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.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Cebollas Tatemadas para el Comal
Created by
A Oaxacan side from the Valles Centrales: whole white onions blackened on the comal until the skin chars and the inside turns silky-sweet. Char is the seasoning. Salt and lime finish it.
Side Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Quick Meal
BBQ
5 min
Active Time
25 min cook•30 min total
Yield4 servings
This is a Oaxacan dish. Specifically from the Valles Centrales, where the comal is the center of the kitchen and tatemado, charred over direct heat, is not a cooking method, it is a seasoning. You see these onions on the comales at Tlacolula market on Sunday morning, blackening alongside the chiles, the tomatillos, and the strips of tasajo waiting for a customer to point.
Tatemar means to char until the surface blackens and the inside turns sweet. The skin protects the flesh, the heat caramelizes the sugars, and what comes off the comal is an onion you cannot get any other way. Boil it, and it goes flat. Saute it, and it browns but never deepens. Roast it in an oven, and you lose the smoke. The comal is the recipe.
My mother used to do this when meat was thin on the table. A pile of charred onions, fresh tortillas, sea salt, lime, and beans was a meal in Jalisco too. She told me a Oaxacan compadre showed her how to do it on the comal instead of on the stove burner directly, and she never went back. Saber cocinar es saber vivir, and knowing how to make a side dish from one ingredient and a hot piece of iron is the kind of knowledge a cook never loses.
Tatemar derives from the Nahuatl word 'tlatemati,' meaning to char or burn deliberately, and the technique predates the conquest by centuries; pre-Columbian cooks across Mesoamerica charred chiles, tomatoes, garlic, and onions directly on hot stones or in the embers of the cooking fire to deepen their flavor before grinding them in the molcajete. White onions themselves are an Old World import that arrived with the Spanish in the 16th century and were quickly absorbed into existing charring practices, replacing the native xonacatl (a wild onion-like allium) in many regional kitchens. The comal as a charring surface, traditionally unglazed clay in Oaxaca and Puebla, has been documented in archaeological sites in the Valles Centrales dating back more than two thousand years.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
white onions
Quantity
4 medium
unpeeled, root end trimmed flat
coarse sea salt
Quantity
to taste
preferably sal de Colima or sal de mar
limes
Quantity
8 to 12
halved, for serving
hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warmed
salsa de molcajete (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| white onionsunpeeled, root end trimmed flat | 4 medium |
| coarse sea saltpreferably sal de Colima or sal de mar | to taste |
| limeshalved, for serving | 8 to 12 |
| hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)warmed | for serving |
| salsa de molcajete (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy cast iron or unglazed clay comal
- •Long metal tongs
- •Wooden spoon for pressing
Instructions
- 1
Heat the comal
Set a heavy cast iron or unglazed clay comal over medium heat and let it heat for a full ten minutes before anything touches it. A cold comal steams the onion. A hot comal blackens it. The difference is everything. If your comal is well-seasoned and dark from years of use, even better. That patina is part of the seasoning.
- 2
Place the onions whole
Set the whole onions on the hot comal, skin and all. Do not peel them. Do not slice them. The papery outer skin protects the flesh underneath while the surface chars. This is how the women in the Tlacolula market cook them, alongside the chiles and tomatillos for salsa. Asi se hace y punto.
Use medium onions, not the giant ones the supermarkets sell. A medium onion cooks evenly. A giant one chars on the outside and stays raw at the center. - 3
Char on every side
Let the onions sit undisturbed for five to seven minutes per side. The skin will blacken in patches and the kitchen will smell like a market grill at dusk. Turn them with tongs, not a fork. Piercing the onion lets the juices escape and the inside dries out. You want four sides charred, including the top and the root end. Total time on the comal is twenty to twenty-five minutes.
- 4
Test for tenderness
Press the side of an onion with the back of a wooden spoon. It should give like a ripe avocado. If it still feels tight, leave it longer. The skin can look almost burned and the inside will still be sweet and silky. The char is the seasoning. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo.
- 5
Rest and peel at the table
Pull the onions off the comal and let them rest five minutes. They keep cooking from residual heat. At the table, peel back the blackened skin with your fingers, pull the onion open, and you will see the layers gone translucent and slick with their own juices. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt and a squeeze of lime. Eat with warm tortillas, alongside tasajo, cecina, or a pile of black beans. Nothing else needed.
Chef Tips
- •Use a real comal if you have one. Cast iron works. A nonstick pan does not. The high heat will ruin the coating and the onion will not char properly. If you are starting out, a heavy carbon steel skillet is the next best thing.
- •Do not peel the onions before charring. The skin is the shield. Without it, the outer layer dries out and turns bitter before the inside softens. You peel at the table, not at the stove.
- •The same comal, the same heat, will char tomatillos, garlic, and dried chiles for a salsa de molcajete. While the onions are working on one side, throw the rest on the other and you have built a meal in twenty-five minutes. Esto no es comida de un solo Mexico, but the comal is the common language.
Advance Preparation
- •Tatemado onions are best the moment they come off the comal. They lose their sweetness and texture in the refrigerator.
- •If you must hold them, wrap in a clean cotton cloth and keep in a warm spot for up to one hour. Do not refrigerate and reheat. They turn sulfurous.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 155g)
Calories
70 calories
Total Fat
0 g
Saturated Fat
0 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
0 g
Cholesterol
0 mg
Sodium
300 mg
Total Carbohydrates
16 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
7 g
Protein
2 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Oaxacan Side Dishes
Browse the full collection
Chef Lupita
Arroz Blanco con Hoja Santa
Veracruz white rice steamed with a whole hoja santa leaf laid across the top, the anise-and-pepper perfume of the leaf settling directly into the grains. The rice that belongs next to chichilo and coastal pescados.
Chef Lupita
Arroz Blanco con Plátano
Oaxaca's white rice, toasted in lard with onion and garlic, finished at the table with sliced ripe plátano. The strangest, simplest, most beloved side dish in the Valles Centrales.
Chef Lupita
Budín de Elote Oaxaqueño
A Oaxacan rainy-season corn pudding built on fresh white corn ground coarse, layered with charred poblano rajas and quesillo, and baked in clay until the top cracks golden and the cheese pulls in long strands.