Tostadas don’t get enough respect. In the world of down home, plain spoken Northern New Mexican food, tacos, burritos, enchiladas, tamales get all the attention. Tostadas are an afterthought (In Yiddish, a nuch shlepper. See how HG expands your language skills?). So, what is a tostada? This is the way they do it at El Parasol in Pojoaque: A corn tortilla is fried until crispy. It gets a layer of refried beans (refritos); then browned ground beef (fragrant with garlic and cumin); green chilis; a layer of guacamole. It is topped with chopped iceberg lettuce, raw onions and tomatoes. Final touch is fiery salsa (red or green). Lots of different flavors and textures. Crisp. Unctuous. Earthy. Fresh. Cold. Hot. The gamut is run. HG imagines that during this health conscious time, tofu will become an alternative to ground beef in the construction of tostadas. There are a number of Sikh ashrams in HG’s neighborhood and these turban wearing folks seem to favor funky Mexican flavors for their vegetarian dishes at El Parasol and Sopapilla Factory. So, Tofu fajitas, anyone?
First time/long time! Loved that you described the tostadas as “unctuous” but curious if you meant they were anxious to please and ingratiatingly tasty, as I imagine it, or just oleaginous? Keep up the explorations, I always enjoy checking in!
Ingratiatingly tasty would be apt. Thanks.
In rougher climes, these are called chalupas. By rougher, I mean Taco Bells in East Texas.
These days Tex-Mex chefs are too busy to curve the tortilla into the chalupa shape.