We've been spending some getting to know our little town. I just spent an hour at the nearby used bookstore, stocking up on books - I just realised, to my horror, that I was down to two novels!! eek! book emergency. Fortunately, english books are pretty easy to find, and I just got 4 for something like $8. whew. crisis averted.
My favorite discovery is the hot chocolate. Last week we saw it being ground, at El Molino, where the corn for tortillas gets ground. Fresh-roasted cocoa beans, smashed together with enormous amounts (laundry tubs full, seriously) of sugar, and sold in bars about the size of my head, 10Q each for the good stuff (about $1.10). Chunks of it melted into hot water (you can have it with or without milk, as you choose) are like a chocolate bar in a mug. O mi god. I am spoiled for life.
And, continuing with the food theme, always my favorite, yesterday at spanish school we got a cooking lesson, how to make fried plantains with sweet mole. Here is the recipe, in spanish first, and then in english:
Mole de Platano
4 platanos maduros
1/2 libra chocolate para tomar
4 onzas pepitoria
4 onzas ajonjoli
1 libra tomate
1 pedazo de canela
1/2 chile pasa (como pimiento)
1 pan dulce
Procidimiento
- frier los platanos
- cocinar en poca agua el tomate, la canela, y el chocolate
- licuar el tomate, canela y chocolate, y pan
- tostar la pepitoria, el ajonjoli y el chile
- licuar la pepitoria, ajonjoli, y chile
- revolver el recado con los platanos
- hervir por 5 minutos
- decorar con ajonjoli
que rico!!!
Ingredients
4 ripe plantains
1/2 pound drinking chocolate (you can get Abuelita brand in NC), and if you can't find it, use regular chocolate and add sugar to taste
4 ounces green pumpkin seeds
4 ounces sesame seeds
1 pound ripe tomatoes
1 stick of cinnamon
1/2 big red, not-so-hot chile, seeds removed
1 sweet bread, or some arrowroot cookies, just to keep it from being too runny
Method
- peel the plantains, and cut them into long thin slices, then fry 'em up
- cook the tomatoes, cinnamon, and the chocolate together, in a tiny bit of water
- in a blender, liquify the tomato mixture
- toast the pumpkin seeds, the sesame seeds, and take the seeds out of the chile
- liquify the sesame mixture (you may need to add water)
- mix everything together and heat it up for about 5 minutes
- decorate with a bit of extra sesame seeds
enjoy!!! It's kind of like fried bananas in chocolate sauce, with a bit of a spicy bite.
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