shredded cooked chicken (rotisserie chicken works great here)
12 corn tortillas
1 cup shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheese
Preparation:
- Combine in a large skillet the onions, jalapeño peppers, garlic and vegetable oil. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the onions are translucent and just beginning to brown around the edges, about 7 minutes.
- Stir in the chili powder, cumin and ground red pepper and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add the tomatoes and cook for 3 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Let cool and thoroughly puree the mixture in a blender or food processor.
- In a medium bowl, combine the shredded chicken and 1/2 cup of the sauce.
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Pour 1/2 cup of the sauce over the bottom of a 9 x 13-inch baking dish. To make each enchilada, spoon 2 1/2 tablespoons of the chicken mixture down the centre of the tortilla, the roll the tortilla up into a cylinder. Arrange the enchiladas seam-side down in the baking dish. Cover with remaining sauce and the cheese.
- Bake until the sauce begins to bubble, about 10 minutes.
- Serve with sour cream and green onions.
Refried Beans (Frijoles Refritos)
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
4 cups cooked black beans or pinto beans
1 cup reserved bean cooking liquid or water
Salt to taste
Queso fresco, feta or parmesan cheese
Preparation:
- Heat in a large skillet over medium-high heat the vegetable oil. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until deep golden brown, about 10 minutes.
- Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minuted.
- Add the beans, 1 cup at a time, mashing each addition to ca coarse puree with a potato masher or the back of a spoon.
- Stir in the reserved bean cooking liquid, cooking over medium heat until the beans are a little soupier than you would like them - they will thicken as they sit. The whole mashing process should take 10 to 15 minutes.
- Season with salt to taste and serve warm with a garnish of queso fresco, feta or parmesan cheese.
Serve with plain or Spanish rice.
!Buen provecho!
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