EatMx: Real Mexican food, at home and on the road

Dragon Fruit Makes a Great Drink

In Mexico, this beautiful drink would be called agua fresca de pitahaya.

But Savannah Muñoz calls it a Dragon Fruit Mocktail. Muñoz, who is a chef at Melissa's Produce, came up with the recipe for a recent Mexican-themed presentation featuring tortillas and cooking sauces from LA Tortilla Factory. 

Dragon fruit grow in California as well as in Mexico and Southeast Asia. I saw them for the first time years ago on the streets of Saigon and wondered what this extraordinary fruit could be.

It's expensive here, $5.99 a pound at one of the markets where I shop and where I took this photo. 

The fruit may be showy, but the flavor is so delicate that I usually eat it sprinkled with lime juice and sugar. 

Muñoz blends the fruit with lemonade, then adds mint. At first glance, her mocktail looks like agua fresca de chía, a Mexican drink made with chía seeds and lime juice. But the black seeds that punctuate the drink are those of the dragon fruit.  

The California dragon fruit season continues into November. You'll find the fruit in some supermarkets and in farmers markets where local dragon fruit growers sell their harvest.   

DRAGON FRUIT MOCKTAIL
By Melissa's Chef Savannah Muñoz

4 dragon fruit, peeled and roughly chopped
3 quarts any favorite lemonade
1 cup fresh mint leaves.

Place the dragon fruit and 2 cups of lemonade in a blender and purée. Transfer the mix to a 4-liter (4 1/4 quart)  pitcher and add the 2 1/2 quarts of lemonade.

Bruise the mint leaves with the back of a knife or by clapping them between your hands and add to the pitcher. Stir well and refrigerate overnight.

Strain out the mint leaves and stir. Serve over ice and garnish with fresh mint. Makes 4 liters, or about 4 1/4 quarts.

Thailand's Jasmine Rice Goes Mexican

Every Mexican restaurant serves the rice drink horchata, but not like the version poured at Mexicano the other evening. 

This horchata wasn't made from a mix or concentrate but in the traditional way, from raw rice ground in a blender with the water in which it was soaked.

The rice was Thai jasmine rice, called hom mali in Thai, hom meaning fragrance and mali jasmine. This added yet another nuance of flavor.

Chef/owners Ramiro Arvizu (left) and Jaime Martin del Campo made the drink for a Thai trade presentation, staged at Mexicano to show that Thai jasmine rice can blend seamlessly into Mexican cooking. The recipe came from Arvizu's grandmother.

Using Thai rice with Mexican food isn't a new concept. Chefs Ramiro and Jaime have done this for 19 years, first at their other restaurant, La Casita Mexicana. Here is a shrimp tamal they made that evening with jasmine rice replacing masa.

They also used it for the Mexican rice pudding arroz con leche, which they dressed up by wrapping each serving in a crisp flour tortilla. 

Celebrity chef Jet Tila (above), who took part in the presentation, said that Latinos have always been eager buyers of Thai jasmine rice at the Bangkok Market, which his family opened in 1972.

Why do they like the rice? "It's just sticky enough," he said. And it is "one of the few rices on the earth that just naturally has this wonderful fragrance."

A Guatemalan woman I once interviewed said she liked it because it didn't "break" as it cooked.

Mexican custom is to saute rice in oil before adding liquid, so it needs strength to hold up to that. Above is a bowl of rice prepared that way at Mexicano to go with dishes such as cochinita pibil, beef shank and chiles en nogada.

Tila, the Thai culinary ambassador, pointed out that not all jasmine rice is the same. To get ultra premium rice, look for the above label on the package. It's "the best rice in the world," he said loyally.

This is the horchata recipe prepared at Mexicano. It makes a cool summer drink for kids and family. It can also be turned into a cocktail by adding Kahlúa and tequila, as Chef Jaime did that night.

THAI RICE HORCHATA
From Mexicano

1 1/2 cups Thai hom mali rice
6 cups water
1 stick cinnamon
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
Sugar, optional

In a medium bowl, soak the rice in 3 cups water for at least 30 minutes or overnight in the refrigerator.

