AI-generated image
Picadas veracruzanas
Masa cakes with salsa
Veracruz breakfast masa cakes with pinched rims, red and green salsa and cheese
Breakfast in the port of Veracruz and in Xalapa often starts with picadas at a market fonda or a café by the harbour: palm-sized rounds of fresh masa, cooked on the comal, then pinched all around while hot (picar means to pinch) to make little ridges that catch the salsa. Half are spooned with red salsa and half with green, then scattered with onion and crumbled cheese, and eaten with black coffee. Cooks there drizzle them with hot pork lard; this recipe uses a little oil instead. Chef's tip: wet your fingertips in cold water before pinching, so you can work the hot masa without burning yourself.
- Total time
- 35 min
- Difficulty
- easy
- Serves
- 4
Ingredients
For the masa
- 10 ½ oz masa harina
- 1 ¾ cups warm water
- 1 tsp saltdivided
For the red salsa
To top
- ¾ cup salsa verde
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil
- ½ white onionfinely chopped
- 3 ½ oz queso fresco or a crumbly white cheesecrumbled; often made with animal rennet, so choose a vegetarian one
- 4 tbsp Mexican crema or soured cream (optional)to serve
Shop this recipe on Amazon
What you'll need
Spices & pantry
Fresh ingredients (4)
Links open Amazon in a new tab. As an Amazon Associate, WhatToEat.Today earns from qualifying purchases.
Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Simmer 3 ripe tomatoes, 2 dried chile de árbol or 1 jalapeño and 1 garlic clove in water for 10 minutes until the tomato skins split. Blend with ½ tsp salt and a splash of the cooking water into a pourable red salsa.
10 minStep 2: Mix 10 ½ oz masa harina with the rest of the salt and 1 ¾ cups warm water into a soft, smooth dough that does not crack when pressed. Divide into 12 balls and keep them covered.
Step 3: Press each ball into a round about 10 cm across and 5 mm thick. Cook on a hot comal over a medium heat for 2 minutes a side, until the underside is dry with brown spots.
12 minStep 4: While each cake is hot, lay it on a cloth and pinch all over the top surface with wet fingertips, raising a rim around the edge and little peaks inside. Common mistake: waiting until the cakes cool; the masa then cracks instead of pinching.
Step 5: Put the picadas back on the comal, brush each with a little 2 tbsp vegetable oil and heat for 1 minute until the base crisps. Spoon red salsa over half and ¾ cup salsa verde over the rest.
3 minStep 6: Scatter with ½ white onion and 3 ½ oz queso fresco or a crumbly white cheese, and add a little 4 tbsp Mexican crema or soured cream if you like. Serve straight away, three per person.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 380 kcal
- Protein
- 11 g
- Carbs
- 56 g
- Fat
- 13 g
- Fibre
- 7 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does picadas veracruzanas take?
- About 35 minutes in total: 15 minutes to prepare and 20 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 4 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of ripe tomatoes?
- Tinned chopped tomatoes: a 400g tin for about 6 tomatoes (in cooked dishes, not salads).
- What can I use instead of garlic clove?
- ½ tsp garlic paste or ⅛ tsp garlic powder per clove.
Reviews
No reviews yet. Be the first to cook it.
Rate this recipe
Sign in to rate and review this recipe.
You might also like
Sabudana khichdiSago with peanuts and potato
Sabudana khichdi is the dish that sees Maharashtra through every vrat (fast), from Navratri to Ekadashi, but it's so good that people eat it any day of the week. Soaked sago pearls are tossed in a pan with crushed roasted peanuts, cubes of potato, cumin and green chilli until each pearl turns glassy and separate, then finished with lemon and coriander. It's soft, chewy, nutty and gently hot. Fasting rules vary from family to family, so check yours; this version uses rock salt and no asafoetida, onion or garlic. Traditionally it's cooked in ghee; use ghee instead of oil if you aren't keeping it vegan. Chef's tip: soak the sago in just enough water to cover by the height of the pearls themselves, no more; too much water is the reason khichdi turns into one sticky lump.
Indian
Doi chiraFlattened rice with curd
Nothing is cooked for doi chira, which is why it has been the breakfast of farmers and fishermen in Barisal for generations: flattened rice is rinsed, softened in thick, slightly sour curd and sweetened with jaggery or sugar, then mashed together with a ripe banana. The texture is soft and creamy with a little chew from the rice flakes, and the taste is cool, sweet and tangy. It is eaten on hot summer mornings, at village fairs and as part of the Pohela Boishakh spread, and it is a favourite of children and of anyone fasting who wants something gentle. The usual misstep is soaking the chira for too long, which turns it to paste; a quick rinse is all it needs before the curd does the rest. Chef's tip: use thick-cut chira, not the thin kind for frying, so the flakes hold their shape.
Bangladeshi
BsissaRoasted barley flour with olive oil
A tin of bsissa sits in many Tunisian kitchen cupboards, from Tunis flats to farmhouses in the south: a finely ground flour of roasted barley, roasted chickpeas and spices such as coriander, fennel and aniseed. In the morning a few spoonfuls are worked with olive oil and something sweet into a nutty, crumbly paste, or stirred with water into a thick drink, and it keeps you going until lunch. Travellers and pilgrims once carried it for the road. Roasting your own flour takes 15 minutes and makes a jar that lasts weeks. Sugar and dates keep it vegan; some families use honey. Chef's tip: roast the flours separately over a low heat and stir constantly; the moment they smell like toasted biscuits and turn light tan, tip them out of the pan.
Tunisian