Chef Lupita
Arroz a la Oaxaqueña
Oaxaca's red rice, stained with tomato and fried in lard, steamed with carrots, ejotes, black beans, and epazote. The side that anchors a Oaxacan family meal and earns its place beside the main.
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Calabacitas con Elote y Rajas Estilo Oaxaqueño
Created by
Oaxaca's corn-forward vegetable side: diced calabacita and fresh elote sautéed in lard with charred poblano rajas, finished with melted strands of quesillo and a whisper of epazote.
Side Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Comfort Food
20 min
Active Time
25 min cook•45 min total
Yield6 servings
This is Oaxaca's calabacitas. Not the central Mexican version with squash blossoms and a heavy hand of crema, not the northern version with cumin and cheddar, the Valles Centrales version, where the corn is the star and the quesillo is pulled into long strands at the end.
The calabacita itself is the small, pale-green Mexican squash, not the dark Italian zucchini that supermarkets sell as a substitute. If you can find calabacita criolla at a Mexican mercado or a Latin grocer, use it. If not, use the smallest, palest summer squash you can find. The flavor is sweeter, the flesh is firmer, and it does not turn to water in the pan.
The poblano rajas are charred over open flame until the skin lifts and the flesh underneath holds its shape. You peel them with your fingers, not under running water. Water washes the smoke down the drain. The corn goes in fresh, off the cob, never canned, never frozen if you can help it. And the quesillo, Oaxaca's pulled string cheese, goes in at the very end and melts off the heat into the long threads that are the visual signature of this dish.
My mother made calabacitas every summer in Mexico City with whatever the market gave her, but the Oaxacan version came into my notebook from a senora named Doña Margarita who sold quesillo at the Mercado Benito Juarez in Oaxaca de Juarez. She told me the secret is to add the cheese off the heat. "Si lo cocinas, se quema. Si lo apagas, se estira." If you cook it, it burns. If you turn off the heat, it stretches. Asi se hace y punto.
Calabacita, corn, and chile form part of the pre-Columbian Mesoamerican triad alongside beans, and dishes combining these three crops predate the Spanish conquest by millennia. The Oaxacan version of calabacitas con elote is distinguished by quesillo, the pulled-curd string cheese developed in the Etla Valley in the late 19th century by a young cheesemaker named Leobarda Castellanos García, whose accidental over-acidification of milk in 1885 produced the stretchy curd that became the state's signature cheese. Epazote, the wormseed herb that finishes the dish, was used by the Mexica as both a culinary seasoning and a digestive remedy for bean and corn dishes, a function it still serves in Oaxacan home kitchens today.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
calabacitas (Mexican squash)
Quantity
3 medium (about 1 1/2 pounds)
diced into 1/2-inch cubes
ears of fresh corn
Quantity
3
kernels cut from the cob (about 3 cups)
fresh chile poblano
Quantity
3
manteca de cerdo (pork lard)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
white onion
Quantity
1 small
finely diced
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
finely chopped
ripe tomatoes
Quantity
2 medium
finely diced
fresh epazote
Quantity
1 sprig
leaves only, roughly chopped
kosher salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
quesillo (Oaxacan string cheese)
Quantity
6 ounces
pulled into thin strands
hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warmed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| calabacitas (Mexican squash)diced into 1/2-inch cubes | 3 medium (about 1 1/2 pounds) |
| ears of fresh cornkernels cut from the cob (about 3 cups) | 3 |
| fresh chile poblano | 3 |
| manteca de cerdo (pork lard) | 2 tablespoons |
| white onionfinely diced | 1 small |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 3 |
| ripe tomatoesfinely diced | 2 medium |
| fresh epazoteleaves only, roughly chopped | 1 sprig |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| quesillo (Oaxacan string cheese)pulled into thin strands | 6 ounces |
| hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)warmed | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide 12-inch cazuela or heavy skillet with a lid
- •Tongs for charring the poblanos over open flame
- •Sharp paring knife for cleaning the chiles
- •Sharp chef's knife for dicing the calabacita
Instructions
- 1
Roast the poblanos
Set the chiles poblanos directly over an open flame on the stove or on a hot comal. Turn them with tongs every minute or so until the skin is blistered and blackened on every side. The flesh underneath should still feel firm. Drop them into a bowl, cover with a plate, and let them sweat for ten minutes. The steam trapped under the plate is what loosens the skin.
