Crema de Chaya Tabasqueña

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Stainless steel or enamel pot for cooking chaya
• •Heavy saucepan or small clay cazuela
• •Blender
• •Wooden spoon

Instructions

1. 1

   Clean the chaya

   Strip the chaya leaves from the tough stems and rinse the leaves in two changes of water. Look carefully. Market chaya carries dust, small grit, and sometimes a stubborn little stem hiding under the leaf. Use only the leaves and tender tips.

2. 2

   Cook the leaves

   Bring a medium pot of water to a boil in stainless steel or enamelware. Add the chaya and cook for 10 minutes, until the leaves turn dark green and soften completely. Drain well. Do not use raw chaya. Do not cook it in aluminum. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado, they will tell you the same thing.

   Chaya must be cooked before eating because the raw leaf carries compounds that cooking drives off. This is not optional. Así se hace y punto.
3. 3

   Soften the base

   In a heavy saucepan or small clay cazuela, melt the manteca de cerdo over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until it turns glossy and sweet but not brown. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. The smell should be soft, not sharp. Burned garlic will bully the chaya.

4. 4

   Blend the soup

   Put the cooked chaya, onion, garlic, masa mixture, and 1 cup of the warm broth into a blender. Blend until very smooth. The masa gives the soup body the way a Tabasco cook would understand, from corn, not from wheat flour trying to act important.

5. 5

   Simmer gently

   Pour the green puree back into the saucepan. Add the remaining broth, salt, and black pepper. Simmer over medium-low heat for 8 minutes, stirring often, until the soup thickens lightly and the raw taste of masa disappears. Keep it gentle. This soup should stay green and clean, not turn dull from punishment.

6. 6

   Add the dairy

   Lower the heat. Stir in the milk and cook for 5 minutes, without boiling. Whisk in the Mexican crema at the end until the surface looks smooth and lightly glossy. Taste for salt. The flavor should be herbal, rounded, and faintly sweet from the onion.

7. 7

   Serve with lime

   Ladle into warm bowls. Serve with lime wedges, a small dish of crushed chile amashito with salt, and warm corn tortillas. Squeeze the lime over the bowl at the table. The chile is there if you want it. The chaya is the point.

Chef Tips

• •Buy chaya from a vendor who sells it as food, not as an ornamental plant. The leaves should be lively, deep green, and not yellow at the edges.
• •If you cannot find chaya, spinach is a compromise, not the same dish. Use mature spinach and call it crema de espinaca. Don't pretend it is Tabasco chaya.
• •Chile amashito is the Tabasco table chile, small and fierce. Crush it with salt and lime on the side. Do not drown the soup with bottled hot sauce.
• •The masa matters. It thickens softly and ties the soup back to corn. Cornstarch makes it slick. Masa makes it food.

Advance Preparation

• •The chaya can be cooked, drained, and refrigerated one day ahead. Keep it covered and blend it only when you make the soup.
• •The finished soup keeps refrigerated for two days. Reheat gently over low heat and do not let it boil after the milk and crema are in.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 300g)