Papadzules are a traditional dish from the Yucatan Peninsula, they are corn tortillas filled with chopped hard-boiled eggs and covered in two different sauces: a green pumpkin seed sauce and a tomato-based sauce. The combination of flavours of both sauces with the corn tortillas alone is absolutely delicious! This is a fantastic dish that has been tweaked from the traditional recipe to accommodate the available ingredients away from Mexico. An absolute beauty of our traditional Mexican cuisine.
Tomato Sauce
-3 large ripe tomatoes
-⅓ large white onion
-2 garlic cloves
-a small handful of cilantro
-salt and pepper to taste
-1 tbsp vegetable oil, divided
1 Add half of the oil to a frying pan set to medium-high heat. Blister the tomatoes, onion slice and garlic and turn them every now and then so they fry on all sides. Be careful with the garlic cloves and remove them as soon as they start to soften and brown a bit. Make sure the tomatoes stay the longest time, 10 minutes or so until they blister and soften all around.
2 Transfer the fried tomato, onion and garlic cloves to a blender and add the chipotle in adobo, a little bit of cilantro, any oil remaining in the pan and salt and pepper to taste. Blend until smooth.
3 Add the remaining oil to the frying pan, set to medium-high heat and once hot, pour the salsa and let it bubble for 5 minutes. Lower the heat to a minimum and continue cooking the salsa for 10 to 15 minutes or until it reduces a bit. Serve hot.
Pumpkin Sauce
-1 cup pumpkin seeds
-1 to 1 ½ cup water or chicken stock
-½ cup cream
-salt and pepper to taste
-½ tbsp vegetable oil
1 Toast the pumpkin seeds on a dry frying pan on medium-low heat. This should take only a few minutes. Stir them often so they don’t burn. They will become fragrant, and shiny and puff up when they are ready. Remove them from the heat and set them aside.
2 Remove the stem and seeds from the poblano peppers and add them to a blender together with the pumpkin seeds and only one cup of chicken stock (or water). Blend on high until really smooth.
3 Add the vegetable oil to a medium saucepan set to medium heat and pour the pumpkin sauce. Cook for 5 minutes, use this time to pour the cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. As it cooks, the sauce will thicken. Add more chicken stock or water to adjust the consistency which should be silky and pourable to cover the Papadzules.
Papadzules
-5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and chopped *see notes below for more filling options
-8 to 10 corn tortillas
-vegetable oil, the necessary
-toasted pumpkin seeds (optional)
-avocado slices
1 Set a frying pan to medium-high heat and add enough oil to cover the bottom of it. Once the oil is hot, lightly fry the corn tortillas, one at a time, just so they become pliable again. Turn them once or twice and transfer them to a paper towel-lined plate to drain any oil excess. Continue with all the tortillas.
2 Place one tortilla on a plate and add a bit of egg in the middle, fold over and continue with the rest of the tortillas and filling.
3 Once the tacos are filled and folded, ladle plenty of pumpkin seeds sauce over them and then add tomato sauce over it just in the centre. Serve with avocado slices and toasted pumpkin seeds.
Notes
- Papadzules are a traditional dish from the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. As with many traditional dishes, there are a few versions of it.
- One of the main ingredients to make the sauces is the use of epazote. Epazote is an aromatic herb that is well-used in several Mexican dishes. For those of us living away from Mexico is a bit difficult to find fresh or even dry epazote. Our take on the sauce is tweaked to move around this fact.
- Papadzules are traditionally filled with boiled eggs but shredded chicken or even roasted vegetables are an excellent option too.
- The tomato sauce is often made with habanero pepper which gives it extra flavour and extra heat. If you like spicy food, add them to the sauce!
- Corn tortillas are a must! If you happen to have fresh corn tortillas, you can skip the frying step.
#mexicanfood #mexicanflavours #foodie #madeinmexico #mexicantwist #mexicanfoodporn #easyandtasty #mexicanfoodlover #freshfood #foodphotography #eatfreshfood #beautifulfood #cocinamexicana #mexicanproducts #mexicaningredients #mexicandishes #onlinegrocerieslondon #mexicanproductsuk #wholesomemeals #homemademexican #mexicanflavours #Mexicantwist #mexicanadobos #adobomexicano #driedchiles #driedchillies #ontheblog #mexicangastronomy #mexicancuisine #homemademexicanfood