Papas con Chintextle

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Volcanic stone molcajete (or a heavy-duty blender as a compromise)
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting
• •Wide cast iron skillet or 12-inch clay cazuela for sauteing
• •Heavy 4-quart pot for boiling the potatoes

Instructions

1. 1

   Boil the potatoes

   Place the scrubbed potatoes in a heavy pot and cover with cold water by two inches. Add the tablespoon of salt. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a steady simmer. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes, until a knife slides into the largest potato with no resistance. Drain and let them sit until they are cool enough to handle. Cut them in half if they are bigger than a walnut. Leave the skins on. The skin holds the chintextle.

   Do not peel the potatoes. In the Sierra Mixe the papas cambray come out of the ground small, thin-skinned, and earthy, and the skin is part of the texture. Peeling them is a city habit, not a Mixe one.
2. 2

   Toast the chiles and garlic

   Heat a dry comal or heavy skillet over medium heat. Toast the chile pasilla mixe one at a time, pressing them flat with a spatula for about 20 seconds per side. The skin will puff and the smoke will turn fragrant, deeply smoky, almost like dried chipotle but rounder. Move them to a plate as they finish. On the same comal, char the unpeeled garlic cloves until the skins are blackened in spots and the cloves are soft inside, about 6 to 8 minutes. Peel them once cool.

   The chile pasilla mixe is grown only in the Sierra Mixe of Oaxaca and is naturally smoke-dried over wood fires. That smoke is the flavor. Do not substitute chile pasilla de Mexico (the long black one). It is not the same chile, regardless of the shared name.
3. 3

   Toast the shrimp and avocado leaf

   On the same comal, lower the heat to medium-low and toast the dried shrimp for one to two minutes, stirring constantly, until they smell sharply of the sea and turn a shade darker. Remove. Toast the avocado leaves for 10 seconds per side, until you smell anise. They scorch fast. Watch them.

4. 4

   Pound the chintextle

   In a molcajete, work the toasted garlic, salt, and oregano into a paste. Add the avocado leaf and the dried shrimp and grind until the shrimp breaks down completely. Tear the toasted chiles into pieces and add them in batches, grinding until the paste is uniform, dark, and tacky. You should not need to add water. The oils in the chile and the moisture in the garlic carry it. This is chintextle. In a blender it goes faster but the texture will be smoother and slightly less interesting. The molcajete version has the soul.

   If you use a blender, pulse rather than puree, and add a tablespoon of warm water only if the blades cannot grab the paste. No me vengas con atajos, but a coarse blender chintextle is better than no chintextle.
5. 5

   Saute the potatoes

   Heat the lard in a wide cast iron skillet or heavy comal over medium-high until it shimmers. Add the diced onion and cook for two minutes, until it softens and starts to color at the edges. Add the boiled potatoes cut side down where you can. Let them sit undisturbed for three minutes, then turn. You want golden, crisp edges, not a stir-fry. La manteca es el sabor.

6. 6

   Dress in the chintextle

   Lower the heat to medium. Add three to four heaping tablespoons of the chintextle paste directly to the skillet with the potatoes. Toss gently to coat every piece. The paste will warm, loosen in the lard, and turn from tacky to glossy. Cook for two more minutes so the chile blooms in the fat. Taste for salt. Squeeze the lime over the top off the heat. The acid wakes up the smoke. Asi se hace y punto.

7. 7

   Serve

   Tip the potatoes into a warm clay cazuela or onto a barro negro platter. Scatter cilantro and crumbled queso fresco over the top. Serve with warm corn tortillas. The leftover chintextle keeps in the refrigerator for two weeks under a film of lard, and you will use it on everything: tlayudas, eggs, beans, more potatoes. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chile pasilla mixe from a vendor who can tell you it came from the Sierra. At the Central de Abastos in Oaxaca the chile vendors will name the village. If your dried chile is labeled simply 'pasilla' and was grown in central Mexico, you have the wrong chile. The substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade, but if you must, use a mix of chile morita and chile pasilla de Mexico to approximate the smoke and the depth.
• •Camaron seco con cabeza, dried shrimp with the heads on, is essential. The heads carry the briny intensity that drives the paste. Headless dried shrimp is a weaker product. Mexican grocers carry the heads-on version in clear plastic bags, often from Sinaloa or Oaxaca's coast.
• •Hoja de aguacate must come from a Mexican criollo avocado tree, not from the Hass varieties grown for export. Hass leaves are bland and faintly bitter. Criollo leaves carry an anise-fennel note that is the whole point. Mexican grocers sell them dried in bags labeled hojas de aguacate.
• •The chintextle paste keeps for two weeks refrigerated under a thin film of lard, and three months frozen. Make a double batch. You will find a use for it within a week.

Advance Preparation

• •The chintextle paste can be made up to two weeks ahead and refrigerated in a glass jar with a thin film of lard or olive oil over the top to seal it. The flavor deepens after 24 hours.
• •The potatoes can be boiled and cooled up to one day ahead. Refrigerate them whole and unsliced, then cut and saute on serving day.
• •The finished dish does not hold well. The crisp edges soften and the chile dulls. Reheat leftovers in a hot skillet with a little extra lard.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)