Chef Lupita
Arroz Jarocho con Plátanos Fritos
Veracruz's Gulf-side white rice, toasted with garlic and onion, cooked until each grain stands apart, then crowned with ripe plátano macho fried in lard.
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Yuca en Chilpachole de Los Tuxtlas
Created by
Veracruz's Los Tuxtlas yuca, boiled until tender and finished in a brothy chilpachole of chile ancho, jitomate, epazote, and lard from the Afromestiza Sotavento table.
Side Dishes
Mexican
Weeknight
Comfort Food
One Pot
25 min
Active Time
50 min cook•1 hr 15 min total
Yield6 servings
Veracruz, south of the port and into Los Tuxtlas, is where this dish belongs. The land turns tropical there: volcanic soil, humid air, plantain, malanga, yuca, chile, epazote. This is not the potato kitchen of the highlands. This is Sotavento, where the African line, the Indigenous line, and the Gulf coast all sit in the same cazuela.
The yuca is boiled first because it has to surrender on its own terms. Then the chile broth is built with chile ancho, jitomate, garlic, white onion, and epazote. You fry that blended base in manteca de cerdo before the broth goes in. Do not skip it. Raw chile puree tastes thin. Fried chile puree tastes like Veracruz knows what it is doing.
I learned a version like this from a señora near Catemaco who served it in a clay cazuela, with black beans on the side and a woven palm fan hanging over the stove. She told me, "la yuca no perdona prisa," cassava does not forgive hurry. She was right. Cook it until the center is creamy, remove the woody vein, then let it drink the chilpachole. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Chilpachole is a Veracruz broth tradition most famously tied to jaiba, crab, but inland and home kitchens also use the same chile, jitomate, and epazote base for vegetables and tropical roots. The word is commonly linked to Nahuatl roots around chile and stew, and the dish reflects the Gulf coast habit of thick, aromatic broths rather than dry sauces. In Los Tuxtlas and the Sotavento, yuca and plantain carry the Afromestiza vocabulary of the region, distinct from the Huasteca north and from the central Veracruz highlands.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
fresh yuca
Quantity
2 pounds
peeled, split lengthwise, woody core removed, cut into 2-inch pieces
kosher salt
Quantity
2 teaspoons, divided, plus more to taste
dried chile ancho
Quantity
3
stemmed and seeded
dried chile guajillo
Quantity
2
stemmed and seeded
ripe jitomates
Quantity
3 medium
roasted on a comal
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
roasted on a comal
garlic cloves
Quantity
3
unpeeled and roasted on a comal, then peeled
black peppercorns
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
whole cloves
Quantity
2
masa harina (optional)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
for a lightly thicker broth
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
2 tablespoons
light vegetable broth or yuca cooking water
Quantity
4 cups
fresh epazote
Quantity
2 sprigs
hoja santa leaf (optional)
Quantity
1 small
fresh lime juice
Quantity
1 tablespoon, plus lime halves for serving
chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
Quantity
for serving
warm corn tortillas
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh yucapeeled, split lengthwise, woody core removed, cut into 2-inch pieces | 2 pounds |
| kosher salt | 2 teaspoons, divided, plus more to taste |
| dried chile anchostemmed and seeded | 3 |
| dried chile guajillostemmed and seeded | 2 |
| ripe jitomatesroasted on a comal | 3 medium |
| white onionroasted on a comal | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovesunpeeled and roasted on a comal, then peeled | 3 |
| black peppercorns | 1/2 teaspoon |
| whole cloves | 2 |
| masa harina (optional)for a lightly thicker broth | 1 tablespoon |
| manteca de cerdo | 2 tablespoons |
| light vegetable broth or yuca cooking water | 4 cups |
| fresh epazote | 2 sprigs |
| hoja santa leaf (optional) | 1 small |
| fresh lime juice | 1 tablespoon, plus lime halves for serving |
| chopped fresh cilantro (optional) | for serving |
| warm corn tortillas | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Dry comal or heavy cast iron skillet
- •Heavy 4-quart pot for boiling yuca
- •Wide clay cazuela or heavy Dutch oven
- •High-powered blender
- •Fine-mesh strainer
Instructions
- 1
Boil the yuca
Put the peeled yuca in a heavy pot and cover with cold water by two inches. Add 1 teaspoon salt. Bring to a steady simmer and cook 20 to 30 minutes, until a knife slides into the center without fighting you. Drain, saving 4 cups of the cooking water if you are not using broth. If any woody vein remains, pull it out now. Yuca with the vein left in is careless cooking.
