Sopa de Chaya Yucateca

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Heavy 4-quart stainless steel or enameled pot
• •Cast iron comal or heavy skillet for toasting pepitas
• •High-powered blender
• •Clay cazuela for serving

Instructions

1. 1

   Handle the chaya correctly

   Chaya is not spinach. The raw leaves contain hydrocyanic glycosides and must be boiled before eating. This is not optional and it is not folklore. Strip the leaves from the woody stems while wearing gloves if your skin is sensitive to the sap. Rinse them in cold water and set aside. Never blend chaya raw. Never use an aluminum pot for cooking it, the leaves react with aluminum and turn the broth bitter.

   If you cannot find chaya, do not pretend spinach is the same thing. Spinach is a substitution and a compromise. Chaya has a deeper, slightly mineral, almost grassy flavor and a sturdier texture. If you must substitute, use a mix of spinach and a few leaves of Swiss chard, and know you are making something close, not the same dish.
2. 2

   Boil the chaya

   Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a stainless steel or enameled pot. Add the chaya leaves and a pinch of salt. Boil for 15 to 20 minutes. The leaves should turn dark, deep green and lose their raw edge. The water will turn a clean herbal green. Drain the leaves and rinse under cold water to stop the cooking. Squeeze them gently to remove excess water. Discard the boiling water. Así se hace y punto.

3. 3

   Toast the pepitas

   Heat a dry comal over medium. Add the 1/3 cup of pepitas and toast them, shaking the pan constantly. They will pop and puff in about three minutes and turn pale gold. The kitchen will smell nutty and toasted. Pull them off the heat the moment they brown. Burned pepitas turn the soup bitter. Reserve the 2 extra tablespoons unroasted for garnish, or toast them lightly and keep separate.

4. 4

   Build the base

   In a heavy 4-quart pot, melt the manteca de cerdo over medium heat. Add the chopped onion and cook for four minutes until translucent. Add the garlic and cook one more minute, until you can smell it. La manteca es el sabor. Do not substitute olive oil here. The pork fat carries the flavor of the Peninsula and rounds the green of the chaya.

5. 5

   Simmer with broth and epazote

   Pour the chicken broth into the pot. Add the boiled chaya, the sprig of epazote, and the salt. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 10 minutes. The chaya will soften further and release its flavor into the broth. Pull out the epazote sprig before blending or it will overpower the soup.

6. 6

   Blend with the pepitas

   Transfer the soup in batches to a blender. Add the toasted pepitas to the first batch. Blend on high until completely smooth and a deep, even green. Hold a folded towel over the lid when blending hot liquid. Return the puree to the pot and warm it through over low heat. Taste for salt. The pepitas will have thickened the soup slightly and given it a rounded, nutty body that distinguishes a real sopa de chaya from a thin spinach broth.

   Do not boil the soup after blending. A hard boil breaks the emulsion of the pepitas and the surface turns grainy. Keep it at a low whisper of heat from this point on.
7. 7

   Serve the Yucatecan way

   Ladle the soup into deep bowls. Scatter the reserved pepitas across the surface. Set the halved lima agria and the finely chopped habanero in small dishes at the table. Each diner squeezes the lima agria into their own bowl and adds habanero to their tolerance. Warm corn tortillas alongside, never flour, never on the Peninsula. Recetas probadas y garantizadas.

Chef Tips

• •Chaya can be found in Mexican markets in the Yucatan and increasingly in Latin grocers in cities with Peninsular communities. If you cannot find fresh chaya, frozen chaya from a Yucatecan brand is a real option and not a compromise of flavor, only of texture. Avoid dried chaya, which loses too much of what makes the leaf interesting.
• •Use lima agria if you can find it. It is a distinct fruit, not a substitute for regular lime. It has a perfumed, almost floral bitterness that you cannot get from a Persian lime or a key lime. If you genuinely cannot find lima agria, use a small amount of naranja agria, or in the worst case, a 50/50 mix of regular lime and a few drops of grapefruit juice. Tell yourself the truth: you are making a compromise.
• •The habanero is non-negotiable as the table chile. Jalapeno and serrano are not Peninsular chiles. If habanero is too hot for your guests, chop it very finely and let them add a single grain at a time. The chile xkatik, the pale yellow Yucatecan chile, also works charred and chopped if you can find it.
• •Never cook chaya in aluminum. The leaves react with the metal, the broth turns dingy, and the soup picks up a bitter, metallic finish. Stainless steel, enameled cast iron, or clay only.

Advance Preparation

• •The chaya can be boiled and squeezed up to two days ahead and refrigerated in a covered container. This makes the soup a true weeknight dish.
• •The whole soup keeps in the refrigerator for three days. Reheat gently over low heat, never to a hard boil, or the pepita emulsion will break.
• •The toasted pepitas can be made up to one week ahead and stored in a sealed jar at room temperature.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 340g)