Joroches Fritos Yucatecos

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for charring and toasting
• •Heavy deep skillet or wide clay cazuela for frying
• •Slotted spoon or kitchen spider
• •Wire rack set over a sheet pan
• •Volcanic stone molcajete for finishing the sikil p'aak (optional but ideal)
• •High-powered blender

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the chaya

   Chaya leaves contain trace amounts of hydrocyanic acid when raw and must be cooked. Bring a small pot of salted water to a simmer. Drop in the chaya leaves and cook for five minutes. Drain, rinse under cold water, squeeze dry, and chop finely. Never handle raw chaya with bare hands if you have sensitive skin, and never use an aluminum pot to cook it. The Peninsula has known this for centuries. Asi se hace y punto.

   If you cannot find chaya, use Swiss chard. It is a compromise, not a substitute. Chaya has a deeper, almost mineral green flavor that chard cannot reach, but chard will give you the color and the texture.
2. 2

   Mix the masa

   In a wide bowl, combine the masa harina, salt, and the softened lard. Work the lard into the dry masa with your fingers until it looks like coarse sand. Add the warm water in two additions, mixing with your hands until a smooth, pliable dough forms. The masa should feel like a soft earlobe. If it cracks when you press it, add water a tablespoon at a time. La manteca es el sabor and it is also what keeps the joroches from drying out in the fryer.

3. 3

   Fold in the chaya

   Add the chopped chaya to the masa and knead gently until the green flecks are evenly distributed. Do not overwork it. You want the chaya visible, not pulverized. The masa should turn pale green where the chaya touches it.

4. 4

   Make the chiltomate

   Place the tomatoes, whole habanero, onion, and unpeeled garlic on a hot comal. Char them slowly, turning often, until the tomato skins blister and split, the onion blackens at the edges, and the habanero is mottled with dark spots. This takes about ten minutes. The smoke is the flavor. Peel the garlic. Throw everything into the blender with the salt and pulse, not blend, until you have a chunky rustic salsa. Chiltomate from Yucatan is not a smooth puree. It carries texture and char.

   Leave the habanero whole. Yucatecan cooks rarely chop habanero into the chiltomate. The salsa takes the perfume and the heat from the contact but stays approachable. If you want it hotter, split the habanero before blending. If you want it hot enough to make your eyes water, blend it in whole and seeded.
5. 5

   Make the sikil p'aak

   On the same comal, toast the pepitas dry over medium heat, stirring constantly, until they puff and turn a shade darker. They will start popping. That is when you pull them off. Burned pepitas turn the dip bitter. Char the small habanero on the comal until blackened in spots. Strip the epazote leaves from the stems. Combine the toasted pepitas, charred habanero, epazote, naranja agria, salt, and about a quarter cup of water in the blender. Blend to a thick paste, adding a splash more water if needed. Sikil p'aak should hold its shape on a spoon and taste of toasted seed, smoke, and citrus. Mayan in origin, peninsular in identity.

6. 6

   Shape the joroches

   Divide the masa into pieces about the size of a walnut, around one and a half tablespoons each. Roll each piece between damp palms into a smooth ball. Keep the shaped joroches under a damp cloth so they do not dry out while you finish rolling the rest. You should have about 24 balls. They should be uniform so they fry evenly.

7. 7

   Fry in manteca

   In a heavy deep skillet or wide cazuela, melt the two cups of lard over medium heat. The fat should be about an inch and a half deep and reach 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Test with a small pinch of masa. It should sizzle and float to the surface within two seconds. Fry the joroches in batches of six to eight, never crowding the pot. Cook for four to five minutes per batch, turning once or twice with a slotted spoon, until the outside is deep gold and crisp and the centers feel firm when pressed. The masa puffs slightly as the water turns to steam inside the ball. That is the joroche announcing itself. Drain on a wire rack, never on paper, which turns them soggy.

   Vegetable oil will fry them but it will not give you the flavor. Manteca de cerdo is what makes these joroches taste like Yucatan and not like a generic fried snack. No me vengas con atajos.
8. 8

   Serve while crisp

   Pile the joroches in a clay cazuelita or on a Talavera plate. Set the chiltomate and the sikil p'aak in small dishes alongside, with the pickled red onions if you made them. Eat with your hands. Pull each joroche apart with your thumbs to let the heat escape, then dip the torn edge into the salsa. The crisp shell, the soft chaya-flecked interior, the smoky chiltomate, the toasted-seed weight of the sikil p'aak. That is the Peninsula on a plate. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Fresh masa from a tortilleria beats masa harina every time. If you live near a Mexican neighborhood with a working tortilleria, ask for masa para tortillas. It costs almost nothing and the flavor is closer to what the senoras in Merida use.
• •Chaya is the dish. If you have access to a Yucatecan market in Mexico or a Latin grocery in a city with a peninsular community, ask for it by name. In a pinch, Swiss chard works for color and texture but you will lose the mineral, almost grassy depth that chaya brings. Never handle raw chaya with cuts on your hands and always cook it before eating.
• •The chiltomate and the sikil p'aak both keep refrigerated for three days. The flavor improves overnight as the char settles into the tomato and the toasted seeds soften into the salsa. Make them the day before if you are feeding a crowd.

Advance Preparation

• •The chiltomate and the sikil p'aak can both be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated in glass jars. Bring to room temperature before serving.
• •The masa with chaya can be mixed and refrigerated up to one day ahead, wrapped tight in plastic so it does not dry out. Knead briefly before shaping.
• •Joroches are best fried and eaten the same hour. They lose their crispness quickly. If you must reheat, do it in a 400F oven on a wire rack for five minutes, never in a microwave.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 160g)