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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Chayotes con Elote y Quesillo
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Oaxaca's summer side of cubed chayote and fresh white corn cooked in lard with epazote, finished with crema and a fistful of quesillo pulled into strands.
Side Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Comfort Food
15 min
Active Time
20 min cook•35 min total
Yield6 servings
This dish is from Oaxaca. From the Valles Centrales, where the chayote vines climb the back walls of every casa with a patio and the white corn comes in by the burlap sack from the milpas outside Tlacolula. It is a side dish, plain and weekday, the kind of thing a senora makes on a Tuesday because the chayotes are heavy and the corn is sweet and the quesillo was bought that morning at the mercado.
Three things make this Oaxacan and not generic. The quesillo, pulled into strands by hand, never the pre-shredded mozzarella that some people try to pass off. The epazote, with its mineral bite that cuts through the cream and the corn. And the lard. Yes, the lard. Vegetable oil will cook the chayote. It will not season it. La manteca es el sabor and Oaxaca knows this better than most.
My mother's notebook does not have this recipe. She was Jalisciense and chayote was a stewing vegetable to her, never a star. I learned this dish from a senora named Rosa who sells quesillo at the Mercado de Abastos in Oaxaca City. She made it for me on a hot plate behind her stall while she explained that you do not boil the chayote, you saute it, and you do not melt the quesillo into a sauce, you let it slump on top and pull it with a spoon. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
The chayote (Sechium edule) is a domesticated cucurbit indigenous to Mesoamerica, cultivated in central and southern Mexico for at least three thousand years before the conquest, and its Nahuatl name 'chayotli' survives in modern Spanish almost unchanged. Quesillo, the pulled string cheese now synonymous with Oaxaca, is a relatively recent invention: it was developed in 1885 in the town of Reyes Etla by a young cheesemaker named Leobarda Castellanos Garcia, who is said to have over-acidified a batch of curds and saved the result by stretching them in hot water, accidentally creating a cheese that pulled into strands. The pairing of chayote, white corn, and quesillo is a 20th-century home-cooking development that became standard across the Valles Centrales as quesillo spread from Etla into the rest of Oaxacan kitchens.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
medium chayotes
Quantity
3 (about 1 1/2 pounds)
peeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes
ears fresh white corn
Quantity
3 (about 2 1/2 cups kernels)
kernels cut from the cob
manteca de cerdo (pork lard)
Quantity
2 tablespoons
small white onion
Quantity
1
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
finely minced
fresh chile serrano
Quantity
1
finely chopped, seeds and all
fresh epazote
Quantity
2 sprigs
leaves only, roughly chopped
kosher salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Mexican crema
Quantity
1/3 cup
quesillo de Oaxaca
Quantity
6 ounces
pulled into thin strands
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
to taste
hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warmed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| medium chayotespeeled and cut into 1/2-inch cubes | 3 (about 1 1/2 pounds) |
| ears fresh white cornkernels cut from the cob | 3 (about 2 1/2 cups kernels) |
| manteca de cerdo (pork lard) | 2 tablespoons |
| small white onionfinely chopped | 1 |
| garlic clovesfinely minced | 3 |
| fresh chile serranofinely chopped, seeds and all | 1 |
| fresh epazoteleaves only, roughly chopped | 2 sprigs |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| Mexican crema | 1/3 cup |
| quesillo de Oaxacapulled into thin strands | 6 ounces |
| freshly ground black pepper | to taste |
| hand-pressed corn tortillas (optional)warmed | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide 12-inch cazuela or heavy skillet
- •Sharp chef's knife for cubing chayote
- •Large bowl for catching corn kernels and milk
- •Vegetable peeler
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the chayote
Peel the chayotes under cold running water. The skin secretes a sticky sap that will leave your fingers tight if you peel them dry. Cut each one in half, remove the flat seed at the center, and cut the flesh into half-inch cubes. Keep the cubes uniform. They need to cook at the same rate or you will get half raw and half mush.
If your skin is sensitive to the sap, peel them with a paper towel between your fingers and the chayote, or wear a glove. The sap washes off with soap and warm water. - 2
Cut the corn from the cob
Stand each ear of corn on its wide end inside a large bowl. Run a sharp knife straight down the cob to release the kernels. Then run the back of the knife down the bare cob to scrape out the milky liquid that holds the corn flavor. That liquid is half the dish. Do not skip it. Use white corn if you can find it. Yellow works, but Oaxacan cooks reach for the white ear first.
- 3
Render the aromatics in lard
Heat the manteca in a wide cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the chopped onion and a pinch of salt. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring, until the onion turns translucent and the edges begin to gild. Add the garlic and chile serrano. Cook another minute, just until you can smell the garlic. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil will get the job done. It will not give you the same dish.
- 4
Add the chayote
Add the chayote cubes and the teaspoon of salt. Stir to coat in the seasoned fat. Cook over medium heat for about 8 minutes, stirring every minute or two. The chayote will release some water and the cubes will turn from chalk-white to faintly translucent at the edges. You want them tender but still with a clean bite. Mushy chayote ruins this dish.
- 5
Add the corn and epazote
Stir in the corn kernels along with the milky liquid you scraped from the cobs. Add the chopped epazote leaves. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes more, stirring, until the corn turns from raw and pale to bright and sweet. The kitchen will smell like the corner of a Oaxacan mercado where the women sell esquites. Taste for salt now. The vegetables need it.
Epazote is not a substitute for cilantro. It tastes of mineral, anise, and something close to gasoline in the best way. If you cannot find fresh, leave it out. Dried epazote is a poor compromise. No me vengas con atajos. - 6
Finish with crema and quesillo
Reduce the heat to low. Pour the crema over the vegetables and stir gently to coat. Scatter the pulled quesillo across the top. Cover the pan for one minute, no more. The quesillo should slump and stretch but not disappear into a sauce. You want strands you can lift with a spoon. Crack black pepper over the top, taste once more for salt, and serve directly from the cazuela at the table.
Chef Tips
- •Buy real quesillo de Oaxaca, the kind sold as a coiled ball that you unwind and pull yourself. Pre-shredded mozzarella is not a substitute. The texture is wrong, the salt is wrong, and the melt is wrong. If you cannot find quesillo, queso Asadero from a Mexican grocer is a closer compromise than Italian cheese.
- •Use fresh corn in season. If the corn at your market is starchy, woody, or out of season, make this dish another month. Frozen corn is acceptable but loses the milky liquid that gives the dish its body. Cook with what the mercado is selling today.
- •Chayote is one vegetable that does not improve with leftovers. The cubes turn watery overnight and the quesillo seizes when reheated. Make what you will eat in one sitting. Recetas probadas y garantizadas, but only when eaten fresh.
Advance Preparation
- •The chayote can be peeled and cubed up to 4 hours ahead and held in the refrigerator covered with a damp towel. Do not soak it in water or you will wash out the flavor.
- •The corn can be cut from the cob and the milk scraped up to 2 hours ahead. Hold both in the same bowl, covered, in the refrigerator.
- •The finished dish does not hold. Cook it in the half hour before serving and bring the cazuela straight to the table.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 235g)
Calories
255 calories
Total Fat
16 g
Saturated Fat
9 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
35 mg
Sodium
575 mg
Total Carbohydrates
20 g
Dietary Fiber
3 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
10 g
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