Alegrías de Amaranto

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy cast iron comal or skillet for popping
• •Small whisk or wooden spoon for stirring the seeds as they pop
• •Heavy small saucepan for the syrup
• •Candy thermometer or a small cup of cold water for the soft-ball test
• •8-inch square pan
• •Parchment paper
• •Heavy knife for cutting

Instructions

1. 1

   Pop the amaranto

   Heat a heavy comal or cast iron skillet over medium-high until it is hot enough that a single drop of water dances and disappears in two seconds. Working in small batches, no more than two tablespoons of seeds at a time, scatter the amaranto across the dry surface. Stir constantly with a small whisk or wooden spoon. The seeds will pop within five to ten seconds, swelling into tiny pale puffs. Tip them immediately into a wide bowl. Asi se hace y punto. Repeat until all the seeds are popped. The kitchen should smell faintly nutty, like toasted corn. If it smells burnt, your comal is too hot and the next batch will be bitter.

   Small batches, no exceptions. Two tablespoons looks like nothing in a wide pan. That is the point. A heaped pan of amaranto will not pop, it will scorch. Burned amaranto tastes like ash and there is no recovering from it.

   Some seeds will refuse to pop. Sift the bowl through a fine-mesh strainer once you finish, set the unpopped seeds aside, and use them in atole. Do not try to force them into the alegria. They will crack a tooth.
2. 2

   Toast the seeds and nuts

   On the same comal, lower the heat to medium. Toast the pepitas, stirring constantly, until they puff and turn pale gold, about two minutes. Tip them in with the popped amaranto. Toast the peanuts the same way until the skins darken and the nuts smell sweet, three to four minutes. Add them to the bowl with the raisins. La cocina no es decoracion, es trabajo. Each step is a layer of flavor. Skip the toasting and the alegria tastes flat.

3. 3

   Build the piloncillo syrup

   Combine the piloncillo, honey, water, lime juice, canela, and salt in a heavy small saucepan. Set over medium heat and stir until the piloncillo dissolves completely. Bring to a low boil and cook without stirring, swirling the pan occasionally, until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 235 to 240 degrees on a candy thermometer. This takes eight to ten minutes. Test it like the senoras at Jardin Sócrates do: drop a small spoonful into a cup of cold water. If it forms a soft, pliable ball you can pinch between your fingers, it is ready. If it disperses, keep cooking. If it cracks like glass, you went too far and the alegria will be brittle.

   Piloncillo, not brown sugar. Brown sugar is white sugar with molasses added back. Piloncillo is unrefined cane juice cooked down and pressed into cones. The flavor has smoke and depth that no substitute will give you. Find it at any tienda mexicana. Buy two cones while you are there.
4. 4

   Combine and bind

   Have an 8-inch square pan greased with manteca and lined with parchment ready before the syrup hits temperature. The moment the syrup is ready, pour it over the popped amaranto, pepitas, peanuts, and raisins. Work fast. Stir with a greased wooden spoon until every seed is coated and the mixture clumps together like wet sand. The piloncillo cools and seizes quickly. If you hesitate, you will be pressing dry rubble into the pan.

5. 5

   Press into the pan

   Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan. Grease your palms with a little more manteca. Press down hard, very hard, working from the center out to the corners, until the surface is even, dense, and tight. The pressure is what holds the alegria together once it cools. A loose press gives you a crumbly bar that falls apart in the hand. A firm press gives you a clean snap. Lay a sheet of parchment on top and press one more time with the bottom of a flat-bottomed glass.

6. 6

   Cool and cut

   Let the pan sit undisturbed at room temperature for one hour. Do not refrigerate. Cold sets the piloncillo too hard and the bars crack into shards instead of cutting clean. Once the slab is firm but still slightly warm in the center, lift it out by the parchment and cut into 16 squares with a heavy knife, pressing straight down. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and these are how they cut them in front of the Templo de Santo Domingo.

Chef Tips

• •Buy your amaranto from a tienda mexicana or a Oaxacan-run grocery, not from a health food store. The health food versions are often labeled 'amaranth' and have been sitting on a shelf for a year. Old amaranto does not pop. You need it fresh, and you need the cone of piloncillo while you are there.
• •If you cannot find piloncillo, dark muscovado sugar will get you 70 percent of the way. White sugar plus molasses will not. The flavor of piloncillo is its smoke and its mineral edge, and refined sugar cannot fake either.
• •The traditional Tulyehualco alegria uses only honey and amaranto. The Oaxacan version often adds pepitas, peanuts, and raisins, and sometimes a little chocolate de metate grated on top. Both are correct. Pick the one that belongs to the version you grew up with or the version you want to learn.
• •These keep for two weeks in an airtight container at room temperature. Do not refrigerate them. The piloncillo absorbs moisture from the fridge and the bars turn sticky.

Advance Preparation

• •Alegrias keep for two weeks in an airtight container at room temperature, layered between sheets of parchment so they do not stick.
• •The popped amaranto can be made up to three days ahead and held in a sealed jar at room temperature. Once it absorbs humidity, it loses its crunch and will not bind cleanly with the syrup.
• •Do not refrigerate or freeze the finished bars. Cold storage ruins the texture.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 59g)