- 2
Toast the chiles
Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile ancho and chile guajillo separately, about 20 to 30 seconds per side, just until they darken slightly and smell deep, sweet, and earthy. Do not blacken them. Burned chile turns bitter and no amount of jitomate will hide it.
The ancho gives body and raisin-dark sweetness. The guajillo gives cleaner red color. This is not about making the broth hot. Not all Mexican food is a dare. - 3
Soak and roast
Place the toasted chiles in a bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes. While they soften, roast the jitomates, onion, and unpeeled garlic on the comal, turning until the skins blister and the onion edges char in spots. Peel the garlic. The roasted vegetables give the chilpachole its roundness.
- 4
Blend the base
Drain the chiles and put them in a blender with the roasted jitomates, roasted onion, peeled garlic, black peppercorns, cloves, masa harina if using, and 1 cup of broth or yuca cooking water. Blend until completely smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pressing hard on the solids. Chilpachole should be brothy, not full of chile skins.
- 5
Fry the chile
Melt the manteca de cerdo in a wide clay cazuela or heavy pot over medium heat. Pour in the strained chile base. It will sputter, so stir with control. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, scraping the bottom, until the color deepens and small beads of red fat appear at the edges. La manteca es el sabor. Vegetable oil will cook it, but it will not taste like the Veracruz pot I was taught.
- 6
Build the broth
Add the remaining 3 cups broth or yuca cooking water, the epazote, hoja santa if using, and the remaining 1 teaspoon salt. Simmer 10 minutes so the herbs perfume the broth. Taste. The broth should be savory, lightly smoky from the chile, and herbal from the epazote. If it tastes flat, it needs salt, not another chile.
- 7
Finish the yuca
Add the boiled yuca to the cazuela and simmer 10 to 12 minutes, turning the pieces gently so they drink the chilpachole without breaking apart. The edges should look stained red and the center should stay creamy. Stir in the lime juice at the end. Remove the epazote stems and hoja santa before serving.
- 8
Serve Veracruz style
Serve the yuca family-style in the same cazuela, with plenty of chile broth spooned over it. Add cilantro only if you use it at home, and put lime halves on the table. Warm corn tortillas belong beside it. Black beans do too. Pinto beans do not rule this state. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
Chef Tips
- •Buy firm fresh yuca with no blue-gray streaks and no sour smell. If your market only has frozen peeled yuca, use it. It is a compromise for texture, not a disgrace. Bad fresh yuca is worse.
- •Do not confuse this with a seafood chilpachole. Veracruz has crab versions, shrimp versions, and home versions like this one with roots and vegetables. The base is the family: chile, jitomate, epazote, and a broth with body.
- •Epazote is not decoration. It cuts through the starch of the yuca and gives the broth its Veracruz smell. If you cannot find it, make another side dish that day. No me vengas con atajos.
- •Hoja santa is optional because not every kitchen adds it, but in Los Tuxtlas it makes sense. That anise-green perfume belongs to the humid south of Veracruz.
- •Serve this with frijoles negros refritos in manteca de cerdo. Veracruz leans black bean, not pinto. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Advance Preparation
- •The yuca can be boiled one day ahead. Cool it in its cooking liquid, then drain and refrigerate. Add it to the chilpachole only when you are ready to finish the dish.
- •The chile base can be blended and strained one day ahead, but fry it in manteca de cerdo the day you serve it. That frying wakes the sauce back up.
- •Leftovers keep refrigerated for three days. Reheat gently with a splash of water or broth because yuca thickens the liquid as it sits.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 390g)
Calories
365 calories
Total Fat
11 g
Saturated Fat
4 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
6 g
Cholesterol
4 mg
Sodium
990 mg
Total Carbohydrates
63 g
Dietary Fiber
7 g
Sugars
6 g
Protein
5 g
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