Pour the rice and the water in which it was soaked into a blender. Add the cinnamon stick and blend until smooth.

Strain into a 2-quart pitcher. Stir in the sweetened condensed milk and enough of the remaining water to fill the pitcher. Sweeten to taste with sugar, if desired. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Serve in tall glasses over ice.

Makes 8 servings. 

There's a Nispero in This Margarita

In a village in Oaxaca, people talked to me about nisperos. This was the first time I had heard the Spanish word for loquat, and luckily, I have a nispero tree in my front yard.

During the season, which is now, I've made jar after jar of jam; I've cooked sliced loquats in syrup, and I came up with this pineapple-loquat margarita, which is pure, foamy heaven.

If you don't have a loquat tree, look for the fruit at farmers' markets, but do it now. The last of my fruit is wrinkling on the tree, which indicates the season is ending. 

PINEAPPLE-LOQUAT MARGARITA

2 fresh loquats, peeled, seeded and trimmed 
1/4 cup cut-up fresh pineapple 
2 ounces silver tequila
1 ounce triple sec
1/2 ounce simple syrup
Juice of 1 key lime
3 ice cubes 

In a blender container, combine the loquats, pineapple, tequila, triple sec, syrup and lime juice. Blend this thoroughly and then taste. If the pineapple is not sweet, you may need to add more simple syrup.

When you have flavored the drink to taste, add the ice cubes and blend until foamy and most of the ice is pulverized.

Turn into a cocktail glass and drink immediately before the foam subsides.

Makes 1 serving. 

Trying My Hand at Tepache

I can hardly wait for the cocktail hour tonight. This sounds like a raging alcoholic needing a fix, but that's not the issue.  What I want is another taste of the drink I made up this weekend. 

It's  wild, rustic and totally addictive, at least for me--you might hate it. The base is tepache, which is pineapple home brew. You ferment pineapple shells with piloncillo, cinnamon sticks, cloves and water until the mixture gets bubbly and fragrant, then strain and pour it over ice.

This is a Mexican drink, and once in a while you find it in Mexican restaurants here. What got me started was a sign (above) on the door of La Guadalupana, a tiny place near downtown Los Angeles.

The brisk, slightly spritzy drink was perfect with my tacos (above). The owner makes it himself from pineapple, sugar and water, he said.

Checking a few recipes--there are many variations--I set to work, hoping to copy it. Some add barley to the fermentation. Some add beer when the drink is finished, which I think is a great idea. But I stuck with basic tepache and let the components ferment for four days.

My tepache didn't taste like La Guadalupana's (above). It was stronger and somewhat funky. That's how I got the idea to blend it into a cocktail. I put in rum, orange liqueur and a dash of Mexican lime juice, which tamed the funkiness to a pleasant background note akin to the smokiness of mezcal.

One last touch made it perfect--a slice of hot green chile that made it edgy and peppy. Sipping this transported me miles away to Tlaquepaque where, according to the famous song "Guadalajara," they make terrific tepache to go with birria. "Hacen mas fresco el dulce tepache junto a la birria con el mariachi," is what the song says.

Keep in mind that the following tepache is only a first attempt. A line of tiny bubbles runs along the top, but it is not seriously alcoholic. 

You could make the cocktail with tepache from a restaurant, but it would lack the punchy taste of my home brew. Mine makes me think I'm in some far off, sun-baked pueblo, cooling off with tepache straight from the clay olla where it fermented.

COCTEL DE TEPACHE
Tepache Cocktail

4 ounces (1/2 cup) tepache
1 ounce light rum
1 ounce Mandarine Napoleon liqueur or other orange-flavored liqueur
Juice of 1/2 small Mexican lime
Ice cubes
1 slice serrano chile

Combine the tepache, rum, liqueur and lime juice in a cocktail glass.  Add ice cubes. Float the chile slice on top.

Makes 1 serving.

