Tlayuda con Chapulines y Aguacate

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Large cast iron comal or heavy flat griddle (at least 14 inches)
• •Gas burner or open flame for charring chiles
• •Bean masher or the back of a heavy wooden spoon
• •Tongs for turning the tlayuda and chiles

Instructions

1. 1

   Roast the chiles de agua

   Place the chiles de agua directly on the grate of a gas burner or on a hot comal over high heat. Turn them with tongs as the skin blisters and blackens, about two minutes per side. You want the skin charred all over but the flesh still firm underneath, not collapsed. Transfer to a plastic bag, close it, and let them sweat for ten minutes. Peel the skin off with your fingers, slit each one open, remove the seeds and veins, and tear them into long strips. Chile de agua has a green, vegetal heat that is nothing like a jalapeno or a poblano. It belongs to this dish because it belongs to Oaxaca.

   Chile de agua is specific to the Valles Centrales of Oaxaca. If you cannot find it, a fresh chile guero or a mildly hot Anaheim will approximate the heat, but you will lose the flavor. This is a compromise, not an upgrade.
2. 2

   Make the bean paste

   Toast the dried avocado leaves on a dry comal for about ten seconds per side until fragrant. They will release a scent like anise and green wood. Crumble them. In a small skillet, melt the tablespoon of lard over medium heat. Add the cooked black beans, the reserved cooking liquid, the crumbled avocado leaves, and the salt. Mash the beans with the back of a wooden spoon or a bean masher as they fry, working them into a thick paste that holds its shape on the spoon. This should take five to seven minutes. The paste should be spreadable but not wet. Too loose and it soaks the tlayuda. Too thick and it cracks. You want it to coat a spoon and slowly slide off.

   The avocado leaf is not optional. It is the flavor that makes Oaxacan black beans Oaxacan. Without it, you have refried beans. With it, you have frijol negro oaxaqueno. There is a difference the size of 500 kilometers.
3. 3

   Toast the chapulines

   Heat a dry comal or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Add the chapulines and toast them, shaking the pan often, for two to three minutes until they darken slightly and smell nutty. Push them to one side. Add a thin slick of lard to the empty side and fry the minced garlic for thirty seconds until just golden. Toss the garlic into the chapulines, squeeze the lime juice over the whole pan, and stir. The lime should sizzle and evaporate almost instantly. Season with a pinch of salt. They should be dry, crunchy, and toasty with garlic and acid. Set them aside.

   Buy chapulines from a trusted Oaxacan vendor or a reputable online source. The ones at the Mercado 20 de Noviembre in Oaxaca City are the standard. They come in small, medium, and large. Medium is the right size for a tlayuda: enough crunch to notice, not so large that the texture overwhelms.
4. 4

   Prepare the asiento spread

   The asiento should be at room temperature so it spreads easily. If it is straight from the refrigerator, let it sit out for twenty minutes or warm it gently in a small pan for a minute. Stir it. Asiento has a smoky, porky, slightly grainy quality that regular lard does not have. It is the sediment left at the bottom of the cazo after carnitas or chicharrones are fried. That residue is what gives the tlayuda its base flavor. There is no substitute.

   Asiento is not lard. Lard is the clean rendered fat. Asiento is the dark, grainy sediment at the bottom of the pot after pork is confited. In Oaxaca, vendors sell it by the kilo. Outside Oaxaca, you may need to make your own by confiting pork belly in lard and saving the dregs. Or find an Oaxacan vendor online.
5. 5

   Char the tlayuda

   Place a tlayuda directly on the grate of a gas burner or on a very hot comal. Toastit for about one minute per side, turning once, until parts of the surface are charred and the whole thing stiffens but does not crack in half. A tlayuda is a partially dried tortilla, larger and thinner than a standard tortilla, and the texture after toasting should be leathery and rigid at the edges with some flexibility in the center. If it snaps like a tostada, your comal was too hot or you went too long. If it is still floppy, give it another thirty seconds.

   A true tlayuda tortilla is 12 to 14 inches across and made from a slightly different masa than a regular tortilla, often with a bit more cal and dried on a comal until the surface is tacky and semi-rigid. If you cannot find real tlayudas, a large handmade corn tortilla toasted until stiff will work, but it will not have the same chew. No me vengas con atajos: flour tortillas are not an option.
6. 6

   Build the tlayuda

   Work quickly now. Spread a generous layer of asiento across the hot tlayuda, covering it almost to the edge. Then spread a layer of the black bean paste over the asiento. It does not need to be even. Scatter the pulled quesillo strips across the beans. Return the assembled tlayuda to the comal over medium heat, cover it with a lid or an inverted pot for two to three minutes, just long enough for the quesillo to soften and begin to melt into the beans. The cheese should stretch, not pool. Oaxacan quesillo melts differently from mozzarella. It pulls into strings. That is correct.

7. 7

   Top and serve

   Remove the tlayuda from the comal and set it on a cutting board or a large clay plate. Lay the avocado slices across one half. Pile the toasted chapulines generously across the other half. Arrange the roasted chile de agua strips across the center. Spoon a line of salsa de pasilla oaxaqueno down the middle if using. Fold the tlayuda in half if you are eating it by hand on the street, or leave it open and cut it into wedges for the table. Serve with quartered radishes and lime. Cada estado, su propia cocina, and this one is Oaxaca's.

Chef Tips

• •Asiento is the soul of the tlayuda. If you use regular lard instead, you will have a functional base but you will lose the smoky, grainy depth that makes the whole thing taste like Oaxaca. Find it at Oaxacan specialty vendors or make your own by confiting pork shoulder or belly in lard and scraping the dark sediment from the bottom of the pot.
• •Quesillo is Oaxacan string cheese, sold in balls wound like yarn. Pull it apart into long strips by hand. Do not shred it. Do not use mozzarella and call it the same thing. Mozzarella melts into a pool. Quesillo stretches into strings. The texture is part of the dish.
• •The chapulines should be crunchy, not chewy. If they feel soft when you buy them, toast them longer on the comal. They keep for weeks in an airtight container at room temperature. Preguntale a las senoras del mercado: they sell them ready-seasoned, and those are perfectly fine if you trust the vendor.
• •If you are serving this at a dinner table, leave the tlayuda open-faced and cut into wedges. If you are eating it standing up the way Oaxacans do at midnight, fold it in half and hold it with both hands. Both are correct.

Advance Preparation

• •The black bean paste can be made up to three days ahead and refrigerated. Reheat gently with a splash of water or bean broth to loosen it before spreading.
• •The chapulines can be toasted with garlic and lime up to one week ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature. Their crunch holds.
• •The chiles de agua can be roasted, peeled, and stripped the morning of serving. Refrigerate them covered until you build the tlayudas.
• •Do not assemble the tlayuda until you are ready to eat. The asiento softens the tortilla within minutes if it sits. Build, heat, serve. That is the rhythm.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 430g)