Yucatan recipe

Cocina Maya: Recipes in Mayan homes today

Submitted on October 14th, 2006 by Tortuga.
Tips: Akumal Mexico and Riviera Maya articles.

Mayan food

At its roots, not unlike other cuisines, Mayan food is simple peasant cooking – basic and intended for survival, not haute cuisine. However, today’s unique dishes of the Yucatan are a combination of ancient Mayan cooking techniques, such as charring and grinding chiles to release their flavors, and the spices that were introduced to the Mayans by the Spanish in the 1500s. The following compilation of recipes are traditional Yucatecan dishes that are prepared in Mayan homes today.

Mayan salsa recipe

This salsa recipe is an original Mayan recipe. Xni Pec, Mayan for “dog nose,” got its name because the salsa mixture is so hot it makes your nose wet like a dog’s!

8 tomatoes, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 habanero chiles, chopped
Juice from 2 sour oranges (or a mixture of orange and lime juice)
Chopped cilantro, to taste
Salt, to taste

Mix all ingredients together and serve with corn chips.

Yaxche, Playa del Carmen
Yaxche can be found in our Akumal and Riviera Maya directory.

Mayan toasted pumpkin see dip

Mayans have always known what health researchers are now discovering about pumpkin seeds – they are medicinal.
Sikil Pa’ak, toasted pumpkin seed dip, is a light and healthy recipe that makes a great sauce on tacos, over chicken or in soups.

pepite molida; toasted, ground pumpkin seeds
2 tomatoes per each 1/2 cup of pepita molida
chives
cilantro, chopped

Boil water and cook the tomatoes until the skin pops.
Remove and cool. Skin and blend until smooth.
Using a colander, sift the ground pumpkin seed.
Add the tomatoes until you have the consistency of a thick dipping sauce.

Imelda’s Ecocina, Akumal

Yucatecan Cochinita Pibil

Cochinita Pibil is probably the best known of all Yucatan recipes. A small pig is flavored with achiote paste, wrapped in banana leaves and slowly cooked for hours in an earthen pit, or pib in Mayan. Today in Mexico, the Mayan Indians still prepare this meal in the traditional way in the ground just as they did 500 years ago. However, this “gringo” version has been adapted for a conventional kitchen.

5 Tbs. annato seeds
2 Tbs. salt
1 Tbs. peppercorns
8 whole allspice
2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. whole cloves
8 garlic cloves, minced
2 habañerõs; deveined, seeds removed
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup white vinegar
juice of 5 lemons
splash of tequila
5 lb. pork butt, cut into 2″ cubes
1 lb. banana leaves

Combine all whole spices in a coffee grinder or spice mill. Grind them well, to a fine powder.

In a blender or food processor, combine spice powder, garlic, habañeros, orange juice, vinegar, lemon juice, and tequila.

Place the pork in a large Ziplock bag and add the marinade; shake well. Marinate for 12 to 24 hours, shaking 2 or 3 times.

Preheat oven to 325º. Line a baking pan with the banana leaves – you will wrap the pork in them, so be sure to overlap them well and leave enough so the edges will overlap, making a tight “package.” Dump the pork and marinade into the pan; wrap with banana leaves. Put more leaves on the top. Cover the whole thing with tinfoil and seal the edges so no steam escapes.

Bake for 4 hours or until pork is tender and falling apart.

Serve over a bed of white or Mexican rice. Garnish with a tomato wedge and a fresh jalapeño or serrano pepper and include warm corn tortillas on the side.

Robert Rodriguez, film director

Mayan hot chocolate

Chocolate residue from an ancient pot suggests hot chocolate has been a Mayan tradition for one thousand years. Mayan chocolate was medicine, evoked passion, and inspired legends.

2-1/2 cups water
1 cup chopped Mexican chocolate
2 Tbs whipping cream

Bring water and chocolate to simmer in a medium saucepan, stirring until chocolate dissolves. Transfer to a blender, blend until frothy. Mix in cream. Divide among 4 mugs.

Laura Esquivel, author “Like Water for Chocolate”

Yucatecan cooking is becoming more popular as it is being fused with French and Creole cuisines, however you will always find a Mayan cocina making meals in the traditional style. It is written in the sacred book of the Maya, the Popul-Vuh, that the gods created man out of white and yellow corn cobs. It is for this reason that Mayans believe they are honoring their gods when they “create” in the kitchen.

Other tips and articles you should read…

• Mayan Recipes and Mexican Recipes

• Xec - In Maya this means “Mixed” (Mayan Mixed Fruit Salad)

• Water Lily of the Maya

• Imelda’s Mayan Beans

• Salsade Tomate Frito (Mayan Fried Tomato Salsa)

• Xinek Pec (Mayan Nose of the Dog Salsa Picante)

• Akumal’s History: from a Mayan Warrior to a World Explorer

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