Mexico | thefidgetyfoodie

Why I love Oaxaca – Mexico’s gastronomic heart

Posted on August 4, 2019 by thefidgetyfoodie

Why I heart Oaxaca – Mexico’s gastronomic heart_the fidgety foodie

Oaxaca’s stunning Templo de Santo Domingo

Let’s get the awkwardness out of the way shall we?

I know exactly what you’re thinking. So many vowels in one word. And what does one do with that ‘x’? You could spend hours trying to work out how to pronounce Oaxaca but I’ll spare you. ‘Wahaca’ is the phonetic pronunciation, and by happenstance is also a chain of Mexican restaurants in the UK. Clearly the founder didn’t think ‘Oaxaca’ would cut through on the high street.

All the good stuff and more…

Oaxaca had been sitting in the periphery of my greedy mind for quite some time. I knew from reading food press and listening to general foodie chit chat that Oaxaca was a True. Foodie. Heaven. Up there with San Sebastian. Bangkok. Palermo. How could a city famous for seven moles be anything but?

Piles of the Oaxcan cheese I am so enamoured with

I’d tried to squeeze it into a previous trip to Mexico but knew even then that a few days would not do. I’d argue that my ensuing 10 day trip did not quite cut the mustard either but it was at least enough time to eat an extraordinary amount of delicious and unique dishes, many of which can’t be found elsewhere in Mexico.

Tamales stuffed with Oaxacan cheese and zucchini flowers, made by yours truly

It would take me days, even weeks, to list all the dishes that need to be tried in Oaxaca. Some have travelled over the border well – enchiladas (although vastly different from the Tex Mex version), tamales, tostadas. Others were brand new to me – tlayudas, tetelas, memelitas. There are so many things you can do with a tortilla it made my head spin; Mexicans are true origamists.

Freshly frothed hot chocolate with pan de yema

You’d certainly have to start at one of the incredible markets. Mercado Benito Juárez, Mercado 20 de Noviembre and Central de Abastos are all terrific but for a traditional breakfast it has to be Mercado La Merced. My local friend Oscar introduced me to the delights of frothy hot chocolate with pan de yema and its similarly sweet starchy friends. Dip the carby delights into frothy hot chocolate for a sweet kickstart to your day.

Memelitas and enchiladas – a robust way to start the day

Then move onto something savoury such as memelitas (fried tortillas with tomato, chilli, beans and fresh cheese) and enchiladas – not rolled in Tex Mex style but rather layered like a loose lasagne, doused in a green chilli mole and topped with the stretchy Oaxacan cheese I find so addictive. Plus a side of fried beef short ribs for good luck. Read More

Mole, mole, mole

Posted on July 19, 2017 by thefidgetyfoodie

Mole concentrate from Chiles Secos in LA

The iconic Mexican sauce not the facial adornment of course.

Growing up, mole was the sauce with chocolate (yes, chocolate!!!) that I tried at a few suburban Mexican restaurants and never understood. Was it a dessert or a savoury dish I wondered?? I envisaged a chef breaking up pieces of Cadbury Dairy Milk and adding them to a pot and the whole idea sounded bizarre (although delicious – what dish isn’t improved with chocolate?).

It took a little more culinary maturity before I understood that dark chocolate, with minimal milk solids and fats, was the key ingredient that added a richness and depth to the sauce.

Mexican mole at Mi Lupita in Mexico City

Mole of course means ‘sauce’, so guacamole for instance, literally means avocado sauce. Mole poblano from Puebla is the most famous of all the moles and arguably Mexico’s national dish. Dark chocolate, multiple chili peppers and up to 20 different spices make up this iconic dish. It takes time for the flavours to develop and layer up so it’s usually reserved for special occasions.

Sauce in most cuisines is the accompaniment, playing second fiddle to a piece of meat or other hero ingredient. But not mole. Mole IS the dish. It’s the star of any plate and the chicken or other protein served alongside is merely there to accompany the sauce to the mouth. A plate of sauce with a little pile of chicken on the side is not an uncommon sight.

My obsession with mole really began when I went to Mexico. My (only) preparation for a week in Mexico City was a thorough analysis of the best places to find mole, specifically mole poblano.

