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Querétaro's semidesert gordita from Tolimán, made with coarse nixtamal masa, cooked thick on a comal, and split open for frijoles con epazote, nopalitos in guajillo, and queso enchilado.
Querétaro, at Tolimán in the semidesert doorway of the Sierra Gorda, is where these gorditas live. This is Hñähñu and Otomí-Chichimeca corn country, dry, stubborn, and practical. The masa is maíz quebrado: nixtamal cooked with cal and ground coarse so the corn still has tooth. Fine tortilla masa will make a gordita, yes. It will not make this one.
I learned the hand motion from a señora near the Tolimán market who patted the masa thick, turned it slowly on the comal, and opened it with a knife while it was still flexible. She filled hers with frijol bayo and epazote, nopalitos in chile guajillo, and a little queso enchilado. No cheddar, no sour cream, no nonsense. The semidesert gives you nopal, corn, beans, chiles, and patience. That is plenty.
Do not press these thin. A tortilla is supposed to bend. A gordita de maíz quebrado is supposed to hold its pocket and show those rough grains at the edge. My mother's notebook from Jalisco had no page for this, so I wrote it after that trip, with one line underlined twice: cook the center before you split it. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Tolimán is part of Querétaro's Otomí-Chichimeca semidesert territory, whose places of memory and living traditions were inscribed by UNESCO in 2009 as the 'Places of Memory and Living Traditions of the Otomí-Chichimecas of Tolimán: the Peña de Bernal, Guardian of a Sacred Territory.' Maíz quebrado carries a pre-Hispanic Mesoamerican technique: corn is nixtamalized with cal, rinsed, then martajado, cracked on a metate or in a mill instead of ground smooth. The result separates this central Mexican corn gordita from the wheat gorditas of the north, a useful reminder that this is a 32-state cuisine.
Quantity
2 pounds
made from white or yellow criollo nixtamal, at room temperature
Quantity
1/2 cup, plus more as needed
Quantity
3 tablespoons
melted but not hot, for the masa
Quantity
1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste
Quantity
4
stemmed and seeded
Quantity
1
stemmed and seeded
Quantity
1
stemmed
Quantity
as needed
for soaking chiles
Quantity
2
halved
Quantity
2
unpeeled
Quantity
1/4 medium
for roasting
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon
Quantity
4
spines removed and diced
Quantity
3 tablespoons
divided, for the guisos and comal
Quantity
1/2 small
finely chopped
Quantity
2 cups beans plus 1/2 cup broth
Quantity
1 sprig
Quantity
1/2 cup
crumbled
Quantity
for serving
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| fresh masa de maíz quebradomade from white or yellow criollo nixtamal, at room temperature | 2 pounds |
| warm water | 1/2 cup, plus more as needed |
| manteca de cerdomelted but not hot, for the masa | 3 tablespoons |
| fine sea salt | 1 1/2 teaspoons, plus more to taste |
| dried chile guajillostemmed and seeded | 4 |
| dried chile anchostemmed and seeded | 1 |
| dried chile de árbol (optional)stemmed | 1 |
| hot waterfor soaking chiles | as needed |
| Roma tomatoeshalved | 2 |
| garlic clovesunpeeled | 2 |
| white onionfor roasting | 1/4 medium |
| dried Mexican oregano | 1/2 teaspoon |
| nopales paddlesspines removed and diced | 4 |
| manteca de cerdodivided, for the guisos and comal | 3 tablespoons |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1/2 small |
| cooked frijol bayo or Flor de Mayo beans | 2 cups beans plus 1/2 cup broth |
| fresh epazote | 1 sprig |
| queso enchilado or queso fresco secocrumbled | 1/2 cup |
| chopped cilantro (optional) | for serving |
| lime halves (optional) | for serving |
Put the masa de maíz quebrado in a wide bowl. Sprinkle in the salt, pour in the melted manteca de cerdo, and knead with your fingers. Add the warm water a tablespoon at a time until the masa feels damp and coarse but holds together when squeezed. Cracked corn drinks slowly. Cover with a kitchen towel and rest for 15 minutes.
Heat a dry comal over medium. Toast the chile guajillo for about 20 seconds per side, the chile ancho for 20 to 30 seconds per side, and the chile de árbol for 8 to 10 seconds if using. They should smell deep and fruity, never scorched. Put them in a bowl and cover with hot water for 15 minutes. On the same comal, roast the tomatoes, garlic, and onion until blistered in spots. Peel the garlic.
Put the diced nopales in a wide skillet with a pinch of salt. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until their liquid releases, thickens, and cooks away, about 8 to 10 minutes. The pieces should turn olive green with dry edges. Do not rinse them after cooking. You worked for that flavor.
Drain the soaked chiles. Blend them with the roasted tomatoes, peeled garlic, roasted onion, Mexican oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup of the chile soaking water until smooth. Melt 1 tablespoon manteca de cerdo in the skillet. Add the salsa and cook, stirring, until it darkens and small beads of fat appear at the edges, 5 to 6 minutes. Stir in the cooked nopales and simmer 4 minutes more.
Melt 1 tablespoon manteca de cerdo in a skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped white onion and cook until translucent. Add the frijol bayo with its broth and the epazote sprig. Mash with the back of a spoon until thick and spreadable, 6 to 8 minutes. Remove the epazote. The beans must not be runny. If they leak out of the gordita, the cook was impatient.
Divide the rested masa into 10 balls, about the size of a small lime. Wet your hands lightly and pat each ball into a disk 4 to 4 1/2 inches wide and about 1/2 inch thick. Smooth the cracked edges with your fingers. Keep the shaped gorditas covered while you heat the comal.
Heat the comal over medium-low and brush it with a very thin film of manteca de cerdo. Lay on the gorditas without crowding. Cook 5 to 6 minutes on the first side, then 4 to 5 minutes on the second, flipping once or twice more until the surfaces have toasted freckles, the edges look dry, and the centers feel set when pressed. Maíz quebrado needs a slower fire than a tortilla. Rush it and the outside browns while the middle stays raw.
While each gordita is still warm and flexible, hold it in a clean towel and open a pocket with a thin knife, cutting only three-quarters of the way around. Spread in a spoonful of refried frijol bayo, add nopalitos in guajillo salsa, and finish with crumbled queso enchilado. Return the filled gorditas to the edge of the comal for 1 to 2 minutes if you want the outside firmer. Serve with cilantro and lime if you like. Eat them by hand over a plate. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.
1 serving (about 195g)
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