TEPACHE
Fermented Pineapple Drink

1/4 pound piloncillo or brown sugar
6 cups water
1 (3-inch) piece cinnamon stick
4 whole cloves, crushed
Shells from 1/2 medium pineapple
Additional brown sugar as needed, about 1/2 cup 

Combine the piloncillo with 1 cup water and stir until dissolved. If the sugar is very hard, heat the mixture in the microwave and let stand until the piloncillo dissolves. Place the mixture in a deep glass bowl or a non-reactive Dutch oven. Add the remaining water, the cinnamon stick and cloves.

Cut a pineapple in quarters. Remove the fruit pulp and save for another use. Wash the peel from half of the pineapple, then cut it into strips and add to the piloncillo mixture. Cover with a porous cloth and let stand at room temperature until foamy and fermented, about 4 days.

Taste and stir in additional brown sugar to taste (brown sugar will dissolve more easily than piloncillo). The drink should not be too sweet.  Strain through a fine sieve into a large bowl, then place in a pitcher or other drink container and refrigerate. Serve over ice. 

Makes 6 cups.

Restaurante La Guadalupana, 1422 1/2 W. 6th St., Los Angeles, CA 90017 (213) 483-2973.

A Cucumber Mojito from Baja

What a glorious welcome, to be handed a drink like that in the photo. It's not a margarita. It's the cucumber mojito that greeted me after checking in at Villa del Palmar, a resort at The Islands of Loreto in Baja California Sur.

There, it was presented like a margarita, rimmed with chile salt and garnished with a chile-coated cucumber slice. But the real way to make it is like a Cuban mojito. You muddle cucumber and mint leaves with sugar and lime juice in a tall glass, then add ice, white rum, club soda and a mint sprig.

Perfect for warm weather, the drink has a margarita's kick but is lighter, with more layers of flavor. To copy the version in the photo, mix the ingredients as directed, then strain into a margarita glass rimmed with red chile and salt. 

CUCUMBER MOJITO
From Villa del Palmar

1 (1/2-inch) slice cucumber, peeled
4 large mint leaves
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lime juice 
Crushed ice
2 ounces white rum
2 ounces club soda
Mint sprig for garnish

Chop the cucumber and place it in a tall glass. Add the mint leaves, sugar and lime juice and muddle together, using a muddler or the handle of a wooden spoon.

Add ice to fill the glass about half way, pour in the rum and stir. Top with club soda and garnish with a mint sprig.

Makes 1 serving. 

A Lifesaving Recipe--Cheers!

It's been brutally hot in my house, with neighborhood temperatures soaring above 100 degrees.

Just one thing has saved me--a nightly chelada. It's the most refreshing drink of all--beer with lime juice, ice cubes and salt. 

I'm not a beer drinker, but I've gone through six bottles of Mexican beer (Trader Joe's), a can of Sapporo and now I'm working on a big bottle of Chang from Thailand. Next up are two bottles of Taiwan beer. 

Until now, I've only drunk cheladas on trips to Mexico. As a matter of fact, the first I had was in Mérida, Yucatan, years ago.  The one in the photo is in San Felipe on the coast of Baja California.

But my humble home chelada tastes as good as these. Here's how to make it. 

BARBARA'S CHELADA

2 Mexican limes
Salt
Ice cubes
1 (11.2 to 12-ounce) bottle beer, chilled

Cut one lime in half. Rub the rim of a tall glass with one half. Then swirl the rim in a pile of salt.

Squeeze both limes into the glass. Add 2 to 4 ice cubes (not too many. You don't want to water down the beer). 

Pour in the beer. Drink at once.

Makes 1 serving.

From Veracruz--a Sapote Torito

A friend who has sapote trees says the hot weather in Los Angeles is producing a bumper crop. Maybe that’s why one stall at the Hollywood Farmers' Market was loaded with the fruit on Sunday.

Sapotes are good to eat, white pulp, green skin and all. But I came up with a better use for them—a luscious drink that’s as thick and frosty as a milk shake, with a kick that you don't get in a shake.

It’s a sapote torito, modeled on the tropical fruit drinks that you find along the coast of Veracruz.

To make a torito, you blend the fruit with ice, milk, sugar and a shot of aguardiente. I use Victoria brand sugarcane alcohol, which comes from Hermosillo, Sonora. If you can’t get something like that, substitute vodka or rum.

