Mexican Sopes
Ingredients
- 1,5 cup Maseca corn flour
- 1,2 cup warm water
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil or pork lard
- 1 cup refried beans
- 1,5 cup shredded beef (or shredded chicken)
- 2 cups lettuce (finely chopped)
- 1/2 cup Mexican cream
- 1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco
- 1/4 cup white onions (finely chopped)
- red salsa (or green, to taste)
- 1/3 cup radishes (thinly sliced)
- 1 avocado (diced or sliced)
- 1/2 cup tomatoes (finely diced)
- Pickled jalapeño pepper
- carrot
For the Dough:
For Filling:
For Garnish:
Instructions
- Mix the cornflour with the warm water in a medium bowl and knead until very well integrated. If necessary, add more water, but little by little, a spoonful at a time, until the dough is smooth and very manageable (the dough should be soft but not sticky). Sometimes the humidity of the area where we live makes our dough watery; if this is the case, add a little more cornflour. Cover the dough with a damp cloth napkin to prevent it from drying out.
- Divide the dough into 10 equal-sized balls and cover them again with the kitchen towel.
- Heat the griddle over medium-high heat.
- Cut the plastic bag into two equal squares. Place one piece of plastic wrap in the tortilla pan and place a ball of dough on top; cover with the other piece of plastic wrap and close the tortilla pan by gently pressing the handle to form a thick, medium-sized tortilla.
- Open the tortilla pan and remove the top piece of plastic wrap. Lift the tortilla by holding the bottom plastic and flip the tortilla so that it is in the palm of your hand (part of the tortilla should cover your hand and part of the tortilla should hang from your hand).
- If you don't have a tortilla pan, you can use an ovenproof dish or pie pan; that's what I sometimes use to make the tortillas and it works great.
- Place the tortilla on the hot griddle in a quick motion. Within a minute, flip the tortilla over to cook on the other side (don't let it cook too long or the dough will dry out). Flip again to cook for another minute. Give it a final flip for about 20-30 seconds of cooking time. Remove the sope from the griddle with the help of a small stick and place it on a kitchen towel to keep it warm. Let it cool for only about 45 seconds and then begin to form the edge by pinching the edges with your fingers. Return the sope to the napkin, and continue cooking the rest.
- Heat the oil or lard in a skillet (or on a comal). Place the sopes in the pan and fry lightly for 30 seconds on each side; this will be enough time to heat the sopes and brown them a little. Remove the sopes from the pan and place them on a plate covered with paper towels to absorb the excess fat.
- Now add the beans, the meat of your choice, lettuce and any other ingredients you have selected as fillings or garnish. Serve with salsa of your choice.
Your traditional Sopes is ready. ¡Buen provecho!
Serving:
Serving:
Note
- For those of us who live outside of Mexico and can't find queso fresco and crema mexicana, we can substitute feta cheese and sour cream mixed with heavy cream.
- Sopes require some preparation time, so it is advisable to make them when we have some leftover beans and stewed meat or cooked chicken in the refrigerator; this way we will have the ingredients ready when it is time to prepare them.
- You will need a plastic bag - like the ones used to store food in the freezer -, a comal and a tortilla press (tortilla press) or a glass pie tin in case you don't have a tortilla press.