Gordita or Gordito

Blue quesadillas , Floral sweet or pork , Cheesy, chilli gasp

One of the innate human rights is the freedom to choose, this is what I have lived by all of my life. During my travels, I always reflected back with a smile on the film ‘Life of Brian’ where Stan openly declared to the other fellow members of The People’s Front of Judea on his life choice is to be a woman (Loretta) and have babies. The members reacted with puzzled acceptance and use victim-hood to validate Stan’s struggle against the Roman’s oppression. Stan’s declaration exemplified that we all have moment to stake our preference openly, acting on instinct and commit.

I however, refuse to make a choice in choosing either a Gordita or Gordito at the tortilla stand a few hundred yards from my office at Cuernavaca City , Mexico. I refer to the tortilla stand as Gordita Lady, both my colleagues, Elodie and Fernando share the fondness for the fresh blue maze oblong sharped quesadillas stuffed with 2 types of filling combinations; the one with courgette flowers, Huitlacoche, Oaxacan Cheese and onions is lovingly called Gordita and the other called Gordito is filled with chopped braised fatty pork, Oaxacan Cheese and onions; with a knowing nod from The Lady, fresh Habanero Chilli will be added, then the quesadillas is sealed and put onto a shallow pan of pork lard for gentle frying. The photo below shows the position of the Gordita Lady in her urban context.

The Link below will take you there in Google Map

https://maps.app.goo.gl/o8GQSr8r3XFp2dEc8

Quesadillas is one of my Girl’s breakfast staples, with a bit of simplification to save time in the morning pre-made tortillas are used to good outcome, when combined what ever we can find in the fridge. Generally, the basic ingredients are tomatoes and red onions salsa, mozzarella cheese, sometime slices of avocado with a pinch of sea salt, a few shakes of Tajin seasoning, then its good to go.

We like either the yellow coarse grade or blue coarse grade masa harina purchased from Mexgrocer online, the coarser grade to us seems to have a better flavour and hold on to the juices better. Actually, masa dough is easy to make, although a bit too involved for a quick breakfast for school days.

However, making tortilla from fresh is an engaging family activity, more so than the Oxtail Ragu for an in-day. The key is to gauge the optimum water content. For about 15 - 20 no. tortillas use 200g of masa harina, 275-300g of hot water at 60 °C and 3-5g of salt, that’s it. Most importantly is to have a tortilla press, it is much easier than hand moulding in front of an expectant hungry crowd.

For lunch we’re making both Gordita and Gordito with the following ingredients as shown on the photo below. On top is the salsa of tomatoes with red onion and jalapeno chilli, caramelised sweet red peppers, Mexican style pull pork (leftover from a family gathering 2 months ago, vac-packed and frozen), mozzarella cheese sliced, Nasturtium flower and leaves (what’s left in the garden), readymade blue maise tortillas, Tajin Seasoning and sea salt to taste.

On bottom left is the assembled Gordita with cheese, peppers, salsa and Nasturtium flower and leaves. To the right is the Gordito with cheese, pull pork, peppers and salsa. Both sprinkled with Tajin and salt to taste.

With the top tortilla on the parcel it is then pan sautéed with a bit of olive oil on medium to high heat until the bottom tortilla is slightly crispy, it will take about 5 to 8 minutes. Then carefully turn over the parcel and sauté for a further 5 minutes. During cooking gently press down on the edges to do a melting cheesy seal to trap the juices within the quesadillas.

The quesadillas is best serve slightly above room temperature, it tastes better and more importantly avoids the piping hot pockets trapped within.

Although this quesadilla is a simplified version of the Gordita Lady’s, the variety of ingredients that can be used is limited only by imagination and great fun for the kids to get involved and experiment with different flavour combinations.

In Mexico, apart from all of the great pork dishes, I have tried and enjoyed tacos or quesadillas with grass hoppers (Chapulines), ant caviar (Escamoles), a salsa made with stink bugs (Jumiles, which give a numbing sensation and of cinnamon flavour note) and Cecina (thinly sliced salted skirt of beef), but to name a few, so, to my point to choose is to go against instinct.

I haven’t tried a sweet version yet, straight of the bat, a chocolate ganache, toasted pistachio nuts and pineapple or mango version could be the next choice !