Chef Lupita
Atole Agrio Chiapaneco
Los Altos de Chiapas turns two-night fermented white corn into a tart-sweet atole, cooked with canela and piloncillo, then poured hot into jícaras for desayuno.
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Memelas Chiapanecas con Frijol y Queso
Created by
Los Altos de Chiapas make memelas as oval masa cakes pinched at the edge, brushed with manteca and asiento, then covered with black beans, chirmol, and fresh cheese.
Breakfast & Brunch
Mexican
Weeknight
Quick Meal
Comfort Food
25 min
Active Time
35 min cook•1 hr total
Yield8 memelas, 4 servings
Chiapas, Los Altos first. These memelas belong to the highland morning, around San Cristobal de las Casas and Comitan, where the comal is already dark before the sun clears the fog and the beans are black, not pinto, not bayos, not whatever was on sale in a supermarket far away.
The shape matters. You press the masa into an oval, cook it on the comal, then pinch the edge while it is still hot enough to obey your fingers. That rim is not decoration. It holds the manteca, the asiento, the frijol negro refrito, and the chirmol made with chile simojovel. This is the Maya south, not generic Mexican food with cheese thrown on top.
I learned this kind of breakfast from women who worked fast because the family was hungry and the market day did not wait. Their hands moved without drama: masa, comal, pinch, beans, salsa, cheese. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo. Use queso fresco if that is what you can get. Use queso crema de Chiapas if your market has it. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado. They know before the internet knows.
My mother was from Jalisco, so this was not her daily food, but in her notebook she wrote one line after a trip south: 'la orilla se pellizca caliente.' The edge is pinched hot. That is the whole lesson. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Memelas are part of the broad Mesoamerican family of comal-cooked masa antojitos, older than the modern border between Chiapas and Guatemala and rooted in the daily nixtamal work of Indigenous Maya households. In Chiapas, black beans, queso fresco or queso crema de Chiapas, and cooked salsas such as chirmol mark the regional version, while Oaxaca's memelas are more closely associated with asiento and salsa de chile pasilla mixe or chile de agua. Chile simojovel, named for Simojovel in northern Chiapas, is one of the state's defining dried chiles and gives highland salsas a sharper local identity than generic chile de arbol.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh nixtamal masa or masa harina for tortillas
Quantity
2 cups
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
warm water
Quantity
1 1/4 cups
only if using masa harina
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
3 tablespoons
divided
asiento de puerco
Quantity
2 tablespoons
warmed until spreadable
cooked frijol negro de Chiapas
Quantity
2 cups
with 1/2 cup cooking liquid reserved
white onion
Quantity
1/4 small
finely chopped
epazote
Quantity
1 sprig
garlic clove
Quantity
1 small
peeled
ripe Roma tomatoes
Quantity
4
dried chile simojovel
Quantity
4
stemmed
fresh chile serrano
Quantity
1
stemmed
chopped cilantro
Quantity
1/4 cup
salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste
queso fresco or queso crema de Chiapas
Quantity
1 cup
crumbled
finely chopped white onion (optional)
Quantity
1/4 cup
for serving
lime wedges (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh nixtamal masa or masa harina for tortillas | 2 cups |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| warm wateronly if using masa harina | 1 1/4 cups |
| manteca de cerdodivided | 3 tablespoons |
| asiento de puercowarmed until spreadable | 2 tablespoons |
| cooked frijol negro de Chiapaswith 1/2 cup cooking liquid reserved | 2 cups |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1/4 small |
| epazote | 1 sprig |
| garlic clovepeeled | 1 small |
| ripe Roma tomatoes | 4 |
| dried chile simojovelstemmed | 4 |
| fresh chile serranostemmed | 1 |
| chopped cilantro | 1/4 cup |
| salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more to taste |
| queso fresco or queso crema de Chiapascrumbled | 1 cup |
| finely chopped white onion (optional)for serving | 1/4 cup |
| lime wedges (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Cast iron comal or well-seasoned steel comal
- •Volcanic stone molcajete
- •Clay cazuela or heavy skillet for refrying beans
- •Tortilla press, optional, for starting the ovals before hand-shaping
Instructions
- 1
Make the masa
If you have fresh nixtamal masa, mix it with the salt and knead for two minutes until smooth. If you are using masa harina, stir it with the salt and warm water, then knead until it feels like soft clay. Cover with a damp cloth and rest 15 minutes. The masa should not crack when you press it. If it cracks, add water one tablespoon at a time.
