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Recipes

ELCA Companions in Mexico

Mexican cooking goes well beyond beef tacos and refried beans. When the Spanish arrived in Mexico and Central America, they found the Aztecs, Toltecs, Oaxacans and others with a developed agricultural society, growing maize (corn), beans, tomatoes and cacao. Other plants indigenous to the area were chilies, avocados, squash, pumpkins, pineapples, potatoes and papayas. The Spanish brought with them to Mexico sugar cane, dairy products, citrus fruits and pork. These ingredients were incorporated, as were Spanish cooking methods, into the local cuisine. An example of this is in the use of cacao. The Aztecs prepared a bitter-tasting beverage with chilies and cocoa powder from the cacao. The Spanish omitted the chilies and added sugar and today’s hot chocolate was born. Because Mexico is such a large country with deserts, coastal areas and tropical rain forests, there are also some regional variations based on the locally available food. Throughout Mexico, for the families with lower incomes, tortillas made from corn and various bean dishes are the staple foods. Today, most of Mexico’s farming is done on small rural collectives known as ejidos, where corn, sorghum, wheat, barley, rice, potatoes and beans are grown. Large corporate farming interests promote growing tomatoes, melons, strawberries and other crops for export to the U.S., taking away crop land that could be used to grow food for the local people.

Mexican Hot Chocolate Serves 3 to 4 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 2 cups milk 1 egg (you might want to use a pasteurized egg substitute like Egg Beaters for safety, to avoid salmonella risk) 1 cup heavy cream 6 tablespoons sugar 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract Melt the chocolate in the top of a double-boiler. In a separate pot, heat the milk and cream on low heat until hot but not boiling. When the milk is hot, slowly add a little bit of it to the chocolate until you have a thin paste. Stir this paste slowly into the milk (removed from heat). Add the sugar and cinnamon. In a bowl, beat the egg (or egg substitute) and the vanilla with a rotary beater. Add a very little of the hot chocolate to the egg. (You don’t want to fry or cook the egg in the hot liquid, so add just a little). Once you have warmed the egg mixture, stir the egg mixture into the hot chocolate. Return the double boiler to low heat. With a rotary beater, beat the chocolate for three minutes while heating. This should make the chocolate frothy. Serve immediately. This drink is very "chocolatey." It goes well with a cookie such as the "Mexican wedding cakes" that you often find in cookie cookbooks. Recipe from Sundays at Moosewood Restaurant by the Moosewood Collective, Simon & Schuster, 1990, p.473.