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Tabasco's lowland corn empanadas, pressed thin around fresh queso, sealed by hand, and fried in manteca de cerdo until crisp enough for a mercado breakfast.
Tabasco, the lowland Maya south, is where these empanadas live: in Villahermosa markets, in Chontalpa kitchens, near the Grijalva and Usumacinta water that make the state so green it almost looks excessive. This is not a northern flour empanada. This is corn masa, fresh queso, and hot lard. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
The filling is modest because the masa is doing real work. You press it thin, fill it with queso fresco or a young local queso de poro when you can find it, seal it tight, and fry it in manteca de cerdo until the surface blisters and turns gold. Vegetable oil will fry it, yes. It will not taste like the empanadas from a Tabasco mercado. La manteca es el sabor.
The chile amashito belongs on the table in the salsa, not inside the empanada. Tiny, red, sharp, and native to Tabasco, it gives heat in quick little bites. I learned this version from a señora near the Mercado Pino Suárez who pressed the masa so thin I thought it would tear. It didn't. Her hands knew what the recipe card could not teach. Saber cocinar es saber vivir.
Corn masa empanadas in southeastern Mexico descend from the older Mesoamerican practice of shaping nixtamalized corn around a filling before cooking it on a comal or in fat. In Tabasco, the dish adapted to the lowland dairy and market breakfast culture of the 19th and 20th centuries, when fresh cheeses became common in daily cooking alongside corn, chaya, plantain, and river fish. Chile amashito, also called mashito or piquín in Tabasco, is a small wild or semi-cultivated Capsicum annuum used most often in table salsas rather than cooked into the main dish.
Quantity
2 cups
if using masa harina, mixed with 1 1/2 cups warm water
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
2 tablespoons
softened, for the masa
Quantity
10 to 12 ounces
crumbled
Quantity
2 cups
for frying
Quantity
6
stemmed, for salsa
Quantity
2
Quantity
1
unpeeled
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon, plus more to taste
Quantity
1 tablespoon
or 2 teaspoons lime juice mixed with 1 teaspoon orange juice
Quantity
for holding the fried empanadas
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh nixtamal masa or masa harinaif using masa harina, mixed with 1 1/2 cups warm water | 2 cups |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| manteca de cerdosoftened, for the masa | 2 tablespoons |
| queso fresco or young queso de poro from Tabascocrumbled | 10 to 12 ounces |
| manteca de cerdofor frying | 2 cups |
| fresh chile amashitostemmed, for salsa | 6 |
| ripe Roma tomatoes | 2 |
| small garlic cloveunpeeled | 1 |
| sea salt | 1/4 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| sour orange juiceor 2 teaspoons lime juice mixed with 1 teaspoon orange juice | 1 tablespoon |
| warm corn tortillas or banana leaf squares (optional) | for holding the fried empanadas |
Put the masa in a bowl with the salt and the 2 tablespoons of softened manteca de cerdo. Knead with your hand for 3 to 4 minutes, until the fat disappears into the dough and the masa feels soft, moist, and smooth. It should not crack when you press it between your fingers. If it cracks, add warm water one teaspoon at a time. If it sticks badly, dust in a spoonful of masa harina. The masa tells you what it needs.
Heat a dry comal over medium. Roast the Roma tomatoes and the unpeeled garlic clove, turning often, until the tomato skins blister and the garlic softens. The tomatoes should slump slightly and smell sweet, not burned. Peel the garlic. This is the base for the chile amashito salsa, the little fire that belongs beside the empanadas.
In a molcajete, grind the chile amashito with the salt until the skins break and the chile releases its sharp perfume. Add the peeled garlic and grind to a paste. Add the roasted tomatoes and crush them into a rough salsa. Stir in the sour orange juice. Taste for salt. The salsa should be bright and direct. Do not blend it smooth. A Tabasco table salsa has texture.
Divide the masa into 12 balls, each about the size of a small lime. Keep them covered with a damp kitchen towel so they do not dry out. Dry masa cracks at the edge and leaks cheese into the lard. Then you are cleaning the pot instead of eating breakfast.
Line a tortilla press with two pieces of thick plastic cut from a clean food bag. Press one masa ball into a round about 5 inches wide, thinner than a tortilla for tacos but not so thin that you can see through it. Lift the top plastic carefully. The edges should be even enough to seal but still look hand-pressed. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.
Place 2 tablespoons of crumbled queso slightly off center on the masa round. Fold the plastic over to bring the masa into a half-moon, then press the edge firmly through the plastic to seal. Open the plastic and pinch any weak spots with your fingers. Do not overfill. More cheese looks generous until it bursts in the lard. The señora at the mercado knows restraint for a reason.
Melt the 2 cups of manteca de cerdo in a wide heavy cazuela or Dutch oven over medium heat. The fat should be about 1 inch deep and reach 350F if you are using a thermometer. Without a thermometer, drop in a pea-sized bit of masa. It should bubble immediately and rise slowly, not darken in five seconds. Too cold and the empanadas drink fat. Too hot and the outside burns before the cheese warms.
Fry 2 or 3 empanadas at a time, sliding them into the lard away from your body. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side, turning once, until the masa is golden with tiny blisters and the edges feel firm when tapped with tongs. A little cheese may perfume the fat. A lot of cheese means you did not seal them. No me vengas con atajos.
Lift the empanadas onto a rack or a plate lined with brown paper. Sprinkle with a few grains of salt while the surface is still glossy from the lard. Serve hot with the chile amashito salsa in a small molcajete or clay bowl. Eat them with your hands. This is mercado food, not a fork-and-knife ceremony. Así se hace y punto.
1 serving (about 90g)
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