Chef Lupita
Caldo de Shuti Zoque de Chiapas
Chiapas' Zoque river broth of shuti, chile de Simojovel, chile amashito, momo, chipilin, and masa, a spring pot that tastes of mountain streams and the women who clean every shell by hand.
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Crema de Chaya Tabasqueña
Created by
Tabasco's lowland chaya soup, built on cooked Maya spinach, white onion, milk, and manteca de cerdo, finished with lime and chile amashito only if the table asks for it.
Soups & Stews
Mexican
Weeknight
Comfort Food
20 min
Active Time
25 min cook•45 min total
Yield4 to 6 servings
Tabasco, especially the Chontal lowlands around Nacajuca, Jalpa de Méndez, and the humid kitchens near the Grijalva and Usumacinta rivers, knows chaya as daily food, not decoration. This is a green soup from that world: soft, herbal, practical, and made for a weeknight when the market sold good bunches of chaya tied with palma.
Chaya is not spinach. It is chaya, a Maya leaf with its own body and warning. You cook it before you blend it. Never raw. Never tossed into a smoothie by someone who doesn't know the plant. The leaves must darken, soften, and lose their raw edge before they go near the blender. That is not fear, that is knowledge.
The soup is not built to be chile-forward. The Maya south leans hard on aromatic herbs and leaves: chaya, chipilín, momo, hierba santa. Here the fat is manteca de cerdo, the base is onion and garlic, and the body comes from milk and a little masa, not flour. If someone wants heat, put chile amashito on the table with lime and salt. Let the soup stay what it is.
I learned this kind of cooking from women who could feed a house from one bunch of leaves, a cup of milk, and a stack of tortillas. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Chaya, Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, is a pre-Hispanic Maya leafy green cultivated across the Yucatán peninsula and the Gulf lowlands, including Tabasco, where it became part of everyday home cooking rather than ceremonial cuisine. Because raw chaya contains cyanogenic compounds, traditional cooks developed the habit of boiling or thoroughly wilting the leaves before grinding, mixing, or serving them. Tabasco's cream soups reflect a later domestic adaptation, combining older Maya greens with milk-based preparations that spread through Mexican home kitchens in the 19th and 20th centuries.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh chaya leaves
Quantity
2 packed cups
stems removed and rinsed well
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
1 tablespoon
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
finely chopped
fresh masa or masa harina
Quantity
2 tablespoons
mixed with 3 tablespoons water
chicken broth or vegetable broth
Quantity
3 cups
warm
whole milk
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
Mexican crema
Quantity
1/2 cup
kosher salt
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
for serving
fresh chile amashito (optional)
Quantity
for serving
lightly crushed with salt
warm corn tortillas (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh chaya leavesstems removed and rinsed well | 2 packed cups |
| manteca de cerdo | 1 tablespoon |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 2 |
| fresh masa or masa harinamixed with 3 tablespoons water | 2 tablespoons |
| chicken broth or vegetable brothwarm | 3 cups |
| whole milk | 1 1/2 cups |
| Mexican crema | 1/2 cup |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/4 teaspoon |
| lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
| fresh chile amashito (optional)lightly crushed with salt | for serving |
| warm corn tortillas (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Stainless steel or enamel pot for cooking chaya
- •Heavy saucepan or small clay cazuela
- •Blender
- •Wooden spoon
Instructions
- 1
Clean the chaya
Strip the chaya leaves from the tough stems and rinse the leaves in two changes of water. Look carefully. Market chaya carries dust, small grit, and sometimes a stubborn little stem hiding under the leaf. Use only the leaves and tender tips.
- 2
Cook the leaves
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil in stainless steel or enamelware. Add the chaya and cook for 10 minutes, until the leaves turn dark green and soften completely. Drain well. Do not use raw chaya. Do not cook it in aluminum. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado, they will tell you the same thing.
Chaya must be cooked before eating because the raw leaf carries compounds that cooking drives off. This is not optional. Así se hace y punto. - 3
Soften the base
In a heavy saucepan or small clay cazuela, melt the manteca de cerdo over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until it turns glossy and sweet but not brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. The smell should be soft, not sharp. Burned garlic will bully the chaya.
- 4
Blend the soup
Put the cooked chaya, onion, garlic, masa mixture, and 1 cup of the warm broth into a blender. Blend until very smooth. The masa gives the soup body the way a Tabasco cook would understand, from corn, not from wheat flour trying to act important.
- 5
Simmer gently
Pour the green puree back into the saucepan. Add the remaining broth, salt, and black pepper. Simmer over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, stirring often, until the soup thickens lightly and the raw taste of masa disappears. Keep it gentle. This soup should stay green and clean, not turn dull from punishment.
- 6
Add the dairy
Lower the heat. Stir in the milk and cook for 5 minutes, without boiling. Whisk in the Mexican crema at the end until the surface looks smooth and lightly glossy. Taste for salt. The flavor should be herbal, rounded, and faintly sweet from the onion.
- 7
Serve with lime
Ladle into warm bowls. Serve with lime wedges, a small dish of crushed chile amashito with salt, and warm corn tortillas. Squeeze the lime over the bowl at the table. The chile is there if you want it. The chaya is the point.
Chef Tips
- •Buy chaya from a vendor who sells it as food, not as an ornamental plant. The leaves should be lively, deep green, and not yellow at the edges.
- •If you cannot find chaya, spinach is a compromise, not the same dish. Use mature spinach and call it crema de espinaca. Don't pretend it is Tabasco chaya.
- •Chile amashito is the Tabasco table chile, small and fierce. Crush it with salt and lime on the side. Do not drown the soup with bottled hot sauce.
- •The masa matters. It thickens softly and ties the soup back to corn. Cornstarch makes it slick. Masa makes it food.
Advance Preparation
- •The chaya can be cooked, drained, and refrigerated one day ahead. Keep it covered and blend it only when you make the soup.
- •The finished soup keeps refrigerated for two days. Reheat gently over low heat and do not let it boil after the milk and crema are in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 300g)
Calories
210 calories
Total Fat
11 g
Saturated Fat
6 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
5 g
Cholesterol
30 mg
Sodium
1080 mg
Total Carbohydrates
22 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
7 g
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