Chayitas (Tortitas Yucatecas de Chaya)

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for charring and frying
• •Volcanic stone molcajete or blender for the chiltomate
• •Stainless steel or clay pot for boiling the chaya (never aluminum)
• •Wide mixing bowl for the masa
• •Wire rack or newspaper-lined plate for draining

Instructions

1. 1

   Boil the chaya

   Bring a small pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the chaya leaves and cook for five minutes. Chaya is not spinach. Raw chaya contains hydrocyanic compounds and must be cooked before it touches the masa. Five minutes in boiling water is enough to neutralize them. Drain the leaves, rinse under cold water, and squeeze them dry in a clean kitchen towel. Chop them fine.

   Never use an aluminum pot for chaya. The leaves react with aluminum and the water turns a bad color and a worse taste. Stainless or clay only. The senoras in the Merida market will tell you the same thing.
2. 2

   Build the xnipec

   While the chaya cools, make the xnipec. In a small glass or ceramic bowl, combine the sliced red onion, chopped habanero, naranja agria juice, and salt. Stir and let it sit on the counter for at least 20 minutes. The acid cures the onion and pulls the heat from the habanero into the juice. Xnipec means dog's nose in Maya, because the heat is supposed to make your nose run like a dog's. If yours does not, you went too light on the habanero.

3. 3

   Char the chiltomate ingredients

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium-high. Place the tomatoes, the whole habanero, the onion piece, and the unpeeled garlic on the dry surface. Turn them as the skins blacken in patches. The tomatoes should collapse and char in about eight minutes. The habanero takes about three. The garlic skins blacken and the cloves inside soften. This is the Yucatecan grammar: ingredients meet the comal before they meet the molcajete.

4. 4

   Finish the chiltomate

   Peel the charred garlic. Drop the tomatoes, habanero, onion, and garlic into a molcajete or blender. Pulse to a rough texture. You want a salsa with body, not a puree. Heat one tablespoon of lard in a small pan over medium and pour the salsa in. It will sputter. Cook five minutes, stirring, until it darkens and the raw edge cooks off. Salt to taste. Chiltomate is the daily salsa of the Yucatan Peninsula. Tomato, habanero, charred. That is the whole recipe.

5. 5

   Mix the masa

   In a wide bowl, combine the masa with the salt, the softened lard, and the chopped chaya. If you are using masa harina rehydrated with warm water, add the baking powder now. Knead with your hands for three to four minutes until the chaya is evenly distributed and the masa feels like soft, smooth clay. If it cracks when you press it, it is too dry. Add water a teaspoon at a time. If it sticks to your palm, it is too wet. Add a little more masa harina. La masa habla, the masa tells you what it needs.

   The lard in the masa is not optional. It is what gives the chayita its tender interior and its crisp edge. Vegetable oil here gives you a tough, sad disc. La manteca es el sabor.
6. 6

   Form the chayitas

   Divide the masa into 12 equal portions, about two tablespoons each. Roll each one into a ball, then press flat between your palms into a disc about three inches across and a half-inch thick. They should be thicker than a tortilla, thinner than a gordita. Set them on a tray lined with banana leaf or parchment as you work. Keep the unformed masa covered with a damp towel so it does not dry out.

7. 7

   Fry in lard

   Heat the half cup of lard in a heavy skillet or cast iron pan over medium until it shimmers. A pinch of masa dropped in should sizzle immediately and rise to the surface. Lower three or four chayitas into the lard at a time. Do not crowd the pan. Fry three to four minutes per side, until the edges turn deep golden and the surface is speckled with darker spots. The chaya inside will go a deeper green from the heat. Lift them onto a wire rack or a plate lined with newspaper. Salt them while they are still hot.

8. 8

   Serve hot from the pan

   Arrange the chayitas on a platter while the next batch is still frying. Spoon warm chiltomate over each one. Top with xnipec and a small pinch of crumbled queso fresco if you like. Eat them with your hands, the way they are eaten at the cantinas in Merida and the family fondas of Valladolid. They are best within ten minutes of leaving the lard. Asi se hace y punto.

Chef Tips

• •Fresh chaya is the only chaya worth using. If you are outside the Peninsula and your only option is the dried or frozen leaves at a Mexican market, frozen is the better compromise. Dried chaya rehydrated is a sad echo of the fresh leaf. If you find none at all, this dish waits until you do. Spinach is not chaya.
• •Naranja agria, the sour orange of the Peninsula, is what gives xnipec its character. If you cannot find it, the standard substitute is two parts orange juice to one part lime juice with a splash of white vinegar. It is a compromise, not an upgrade. Tell yourself the truth about what you are missing.
• •The habanero is the chile of the Peninsula. Not jalapeno, not serrano, not chile de arbol. If you cannot handle the heat, use half a habanero in the xnipec instead of a whole one, but keep the chile. A xnipec without habanero is just pickled onion, and chiltomate without habanero is just tomato sauce.

Advance Preparation

• •The chiltomate can be made one day ahead and refrigerated. Reheat gently in a small pan with a teaspoon of lard before serving.
• •The xnipec is better after it sits. Make it up to four hours ahead and hold at room temperature, or up to one day ahead in the refrigerator. Past a day, the onion loses its bite.
• •The chaya can be boiled, drained, and chopped one day ahead. The masa should be mixed and the chayitas fried at the last minute. Fried chayitas reheated are never as good as fresh from the pan.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 195g)