A native of Mexico, the white sapote is mildly flavored but has an edge to it that suggests chocolate. And that's my next project, sapote ice cream with chocolate sauce, which is just what I need to cope with L.A.'s nonstop heat wave.

SAPOTE TORITO

1/2 cup peeled, seeded white sapote pulp
3 tablespoons canned evaporated milk
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 to 2 ounces sugar cane alcohol, vodka or light rum
4 ice cubes

Combine the sapote pulp, milk, sugar, alcohol and ice cubes in a blender and blend until most of the ice is pulverized.

Pour into a large glass.  

Makes 1 serving. 

A Mango Margarita--It's Really Cool

The heat continues, and I can't stop drinking--water, cranberry juice, cool Thai drinks, even ugly tasting water from a commercial drinking fountain.

But when night falls, I drink something else, like this mango margarita. It really brightens up an overheated evening.

MANGO MARGARITA

1/2 Mexican lime
Sugar
Red chili powder
2 ounces tequila
1 ounce canned mango puree
3/4 ounce triple sec

Moisten the rim of a margarita glass with the cut lime. Then dip the glass into a small amount of sugar combined with a few grains of red chili powder--not too much, unless you want it really spicy. 

Squeeze the lime into a cocktail shaker. Add the tequila, mango puree and triple sec.

Add ice, shake well and strain into the prepared glass.

Makes 1 serving.

Note: You can find canned mango puree in Indian markets. 

What to Drink When It's Really, Really Hot

An August heat wave has hit Los Angeles. To keep from getting dehydrated, it's important to drink as much as possible, they say, meaning water, juices and sports beverages. But when the cocktail hour arrives, this is what I'll have.

It's a gorgeous watermelon drink put together by Miguel Tafoya (at right), bartender at the Hotel Capella Ixtapa.

Tafoya did some excellent mixology during a tequila seminar that was part of this spring's food and wine festival in Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo.

Notice how he has added basil to the drink instead of the usual mint. 

WATERMELON WINNER
From Miguel Tafoya, Hotel Capella Ixtapa

3 ounces strained pureed watermelon
2 ounces white tequila
1 tablespoon agave nectar
2 teaspoons lime juice
2 or 3 basil leaves, plus 1 for garnish
Ice

To prepare the watermelon, measure a heaping 1/2 cup watermelon chunks, eliminating the seeds. Puree this in a blender, then strain through a fine sieve to eliminate any remaining seeds and pulp. Measure 3 ounces and pour into a cocktail shaker.

Add the tequila, agave nectar and lime juice and stir. Taste and adjust the agave nectar and lime juice if needed. Add the basil leaves, torn into shreds.

Add ice cubes and shake well. Strain into an old fashioned glass, adding fresh ice cubes, if desired. Garnish with a basil leaf. 

Makes 1 serving. 

La Vaquita's Mexican Mojito

Mariscos La Vaquita's bar menu has a sense of humor. Pay double for your first drink and the second one is free, it says.

This may be lame, and the cocktails are pretty rudimentary compared to the intense mixology in other parts of the world. Still, a Mexican mojito sounded promising.

To make it Mexican, the bartender put in cilantro instead of mint and tequila instead of rum.

The long green drink was fine on a hot evening, although it could have used more authority, meaning more tequila. I took care of that in the recipe below. 

Mariscos La Vaquita, Avenida Mar de Cortez and Puerto Peñasco, San Felipe, Baja California, Mexico. Tel: 577-2837.

MEXICAN MOJITO
Mariscos La Vaquita 

2 Mexican (key) limes
4 teaspoons sugar plus additional for rimming the glass
1 tablespoon cilantro leaves
3 ounces white tequila
3/4 cup ice cubes
3/4 cup club soda

Cut 1 lime in half. Lightly coat the rim of a tall glass with one of the halves, then swirl the rim in sugar to coat.

Squeeze the remainder of the lime into the glass. Add 4 teaspoons sugar and the cilantro leaves and muddle to blend the flavors.

Cut 2 slices from the remaining lime and add to the glass. Squeeze the juice from the remainder of the lime into the glass.

Add the tequila, ice cubes and soda and stir to mix.  

Makes 1 serving.