Champurrado

Champurrado

The holidays are different for everyone. Some like to make their home the center of the festivities and some like to be a guest. Many of our readers visit Zihuatanejo to get away from it all and enjoy the Mexican ways of celebrating amongst the sun and the sand. 

As for me, I have spent most of my adult life enjoying holidays with my family of friends, some in San Francisco, California, and most recently here in Zihuatanejo. In San Francisco the choices were: an invite for a friends’ home cooked meal, Tommy’s Joynt (which serves a mean turkey with all the trimmings year round and for the holiday has a line out the door all day), or something nontraditional like sushi, Chinese or Mexican!  Christmas here in Zihua is usually some form of potluck affair with friends and their families. The food is always an outstanding mix of traditional Mexican and personal favorites from all over. No matter what, we all have a great time, stuffing our faces until we can eat no more. Sound familiar?

In the spirit of the holidays, I thought I would share some of my friends Mexican holiday favorites to add to the table for your friends and family to enjoy.

10. Champurrado

Even though the weather here is superb during December (warm days and breezy nights), during the holidays sometimes there is a craving for a warm beverage. Made with cornmeal, chocolate, cinnamon, brown sugar, milk, cream and water, a cup of this warm chocolate drink is perfect to sip on and enjoy the fact there isn’t snow on the ground!

9. Buñuelos

The traditional buñuelos are thin flour tortilla-type crunchy fried goodness, drizzled with syrup made from melting piloncillo (you may have seen them in the market, large cones of sugar cane sugar) cinnamon and a small amount of water. These sweetened deep fried tortillas are a favored snack popular during Mexican holidays, festivals and fairs.

8. Capirotada (Mexican Bread Pudding)

Capirotada has a very long history with recipes on record from the mid-seventeenth century. The list of variations to the traditional bread pudding is enormous. Every self-respecting Mexican cook will have their own version. But there are a few staples that must be included; stale bread, a spiced sugar syrup, raisins, and cheese. Many recipes include tomatoes and onions, adding a rich and delicious complexity. For many Mexicans, the smell of this dish bubbling in the oven is the smell of home. Capirotada is definitely comfort food, Mexican style.

7. Ponche

Ponche is made with a selection of fruit such as oranges, tejocotes (small golden or orange apples native to Mexico) guavas, prunes, raisins, etc. Sugar and cinnamon are added to taste. All these ingredients are carefully macerated until you get amber colored liquor, sweet and velvety with a distinctive smell that is able to satisfy the most discerning palates. For an alcoholic version you just add your favorite brandy or rum to the ponche. It is beverage that you can have at any time of day and a thousand different ways hot or cold, and not just at Christmas.

6. Ensalada de Noche Buena

In this salad the ingredients vary according to taste, but the following is what the mother of my friend Memo (fabulous cook and owner of El Manglar restaurant) puts in hers, more or less: Cooked carrots and beets mixed with fresh orange, pineapple, plantain, apple, lime, jícama, candy-coated peanuts, and marshmallows, which together are an explosion of colors associated with the colors that are in piñatas and Christmas trees. The dressing can be light and creamy or a sweet rice vinegar. But like most salads, you can put whatever you like in, just make it festive.

5. Tamales/Nacatamales

Tamales and Nacatamales have been made throughout the American continent for over 5000 years. Developed as a portable food, this corn based, polenta-like burrito filled with meat, cheese, or sweet raisin mixture, wrapped in a corn husk or banana leaf for steaming, is as common and varied as the sandwich is today. A favorite dish in Mexico, street vendors can be seen serving them from huge, steaming, covered pots. They are a perfect food for the holidays and you have to open them like a little present.

4. Romeritos

Romeritos is a dish consisting of dried shrimp, leaves of romerito (a dandelion growing wild in cornfields and tastes like rosemary, which you can substitute) with nopales (cactus), potatoes, and garlic, served in a mole sauce. There are many variations, but the flavor is still distinct, as the shrimp, romerito, and mole are always used. Serve with toasted baguette rounds for appetizer or as a side for your turkey, ham, or choice of main dish.

3. Bacalao

Bacalao is the Spanish term for dried salt cod. The dried fish is white, delicate, and tender once it’s re-hydrated. This dish requires a bit of planning because the cod needs to be soaked in water for one day, changing the water two or three times to rehydrate and “de-salt” it some. Then you have to heat it just to a boil in fresh water, drain, and remove skin and bones.  After this, it’s like a simple stew. Tomato puree, chile ancho, onion, garlic, and olive oil make the base. Then the cod, potatoes, bay leaf, cinnamon, pepper, red peppers, almonds, raisins, olives, capers and parsley make it stew. Out of all the dishes on this list, bacalao seems to be most common amongst my friends as a Christmas holiday favorite.

2. Pavo (Turkey)

Even in Mexico, turkey is a holiday favorite. The difference is in the stuffing. There are many versions, but I was told that picadillo stuffing is very popular here. The basics are onion, garlic, carrots, potatoes, and spices. Add some ground beef and pork, ham and bacon, along with olives, capers, pecans, peanuts, raisins, apples and peas and you have yourself a meaty stuffing with a little zing for your turkey.

1. Pierna (Pork Leg)

For many families, pork is on the menu during the holidays, usually in the form of a honey-glazed ham. In my neighborhood where I grew up, there were families who would get together to buy and roast a whole hog on a spit. (It takes forever, but well worth it.) And I remember the leg being the most sought after chunk of meat, and here in Mexico it is popular as well, and it comes in so many different ways I can’t begin to name all the recipes. But as a special treat, thanks to Rosa Arizmendi the chef at El Manglar restaurant on Playa La Ropa, click on the link below for her (soon to be world famous) recipe for Pierna.