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Tabasco's lowland empanadas, green with chopped chaya, pressed from corn masa, filled with queso fresco or huevo, and fried in manteca until the shell turns crisp at the edges.
Tabasco, the lowlands around Villahermosa and the Chontalpa, is where these empanadas live. Chaya grows in patios, near fences, beside plantains and cacao trees. It is not a decorative green. It is daily food, the leaf that goes into masa, eggs, broths, and whatever the morning demands.
The chaya must be cooked before it goes into the masa. Raw chaya is not lettuce. It carries compounds that need heat, so you blanch it, drain it, chop it fine, and then knead it into fresh corn masa until the dough turns speckled green. A señora in the Mercado Pino Suárez in Villahermosa corrected me once for chopping it too coarse. She was right. Big pieces tear the masa when you press the empanada.
The filling is humble: queso fresco, better if you have queso de poro from Balancán, or scrambled huevo with a little white onion. The chile amashito belongs in the salsa on the table, not inside the dough. Remember that. Tabasco has its own chile and its own way of using it. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Fry them in manteca de cerdo. Not vegetable oil. The shell should blister lightly, crisp at the rim, and stay tender where the masa is thick. La manteca es el sabor. No me vengas con atajos.
Chaya, Cnidoscolus aconitifolius, is a Maya domesticated leafy shrub used across the Yucatán Peninsula, Tabasco, and parts of Chiapas long before the Spanish conquest. In Tabasco, where humid lowland agriculture is shaped by cacao, plantain, corn, river fish, and patio herbs, chaya became a practical daily green because it grows aggressively in heat and rain. The state's small fried masa foods, including empanadas, panuchos, and local antojitos sold at dawn markets, show the Maya south's preference for corn masa enriched with regional leaves rather than wheat flour.
Quantity
3 cups
or 2 cups masa harina mixed with 1 1/2 cups warm water
Quantity
2 packed cups
tough stems removed
Quantity
1 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
2 tablespoons
melted, for the masa
Quantity
1/4 to 1/2 cup
as needed for the masa
Quantity
1 1/2 cups
crumbled
Quantity
4
lightly beaten, for optional egg filling
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely chopped, for optional egg filling
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for optional egg filling
Quantity
3 cups
for frying
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh corn masa for tortillasor 2 cups masa harina mixed with 1 1/2 cups warm water | 3 cups |
| fresh chaya leavestough stems removed | 2 packed cups |
| kosher salt | 1 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| manteca de cerdomelted, for the masa | 2 tablespoons |
| warm wateras needed for the masa | 1/4 to 1/2 cup |
| queso fresco or queso de poro de Balancáncrumbled | 1 1/2 cups |
| large eggs (optional)lightly beaten, for optional egg filling | 4 |
| white onion (optional)finely chopped, for optional egg filling | 2 tablespoons |
| manteca de cerdo (optional)for optional egg filling | 1 tablespoon |
| manteca de cerdofor frying | 3 cups |
| salsa de chile amashito (optional) | for serving |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the chaya leaves and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until the leaves turn deep green and lose their raw stiffness. Drain well, rinse briefly, and squeeze out the excess water. Chaya must be cooked before eating. Do not treat it like spinach from a plastic bag.
Lay the cooked chaya on a board and chop it very fine. If the pieces are large, they tear the masa when you press and fold the empanadas. You want green flecks throughout the dough, not ropes of leaf pulling through it.
Put the fresh corn masa in a bowl. Add the salt, melted manteca, and chopped chaya. Knead with your hand for 3 to 4 minutes, adding warm water a tablespoon at a time only if the dough cracks. The masa should feel soft, moist, and alive, like tortilla dough that can be pressed without splitting at the edges.
For cheese empanadas, keep the crumbled queso fresco or queso de poro ready in a bowl. For huevo, melt 1 tablespoon manteca in a small skillet, cook the white onion until soft, then add the beaten eggs and scramble just until set. Do not overcook them. They will cook again inside the empanada.
Divide the masa into 12 balls, each about the size of a small lime. Line a tortilla press with two pieces of plastic cut from a clean bag. Press one ball into a round about 5 inches wide. It should be thicker than a tortilla because it has to hold filling and survive the frying fat.
Place 2 tablespoons queso or 2 tablespoons scrambled huevo on one side of the masa round. Fold the plastic over to close the empanada into a half-moon. Press the edge firmly with your fingers to seal. If the edge cracks, the masa is too dry. Knead in a spoonful of warm water and continue. The dough tells you what it needs.
Heat the manteca de cerdo in a deep heavy skillet to 350F. Fry 2 or 3 empanadas at a time, turning once, for 3 to 4 minutes total. The shell should turn golden with small blisters and a crisp rim. If the fat is too cool, the empanadas drink it. If it is too hot, the outside browns before the masa cooks through.
Lift the empanadas onto a rack or brown paper to drain. Serve warm with salsa de chile amashito and lime halves. The salsa is where the Tabasco heat goes. The empanada itself is about corn, chaya, cheese, egg, and good fat. Así se hace y punto.
1 serving (about 95g)
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