Happy Spoons.

Happy Spoon likes to make Chorizo Sopes with Fresh Tomatillo Salsa.

Recipe (featured in Authentic Mexican by Rick Bayless):

• 2 1/4 cups instant masa flour mix, mixed with 1.5 cups hot water, covered, and left to stand for 20 min
• 2 Tbsp vegetable shortening
• 1/3 cup flour (+ 1 Tbsp for masa)
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• small can of black beans, juices retained
• 12 oz soyrizo (I use soyrizo instead of chorizo, for the health benefits!)
• vegetable oil for frying
• 1/2 cup crumbled Mexican cheese (I like cotija)
• lettuce (optional)

Tomatillo Salsa:

• 8 oz tomatillos, husked, stemmed, and washed
• 2 serrano chiles (SPICY! you can use less spicy chiles if you wish, like jalapenos or even mild green chiles like pasillas or Anaheim peppers)
• 6 sprigs of fresh cilantro (aka coriander)
• 1/2 small yellow onion
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Salsa:

• Boil the tomatillos in salted water for ~9 min until barely tender, then drain.
• Add all the ingredients to a food processor or blender; coarsely puree.
• Let stand for ~30 min to allow the flavors to blend.
• Salsa time!  (you can eat this by itself with chips, or serve on tops of your sopes!)

Sopes:

• With the moistened masa mix, add shortening, flour, salt, and baking powder.  I used a pastry blender to thoroughly mix in the shortening, similar to making a pie crust from scratch.  After ingredients are mixed, knead until the consistency allows you to form dough balls.  If you need to, add 1 Tbsp of water at a time to moisten the dough and adjust consistency.
•  Divide the dough into ~12 balls, covering with plastic wrap when not in use.  Flatten each ball into a small disc, ~2.5 inch in diameter.
• Heat a skillet over medium heat, and cook each masa disc about 2 min on each side, until lightly browned.
• Cut each masa disc in half like a hamburger bun, keeping them covered in plastic wrap when not being used.  You are supposed to form ridges around the edges of the masa discs to hold toppings, but I didn’t do this because it was too much work.
• Start cooking the toppings.  Put the beans in a small saucepan with their juices and heat, covered, until warmed and juices thickened into a beany broth.
• Cook the soyrizo in a small skillet with 1 Tbsp oil over medium-low heat until crispy (for real chorizo, you’ll need to drain the fat afterwards); cover to keep warm.
• Fry the masa discs!  Heat ~3/4 in oil in a skillet (to ~360 °F).  Fry each masa disc ~3-4 min until lightly browned and lightly crispy.  Drain on paper towels and keep warm in a low oven.
• Assemble the sopes!  These are kind of like mini tostadas; masa disc on the bottom, scoop a Tbsp or so each of beans, chorizo, and tomatillo salsa.  You can put lettuce on it too, but I decided that this was too messy and didn’t add much to the overall dish.  Top with crumbly Mexican cheese, like cotija or queso fresco.
• Eat them up, yum!

Fun Fact: These are supposed to be appetizers according to Rick Bayless…but I definitely ate them as a meal.