Answer: Totopos

From time to time, too-far-away cousins email me questionnaires that solicit information about my favorite things, likes and dislikes and other random trifles.  What socks are you wearing right now?  Great Dane or Chihuahua?  When was the last time you cried?  I take these inquiries very seriously, knowing that my relatives are trying to bridge the distance between us.  None.  Great Dane. When I chopped onions this morning.  

Then there are the questions about my favorite book, movie or food. These stump me. I agonize over the answers.  These questions are like asking me to choose between my children or to decide what I want to be when I grow up (other than the proud owner of a Park Avenue penthouse.  See Much Ado About Mucho post).  It’s much easier to articulate answers about the books I have no interest in reading, the movies that put me to sleep in the first twenty minutes or the few foods that motivate my gag reflex (e.g. liver).  There is, however, one exception.  

My answer to the food question would be chips and salsa, but not the kind you find in the grocery store.  I’m talking about homemade fried or baked tortillas, called totopos in Mexico, and a fresh salsa verde or guacamole.

In The Art of Mexican Cooking, Diana Kennedy offers several variations for making totopos: fried, salted, baked, whole (tostadas) or thin pieces (raspadas).  I made totopos last night (It's so easy!) and served them with some salsa verde.  Here’s what I did:  (Diana Kennedy’s directions are a bit more detailed than mine, but you may also want to consult her cookbook.):

I cut 15 blue and white corn tortillas into triangles and heated about a cup of canola oil in a medium-sized frying pan.

I dropped the triangles into the oil (Test the oil by putting only one triangle in the pan; if the oil bubbles around the edges of the tortilla, it is hot enough.) and let them fry on each side for about a minute and a half.  I then scooped them out with a slotted spatula and placed them on three or four paper towels to drain the excess oil.

  

Next, I tossed them with some coarse salt and served with GVC's salsa verde.

Here also is my extremely simple guacamole recipe; this will make a nice dip for totopos.

3 to 4 ripe avocados

1 small tomato, diced

1 small clove of garlic, mashed and minced (optional)

1 serrano or jalapeño pepper, cut in thin slices or minced (optional)

A pinch of course salt

The juice of 1/2 fresh lime

Mash the avocados with a fork into a chunky pulp.

  

Add the tomato and the garlic (and chiles), the salt and lime.  Top with cilantro and a couple of the totopos.

What socks are you wearing right now? Great Dane or Chihuahua? Your favorite totopo accompaniment?