Cooking in the Kitchen with Nora

February 10, 2009 | Comments Off

Today our Oaxacan culinary education begins with a market tour and four hours of cooking with Nora Andrea Valencia. We are greeted at the market by a striking woman with sparkling eyes and upswept jet black hair, dressed in traditional garb: a long blue skirt, embroidered top and a garnet wool wrap. She greets us, gives us a little preparation about what to expect and who not to photograph, and our gaggle of five were off to follow Nora in a flurry around the market.

She explains the various types of chilis: huajillo, meca, pullo, ancho chipotle, pasilla di Oaxaqunon, and more and what they are used for. She introduces the group to the gusanos, or dried worm, that is had been a staple of the diet in this area, traditionally. Despite the visceral shiver that goes across our little crowd, Nora patiently continues on to explain that these insects are a very good, clean source of protein and are really “an extention” of the maguey plant where they grow. They are now often dried, toasted and then pureed in the salsa de gusanos, or powdered along with garlic, chili and salt to create the sale de gusanos that lines all of the margarita glasses here. We have had one of those margaritas and I can tell you, that is some tasty worm salt.
She shows us herbs, and tomatillos and tomatoes and cheeses…and so, so much more. I scramble to try to get down as much as I can, mangling spelling along the way. The market was sensory overload, filled with pungent and intense smells, more sights than my eyes could take in. The women of the market were anthropological studies, with ancient faces and long, snowy white hair. We were very careful not to take pictures without asking because many are of the belief that photographs steal their soul, but it was SO hard to resist because they were so ancient and amazing to look at and I wanted so much to study each of their faces closely.

Once we have all that we need for our feast, we follow Nora back to her lush oasis behind large streetfront doors. We had such treats in store in our four course meal preparation. She started us off making tamales dolce, or sweet dessert tamales with coconut, pineapple and raisins. She them moved on to begin the many steps in making mole coloradito, a red mole. We toasted 5 different kinds of chiles with lots of garlic and onions and then soaked them. Then the raisins are sauteed in lard and removed and the garlic and onion are sauteed and removed. The sesame seeds (with salt down before and after the seeds go in to prevent popping), with the Mexican oregano, Mexican cinnamon, cloves, and pepper and this roasts until the seeds start to brown. While this is happening, the almonds blanch.

Still with me? Good, because there are actually more steps…but I’m not going to take you through all of the details. All of these good things get pureed to a fine consistency in a Vita-Mix (like a blender that most of us own, but on steroids). Then its cooked AGAIN for a bit and the chocolate is added. This creates the paste that can be frozen. They often make it in big batches and freeze some for later meals to make the most of all of this work. The sauce gets pureed, blanched tomatoes, chicken stock, sugar, and salt and is cooked more. It is a divine creation, this mole. She served it over chicken with sesame seeds sprinkled on top. The rice she serves it with is cooked with minced garlic, onion, chicken stock and MINT! Who would have thought, mint, with mole? Not me, but it was a light and refreshing counterpoint to the rich mole, delicious and subtle.

She also whipped up, in what seemed like 5 minutes, a Nopale (cactus) and shrimp soup and zucchini flower blossoms stuffed with onion and ham and topped with the salsa di gusano (salsa with dried worms) as an appetizer, both of which were very simple. I fully intend to try both out as soon as I can a.) find little cactus paddles and b.) zucchini blossoms are in season.

We all sat down to the fruits of our labor, with the festive backdrop of local brass-band music, reminiscent of very energetic polka. Maybe not everyone’s cup of tea, but it certainly set a mood. She poured agua fresca, a frothy fresh juice of cucumber water, pinapple juice, and fresh orange juice. It wasn’t too sweet and was a great thirst quencher.
Menu at Cucina Con Nora:
Cucuchitas (zucchini blossoms stuffed with requeson cheese, ham, and pecans)
Caddillo de Nopales con Camaron (Cactus and shrimp soup)
Mole Colorado with Pollo and Arroz a la Menta
Tamalitos de Pina (Sweet Tamales with pineapple and coconut)
mmmmmmmm…….
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