Corundas en Atápakua Roja

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Tamalera or deep steamer lined with fresh corn leaves
• •Comal de leña, cast iron comal, or heavy dry skillet
• •High-powered blender
• •Medium-mesh sieve
• •Wide black-clay cazuela from Patamban or heavy clay cazuela for the atápakua
• •Cotton servilleta for covering the corundas while steaming

Instructions

1. 1

   Wilt the leaves

   Heat a comal over medium or bring a wide pot of water to a simmer. Pass the fresh corn leaves over the comal for a few seconds per side, or dip them briefly in hot water, just until flexible. Do not cook them to death. They should bend without cracking and still smell green, like the milpa after rain.

   Fresh hojas de milpa are correct for corundas. Dried husks are a compromise when you are far from Michoacán. Use the widest unbroken husks you can find and soak them until fully pliable.
2. 2

   Make the masa

   Set aside 3 tablespoons of masa for the atápakua. Put the remaining masa in a large bowl with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and the baking powder. Knead in 3/4 cup warm corn-cob broth or water, a little at a time, until the masa is soft, moist, and spreadable but not runny. It should hold a mound on your palm without cracking at the edges. Cover with a damp towel and rest 20 minutes.

3. 3

   Fold the corundas

   Lay one corn leaf smooth side up with the point facing away from you. Put 2 generous tablespoons masa near the wide end. Fold one side over the masa, then fold diagonally into a triangle, like folding a flag, keeping the masa enclosed as you go. Tuck the narrow end under the final fold. The package should be firm but not strangled. Corundas need room to swell.

4. 4

   Steam until set

   Line a tamalera or steamer basket with extra corn leaves. Arrange the corundas in layers, seams tucked down where you can, and cover with more leaves and a damp cotton servilleta. Steam over steady medium heat for 60 to 75 minutes. The corundas are done when the leaf pulls away cleanly and the masa feels firm, not pasty. Rest them off the heat for 10 minutes before opening.

5. 5

   Toast the chiles

   While the corundas cook, heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the guajillo, ancho, and puya if using, one type at a time, about 20 to 30 seconds per side. They should darken slightly, puff in spots, and smell deep, not burned. Guajillo burns faster than people think. Watch it.

   The red color is not there to punish anyone. Guajillo and ancho give fruit, body, and color. Not all Mexican food is chile fire. That lazy idea has ruined many good sauces.
6. 6

   Soak and roast

   Cover the toasted chiles with hot water and let them soften for 20 minutes. On the same comal, roast the tomatoes, onion, and unpeeled garlic until the tomato skins blister, the onion chars at the edges, and the garlic softens inside its peel. Peel the garlic. The comal is doing the work here. A raw tomato sauce will taste thin, and atápakua is never thin.

7. 7

   Blend the sauce

   Drain the chiles and put them in a blender with the roasted tomatoes, onion, peeled garlic, 1 cup broth, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Blend until completely smooth. Strain through a medium-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing hard with a spoon. The skins stay behind. The sauce should be deep red and clean, with no flakes of chile skin catching in the throat.

8. 8

   Cook the monte

   Heat the oil in a wide clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium-high. Add the mushrooms and cook until they release their liquid, shrink, and take on browned edges. Add the chopped quintoniles and cook just until they collapse into the mushrooms, 2 to 3 minutes. Season with a pinch of salt. This is the monte and the milpa meeting in the pan.

9. 9

   Thicken the atápakua

   Pour the strained chile puree into the cazuela with the mushrooms and quelites. Add the remaining 2 cups broth, the epazote sprig, and the nurite leaves if you have them. Simmer 10 minutes. Whisk the reserved 3 tablespoons masa with 1/2 cup warm water until smooth, then pour it into the cazuela in a thin stream while stirring. Cook 12 to 15 minutes more, stirring often, until the atápakua thickens enough to coat the spoon and the raw masa taste is gone. Taste for salt.

   If the sauce gets too thick, loosen it with hot broth a few tablespoons at a time. If it is watery, keep simmering. Do not fix it with flour. This is corn country.
10. 10

    Bathe and serve

    Open the corundas and place them in a wide serving cazuela or on deep barro plates. Ladle the atápakua roja over them until the triangular folds are partly covered but still visible. Scatter a few tender epazote leaves on top if you like. Serve with extra atápakua at the table. No crema is needed. No cheese is needed. No flour tortillas. This is Meseta P'urhépecha corn, and it stands on its own.

Chef Tips

• •Buy fresh nixtamal masa from a tortillería if you can. Ask for masa for tamales, a little coarser than tortilla masa. Masa harina works only when you have no better option. It will not smell the same because the mill and the wet corn are missing.
• •Trompa de puerco mushrooms are seasonal and regional. If your market does not have them, use oyster mushrooms and understand the compromise. The texture is close, the memory of the monte is not.
• •Nurite is a P'urhépecha herb from the Meseta, not a supermarket herb with a neat English label. If you find it, use it. If you cannot, epazote gives the sauce the right bitter-green backbone.
• •Do not replace atápakua with canned enchilada sauce. Atápakua is thickened with masa and cooked until the corn flavor joins the chile. Remove that step and you are making something else.
• •The corunda fold takes practice. The first three will look clumsy. Keep folding. The señora who taught you learned by making hundreds, not by reading one paragraph.

Advance Preparation

• •The corn leaves can be rinsed and wilted one day ahead. Wrap them in a damp towel and refrigerate so they stay flexible.
• •The corundas can be steamed one day ahead and reheated in the steamer for 15 to 20 minutes. Do not microwave them unless you enjoy rubbery masa.
• •The atápakua can be made one day ahead, but it will thicken as it sits. Reheat gently in a cazuela and loosen with hot broth or water until it coats the spoon again.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 400g)