- 2
Refry the beans
Melt 1 tablespoon of manteca in a small clay cazuela or heavy skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until soft, not browned. Add the garlic, cooked black beans, epazote, and a splash of bean liquid. Mash until thick and spreadable, adding more liquid only if the beans seize up. Taste for salt. Frijol negro carries Chiapas on its back, so do not make it watery.
- 3
Cook the chirmol
Heat a dry comal over medium. Roast the tomatoes, chile simojovel, and serrano until the tomato skins blacken in spots and the chiles smell sharp and toasted. The dried chile simojovel only needs a few seconds per side. Burn it and the salsa goes bitter. Pound everything in a molcajete with the salt, then stir in the cilantro. This is chirmol: a cooked salsa, not a raw pico de gallo with a borrowed name.
- 4
Shape the memelas
Divide the masa into 8 balls. Pat each one into an oval about 5 inches long and 1/4 inch thick. Press the center slightly thinner than the edges. Keep your hands damp so the masa does not tear. A memela is not a tortilla with toppings. It has a body of its own.
- 5
Cook and pinch
Lay the ovals on the hot comal and cook for about 2 minutes per side, until dry spots appear and the edges set. Pull each one off briefly and pinch up the rim with your fingers while it is still flexible. That little wall holds the beans and fat. Put them back on the comal for another minute per side, until lightly freckled and firm.
- 6
Brush with fat
Mix the remaining 2 tablespoons manteca with the warmed asiento. Brush the hot memelas generously, especially inside the pinched edge. No me vengas con atajos. Oil will make the masa greasy on top and dry underneath. Manteca and asiento sink into the corn and give it the flavor women in the mercados of San Cristobal expect.
- 7
Top and serve
Spread each memela with refried black beans, spoon chirmol over the beans, and finish with crumbled queso fresco or queso crema de Chiapas. Add a little chopped white onion and lime if you want it at the table. Serve immediately, while the masa is still tender in the center and crisp at the edges. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
Chef Tips
- •Fresh nixtamal masa is best. If you use masa harina, buy one made only from nixtamalized corn and use warm water. A dry masa cracks at the edge and the beans slide off. The memela tells on you.
- •Asiento is the browned pork sediment left from rendering lard. It is not the same as plain manteca. If your carniceria renders lard, ask for asiento. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
- •Chile simojovel can be hard to find outside Chiapas. Look in mercados with southern Mexican vendors before you replace it. If you must, use dried chile de arbol with one small toasted chile guajillo for body, but understand that you have moved away from the Chiapas flavor.
- •Chirmol is cooked. Roast the tomato and chiles on the comal. Raw tomato salsa on this memela tastes like someone got tired halfway through.
- •Do not pile these with crema, lettuce, or yellow cheese. That is not a Chiapas memela. Serve them with beans, salsa, queso, onion, and lime. Así se hace y punto.
Advance Preparation
- •The black beans can be cooked up to 3 days ahead. Refry them just before serving so the manteca stays fragrant and the texture stays thick.
- •The chirmol can be made one day ahead and refrigerated, but it tastes sharper and cleaner the day it is roasted.
- •The masa can be mixed 2 hours ahead and kept covered with a damp cloth. Do not shape the memelas early. They dry at the edges and crack on the comal.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 330g)
Calories
600 calories
Total Fat
27 g
Saturated Fat
12 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
15 g
Cholesterol
40 mg
Sodium
850 mg
Total Carbohydrates
73 g
Dietary Fiber
13 g
Sugars
4 g
Protein
20 g
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