Oaxacan cuisine is one of the richest in Mexico and in the world. In the Oaxacan cuisine, prehispanic ingredients are fundamental.
Mole is probably the biggest attraction regarding exotic food. Mole is a generic name for dishes that use a “sauce” made with a combination of several chilies and tomato or tomatillo. Mole can be very hot (“picante”, spicy) or mild. The most common and perhaps must well-known has as key ingredient chocolate (cocoa), however, in Oaxaca there are seven different types of mole that are equally important in the traditional cuisine. From the most elaborated one to the simplest, those seven types are mole negro (“black mole”, the one that uses cocoa), mole amarillo (“yellow”), mole coloradito (“little red”), mole almendrado (with almonds), mole chichilo (a local name without translation), mole verde (“green”) and mole colorado (“red”). In the same way as wine tasting is a tradition in wine countries, mole tasting is also practiced in several regions of Mexico. Oaxaca City has several restaurants that offer mole tasting.
Quesadillas, which are tortillas (or in the central or southern part of the country more often corn tortillas and less frequently flour tortillas) folded and filled with several ingredients, such as cheese and “epazote” (the leaves of Chenopodium ambrosioides), hongos (mushrooms or other fungi), flor de calabaza (Squash Blossoms), cuitlacoche (corn smut), etc. Other dishes are equally important in the Oaxacan cuisine. They include different types of chiles rellenos (filled chilies). Chiles rellenos can be extremely hot, but if you like spicy food they are definitively recommended. In this dish, different types of chilies are filled with ground meat, chicken or cheese and prepared in different ways, most frequently covered with egg and flour and fried. Oaxaca produces a popular mild cheese, known in the region as quesillo and in other parts of the country as queso oaxaca, which is presented in folded stripes in the shape of a ball. Quesillo is commonly used in several dishes, some of them are very simple and popular.
Tlayudas are crispy gigantic corn tortillas with a layer of beans, quesillo, tomato, avocado and beef or chicken.
Tamales are corn flour filled with different ingredients, wrapped with corn bracts or banana leaves, and cook in vapor. Tamales are very popular and vary from region to region. Although in Oaxaca you can eat several types of tamales, the most famous are those wrapped with banana leaves.
For those who like meat, tasajo is a very traditional dish. Tasajo is a dried and salty beef used as an ingredient of tlayudas or served by its own. Fish and seafood is also a good selection in Oaxaca. One of the most traditional ways to prepare fish is with hoja santa, which are the leaves of Piper sanctum that add a very unique taste to the dish.
Many types of soups can be consumed in the state of Oaxaca, some like the Sopa de tortilla and Caldo tlalpeño are also very popular in other parts of Mexico. The first is made with fried corn tortilla, a mild chili, cheese, avocado and sour cream. The second is made basically with chicken, chickpea, chipotle chili, and onion. is also very traditional in Oaxaca. This soup is made from bean stems seasoned with several ingredients that can include squash blossoms and corn.
|