Do not rinse the chiles under water to remove the skin. You will wash away the smoky flavor that the open flame just gave you. Rub the skin off with your fingers and a paper towel. - 2
Cut the rajas
Once the poblanos are cool enough to handle, peel off the blackened skin, pull out the stem, and tear the chile open to remove the seeds and the pale veins inside. Slice the cleaned flesh into strips about a quarter inch wide. These are your rajas. Set them aside. Do not skip the seeding. The seeds and veins carry a sharp heat that has no place in this dish.
- 3
Build the base
Heat the manteca in a wide cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the diced onion and cook for three minutes, stirring, until it turns translucent at the edges. Add the garlic and cook for thirty seconds more. The kitchen should smell sweet and garlicky, not browned. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil will not give you the same depth here.
- 4
Cook the tomato
Add the diced tomato and the salt. Cook for five to seven minutes, stirring often, until the tomato has broken down into a loose sauce and the liquid has mostly evaporated. The tomato should look jammy, not soupy. If your tomatoes are watery, give it a few more minutes. You want concentrated flavor, not a wet pan.
- 5
Add the corn
Stir in the fresh corn kernels. Cook over medium heat for five minutes, stirring occasionally. The kernels should turn a deeper yellow and start to release their milky starch into the pan. This is the corn-forward part of the Oaxacan version. The corn is not a supporting ingredient here. It is the heart of the dish.
- 6
Add the calabacita and rajas
Add the diced calabacita and the poblano rajas to the pan. Stir to coat everything in the tomato base. Cover the pan and lower the heat to medium-low. Cook for eight to ten minutes, stirring once or twice, until the calabacita is tender but still has a little bite at the center. Calabacita falls apart fast. Watch it. Mushy squash is the death of this dish.
- 7
Finish with epazote and quesillo
Uncover the pan and stir in the chopped epazote leaves. Cook for one more minute, just to wake up the herb. Taste and adjust the salt. Pull the pan off the heat and scatter the strands of quesillo across the top. Cover the pan again for two minutes. The residual heat will melt the cheese into long, pulling threads without breaking it. Serve immediately, family-style, with warm tortillas. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •Find calabacita criolla if you can. It is paler, smaller, and firmer than zucchini, and it holds its shape in the pan. If you must substitute, use the smallest yellow summer squash or pale-green zucchini you can find. The big dark zucchini turns to mush.
- •Use real quesillo, the pulled string cheese from Oaxaca. Mozzarella is a compromise that loses the slight tang and the proper stretch. A good Mexican grocery will carry it. If you cannot find it, queso Oaxaca from a reputable Mexican cheesemaker is the next best thing.
- •Epazote has no real substitute. The herb tastes like nothing else: petroleum, mint, oregano, all at once. If you cannot find it fresh, leave it out entirely rather than swap it for cilantro. Cilantro is a different dish.
- •Cook the corn off the cob the day you bought it. Corn loses its sweetness within hours of being picked, and by the third day it tastes like starch. If the elote at your market is past its prime, make this dish another week.
Advance Preparation
- •The poblanos can be roasted, peeled, and cut into rajas one day ahead. Store them in a covered container in the refrigerator. The smoky flavor deepens overnight.
- •The diced calabacita and corn kernels can be prepped a few hours ahead, but do not combine them with salt until cooking time or the calabacita will weep water.
- •This dish does not reheat well. The calabacita softens further and the quesillo seizes. Eat it the day you make it.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 360g)
Calories
365 calories
Total Fat
13 g
Saturated Fat
5 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
25 mg
Sodium
550 mg
Total Carbohydrates
50 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
9 g
Protein
13 g
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