Simple Sopes
My Abuela was the simplest of women and it was reflected in the dishes she prepared. Nothing complicated–most–well, really easy to make. Her dishes were that of a seasoned home cook. She used minimal ingredients due to the little resources she had and I imagine they just became part of her who she was. She also cooked with just a few spices to not take away from the natural flavor of her main ingredient–But just enough to enhance it. Although #SalAPunos (If you know you know!). It is possible that you ran across one of her videos an thought, “How can that even be good?”. Oh but it was because she used her special ingredient in all the dishes she prepares–amor.
Ingredients:
(Makes 18-20 sopes.)
•2 pounds of ground beef
•1 large potato (cut into small cubes)
•2 pounds of masa
•1 Lettuce head (chopped finely)
•1-2 tomatoes (sliced thinly)
•1 garlic clove
•Mexican sour cream
•Cotija cheese
• Salsa of choice (Abuela used Tapatio or a Valentina on her sopes.)
•Sal a puños
Instructions:
1. Place ground beef in a pan and add 1/2 a cup of water and salt to taste and a garlic clove.
2. Let it brown for a couple minutes and add potatoes that have been cut into small cubes.
3. Let the meat brown and potatoes soften, then remove from heat.
4. Make masa dough for the sopes. If you use Maseca, follow the instruction on the package. You can also buy already prepared masa for tortillas where available.
5. Heat up a pan to medium heat with lard or cooking oil. Enough to have a nice coat of lard in the pan.
6. Make a dough ball a little smaller than the size of your palm.
7. You can use a tortilla press to make the sope or you can use your hand by patting the masa between your hands, flipping back and forth and rotating the masa to form a circle. They can be about 2-3 inches wide.
8. Place you sope on your pan and fry until golden brown. Flip it and fry the other side until golden brown.
9. Remove from heat and let it cool down for a few minutes.
10. Once the sope has cooled, you are going to pinch the edges while pulling out at the same time to create the sope. You are creating the rim of the sope.
11. Add the meat and potatoes, lettuce, tomato slices, sour crema, salsa and Cotija cheese to the sope.
12. Enjoy.
Sopes YouTube vídeo
Abuela's Kitchen 