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.
Culinary Explorer
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Tortillas de Coco Tabasqueñas
Created by
Tabasco's Gulf coast breakfast tortilla, made from nixtamal masa, fresh mature coconut, piloncillo, and a little manteca, pressed thick and browned on a steady comal.
Breakfast & Brunch
Mexican
Weeknight
Make Ahead
Comfort Food
30 min
Active Time
25 min cook•55 min total
Yield10 to 12 small tortillas
Tabasco, the Chontal lowlands and the Gulf coast, is where these tortillas belong. Coconut palms, cacao, plantain, river fish, hoja de momo, chile amashito, this is the wet green kitchen of the Maya south, not the dry north and not the center of the country.
The tortilla here is not the thin table tortilla you use to pick up beans. It is thicker, gently sweet from fresh coconut and piloncillo, cooked on a comal until the edges brown and the coconut oils perfume the masa. A woman in Villahermosa once corrected my hand at the press because I was making them too thin. She was right. Too thin and the coconut burns before the masa cooks.
Use fresh nixtamal masa if you can get it. If you don't know where to buy it, pregúntale a las señoras del mercado. Masa harina will work in a kitchen far from Tabasco, but know what you are losing: the clean corn smell of nixtamal made that morning. A substitution is a compromise, not an upgrade.
Serve them warm with queso fresco, not syrup. This is not a pancake wearing a Mexican costume. This is Tabasco corn and coconut meeting on a comal. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Tabasco's coconut cookery belongs to the Gulf and Caribbean food corridor, where coconut became common after Spanish colonial trade moved palms, sugar, and coastal ingredients through ports from Veracruz to Campeche and the Caribbean. In Tabasco, Indigenous Maya-Chontal corn techniques remained the base, so coconut was folded into masa rather than replacing it. The result is a regional breakfast food that sits between tortilla and sweet antojito, tied to the coastal lowlands more than to the wheat and dairy breakfasts of northern Mexico.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh nixtamal masa for tortillas
Quantity
2 cups
at room temperature
fresh mature coconut
Quantity
1 cup
freshly grated, loosely packed
warm coconut water or warm water
Quantity
1/2 cup, plus more as needed
piloncillo
Quantity
2 tablespoons
finely grated
fine sea salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
1 tablespoon
softened, plus a little for the comal if needed
queso fresco (optional)
Quantity
1/2 cup
crumbled, for serving
salsa de chile amashito (optional)
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh nixtamal masa for tortillasat room temperature | 2 cups |
| fresh mature coconutfreshly grated, loosely packed | 1 cup |
| warm coconut water or warm water | 1/2 cup, plus more as needed |
| piloncillofinely grated | 2 tablespoons |
| fine sea salt | 1/2 teaspoon |
| manteca de cerdosoftened, plus a little for the comal if needed | 1 tablespoon |
| queso fresco (optional)crumbled, for serving | 1/2 cup |
| salsa de chile amashito (optional) | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Cast iron comal or heavy griddle
- •Tortilla press lined with plastic
- •Box grater or hand grater for fresh coconut
- •Basket lined with a cotton servilleta
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the coconut
Crack the mature coconut and save the water if it is clean and sweet. Pry out the white meat and grate it fine. Do not use sweetened bagged coconut. That belongs to cakes from a supermarket shelf, not to a Tabasco comal. The coconut should smell milky and fresh, with a little oil on your fingers.
- 2
Mix the masa
Put the nixtamal masa in a wide bowl. Add the grated coconut, piloncillo, salt, and softened manteca de cerdo. Work everything together with your hand, pressing the coconut through the masa so it distributes evenly. Add the warm coconut water a little at a time until the masa feels soft, smooth, and pliable, not wet. If it cracks at the edges when pressed, it needs more liquid.
- 3
Rest the dough
Cover the bowl with a damp servilleta and let the masa rest for 15 minutes. The coconut drinks moisture slowly. Skip the rest and the tortillas crack on the comal. La cocina no es decoración, es trabajo.
- 4
Heat the comal
Set a cast iron comal or heavy griddle over medium heat until a pinch of masa sizzles softly when it touches the surface. The heat should be steady, not violent. These tortillas have piloncillo and coconut, so they brown faster than plain corn tortillas.
- 5
Press the tortillas
Divide the masa into 10 to 12 balls, each about the size of a small lime. Press each one between two pieces of plastic in a tortilla press to about 1/4 inch thick. They should be thicker than a table tortilla, closer to a small gordita, because the coconut needs enough masa around it to toast without burning.
- 6
Cook on the comal
Lay one tortilla on the dry comal. Cook 2 to 3 minutes on the first side, until the surface looks dry and the bottom has golden brown spots. Flip and cook 2 minutes more. Flip once again and press gently with a folded cloth. It may puff a little. Good. That tells you the masa is cooked through. If the coconut sugars darken too quickly, lower the heat.
Use only a whisper of manteca on the comal if the tortillas stick. Do not fry them. This is a comal tortilla, not a fritter. - 7
Hold and serve
Stack the cooked tortillas in a basket lined with a clean servilleta so they soften together. Serve warm with crumbled queso fresco and, if you want the Tabasco bite, a small dish of salsa de chile amashito. Sweet coconut, corn, salt, fresh cheese. That is breakfast at dawn in the lowlands. Así se hace y punto.
Chef Tips
- •Fresh mature coconut matters. The young drinking coconut is too soft and watery. You want firm white meat that grates into small oily shreds.
- •If you must use masa harina, mix 2 cups masa harina with about 1 1/2 cups warm water, then continue with the coconut, piloncillo, salt, and manteca. Let it rest 20 minutes before pressing. It will not taste exactly like fresh nixtamal masa. Now you know.
- •Chile amashito is the small wild chile Tabasqueños use for sharp heat. It is optional here because the tortilla itself is sweet-salty, but a little salsa on the side is right at the table.
- •Do not add cinnamon, vanilla, condensed milk, or wheat flour. Those turn this into a dessert cake. No me vengas con atajos.
Advance Preparation
- •The coconut can be grated one day ahead and refrigerated in a covered container. Bring it to room temperature before mixing so the masa stays soft.
- •The mixed masa can rest, covered with a damp cloth, for up to 2 hours at room temperature. If it feels dry before pressing, knead in warm coconut water one tablespoon at a time.
- •Cooked tortillas keep wrapped in the refrigerator for 3 days. Reheat on a dry comal until the surfaces soften and the browned spots wake up again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 60g)
Calories
140 calories
Total Fat
6 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
2 g
Cholesterol
5 mg
Sodium
150 mg
Total Carbohydrates
20 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
3 g
Protein
3 g
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