I could not imagine my childhood without pork ribs. Not just any pork ribs, but the fall off the bone one cooked low and slow in a dried chile salsa. Of course, there was always homemade flour tortillas when mom prepared her costillas or asado de puerco. Just the thought of fills me with nostalgia. Those were honestly the best times of my life. I had no idea, but I appreciate it so much now.
What comes to mind when you think of pork ribs?
Besides mom’s delicious homestyle Mexican recipes, I think of baby back, I want my baby back, baby back ribs! Lol! Smoked ribs from Texas. Ribs in barbecue sauce and those rack of ribs from Louisiana. Have I tried all of them? Yes! But my favorite will always be mom’s version with that reddish brown chile ancho sauce. That’s just the way it is. I appreciate all the ribs of course. I am a foodie after all that appreciates tasty food.
Black Beans or Pinto Beans?
Just give me some beans, please! Several years back I had a follower tell me that we (Mexicans) don’t eat black beans only pinto beans. What? Imagine how confused I felt at that moment. I strictly grew up with pinto beans, but I adore black beans, red beans, Peruano beans and some beans that I may not even know about. Stay open to the possibilities that there are a multitude of beans grown in Mexico that none of us have ever tried before. If I find them, I definitely will try them.
Have you ever enjoyed cactus, nopales?
I remember as a kid mom asking me to carefully place the fresh nopales (cactus paddles) into the plastic bag at the grocery store. It scared me! Lol! I knew there was no way I wasn’t going to get one of those sharp needles in my finger. It happened every single time, ha, ha, ha! Nopales are crunchy in the raw state. They have a lemony flavor. Once cooked, the texture resembles that of a green bean. They will release a sticky liquid similar to okra.
Say you find fresh cactus paddles. Now what’s the next step?
The cooking method I use is very simple. Once I carefully remove the sharp needles using a sharp knife, I slice away the whole outer edge of the cactus paddle. Slice or dice to desired size. I found some old footage of me cleaning nopales. It’s a bit tedious for me because I don’t have years of practice like some of my friends do. I will tell you that the freshest cactus paddles are super tender and a lot easier to clean than older ones. The fresher ones also will release less sticky slime when cooked. Cook covered the diced nopal in a skillet with a small section of onion, some fresh garlic, serrano pepper and cilantro. All you do is sprinkle in some salt and turn the heat to medium/low. Stirring now and then, the cactus will slowly release all of it liquid and eventually evaporate and there will be minimal slime left. I remove the solids minus the nopales then lightly rinse them before adding them to my recipes.
To Cure Nopales with Just Salt Is Genius!
I wish I could take credit for this, but this method of curing fresh nopales has been done for many, many generations. I stumbled upon this method on YouTube several years ago on Brisa Colibri’s channel. She is a young home cook who prides herself on sharing traditional and authentic Mexican recipes. Please go and check out her channel if you get a chance. Her recipes are in Spanish and very easy to follow.
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Pork Ribs in Chile Pasilla Salsa with Cactus
Ingredients
- 3 ½ lbs. pork country style ribs bone on, sliced into smaller sections
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 1 1/3 lbs. fresh cactus cleaned and diced
- 5-6 dried chile pasilla 54 gr.
- 3 small chile California 13 gr.
- 3 chile de arbol 2 gr.
- 1 small white onion 190 gr.
- 4 cloves of garlic 21 gr.
- ½ tsp cumin seeds
- 7-8 whole cloves
- 8-9 all spice pimiento gorda
- 1 scant tsp cinnamon stick
- 1 tsp. oregano
- 3-4 bay leaves
- 4 cups of water or chicken broth
Instructions
- In a large deep skillet, add the pork. Season lightly with salt and pepper. Cover and turn heat to medium. The pork will continue cooking for 1 hour and 30 minutes. More or less. Once the liquid has evaporated, then you will start to flip and turn them over to get some nice browning all around. This will take another 10 minutes. Turn as needed.
- In a separate saucepan, add the diced uncooked nopales(cactus). Season with 3/4 tsp. of salt. Cover with lid and heat to medium.
- After 5 minutes both the pork and cactus will begin to release their liquid. Reduce the heat slightly on the nopales. The cactus(nopales) you will continue cooking, stirring every now and then for the next 20-25 minutes. Once the nopales have released all their liquid, watch them closely. Once most of the liquid has evaporated and nopales have cooked through, remove from the heat.
- In a skillet, add the onion, garlic and dried chiles. Heat to medium. Once the peppers become aromatic, drizzle in 1 ½ tsps. of oil. Toss ingredients so they have an even coat of oil. You will continue tossing and flipping the ingredients for the next 3-4 minutes. Remove the dried chiles and continue pan roasting the onions and garlic for another 5-6 minutes. Add the cumin seeds, all spice, cloves and cinnamon. Cook for just 40 seconds. Add the chiles back in. Pour in 4 cups of water. Reduce heat and cook for 7-8 minutes. Remove from the heat and reserve.
- Once the pork is tender and browned nicely, reduce the heat to low.
- To the blender jar, add all of the ingredients, including all of the liquid from the pan with the chile pasilla. Add salt to taste. Cover and blend on high until very smooth. I have a power blender, so I don’t need to strain it anymore. If you don’t, I would strain the pasilla salsa through a wire mesh strainer.
- When ready, pour in the pasilla salsa into the skillet with pork. Stir well to combine. Taste for salt. Add the bay leaves and crushed oregano. Stir. Fold in the cooked nopales. Continue cooking for 20 minutes. Serve with rice, beans and warm tortillas.
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Since many of us have probably never cooked with nopales before, how do you go about cleaning them? Also, can you describe what it tastes like?
Hi Annie! Thank you for writing. I found some old footage of me cleaning the nopales and added that to a more recent video of me curing the nopales. I have added the description of the texture and flavor of the nopales as well. Most Mexican markets will offer the nopales already cleaned and diced. The texture is like a green bean once cooked and they have a lemon flavor.