The best mole in Mexico City is to be found at Mi Lupita

That’s how I came across Mi Lupita, a little ‘fonda’ or casual restaurant in Centro Histórico that’s been making mole since 1957. It was tiny, with barely six tables and no one that remotely resembled a tourist. Perfect. There I had one of the most memorable dishes of my life: a plate of the house special of mole poblano with chicken on enchiladas.

Mole poblano with chicken on enchiladas at Mi Lupita

Even though I hadn’t tasted every mole in Mexico City, I was sure that this was indeed the best. What could taste better than this? The mole was rich, intense, spicy, smoky, chocolaty. The chicken was lean and the whole dish was topped with onion and grated queso fresco. Further proof shortly arrived at the table next to me. A local food guide was there with four travellers, explaining why Mi Lupita’s mole was the best in the world and I nodded on in agreement.

The mole spice mix selection at Mi Lupita

I overheard the guide mention mole spice mix could be bought to take away and I wanted in. I leant over to ask him how to request it and the first thing he wanted to know was how on earth I’d found this secret little place? It was almost as though I’d ruined his surprise. I may not be a local I told him, but I know how to use google to my advantage!

I left Mi Lupita with half a kilo of mole in a plastic bag with a knot at the top and somehow managed to get it back to Sydney (thankfully they weren’t filming Border Security that day). I had many a delicious meal from that mole base and wished many times I’d brought double, even triple, back home with me. Read More

My 9 most random supermarket finds

Posted on June 22, 2015 by thefidgetyfoodie

Stocking up on frappé sachets in Greece

One of my favourite things to do in a new city or town is explore the local supermarket.

For me it’s the heart and soul of a country, culture and cuisine. What could be more insightful than a look at what people eat every day? That’s why it was a no brainer for my list of 6 steps to scoping out a city like a true foodie.

Bear in mind that this is written by someone who gets a thrill from visiting even her own local supermarket. From a young age, mum would always take me on her weekly Thursday night shopping trips and I LOVED to pour over the shelves, suggest new products (sometimes even helpfully throwing items straight in the trolley) and help her unpack.

The best part about foreign supermarkets is the potential for quirky and unusual items that I may never have seen or been able to get my hands on before.

I pick up a packet of marzipan carrots whenever I’m in Switzerland

This is how I discovered some of my favourite supermarket finds, like mini marzipan carrots from Switzerland (perfect for decorating carrot cakes) and frappé sachets from Greece (because real Greek frappés must have Greek Nescafé in them).

Then there are the items that stop me in my tracks and have me asking how, or ever why?

blk. That’s black water to you and I.

1. Like the black water I came across in Mexico City. Otherwise known as ‘Alkaline Fulvic Trace Mineral Infused Water’ and supposedly containing superior minerals to assist better hydration than normal water. I’m not sure how water can become more hydrating but ten points to the manufacturers for being attention grabbing.

What a load of crap

2. I’ve already told you about my discovery of crap in Romania but it surely deserves another mention. I don’t think anything else has ever stopped me in my tracks quite as quickly as this towering collection – holy crap I thought! Even though I now know that crap means carp in Romanian, it still makes me smile.

Clever Romanians eat Big Ben it seems

3. Another thing I noticed in Romanian supermarkets is how they love to use English names to brand everyday products. This is how I came across chocolate called ‘Big Ben’, ‘Laura’ and ‘Clever’. It was a marketing ploy that worked on me – I bought one of each.

Swiss eggs for Swiss National Day

4. When it comes to clever branding, the Swiss are ahead of the game. What other country would brand eggs with their national flag? I discovered these around Swiss National Day on the 1^st August which celebrates the foundation of the Swiss Confederacy. Around this date practically everything is coated in red and the distinctive white equilateral cross – eggs included.

Spam flavoured macadamias, what are the Hawaiians thinking?

5. Branded red eggs I have no problem eating. Spam flavoured macadamia nuts? Not a chance. Spam is massive in Hawaii, with a yearly festival devoted to the stuff (called the Spam Jam, of course). Obama even orders it when he goes home. I guess it’s the Aussie equivalent to chicken salt. Read More

Drinking food that’s so wrong but oh so right

Posted on April 27, 2015 by thefidgetyfoodie

Cheesy, greasy, salty poutine

I last wrote about lovely Greek Easter family traditions and cooking sessions with my yiayias. Honest, good clean fun.

Which is precisely why I’m now compelled to write about something down and dirty. To keep the balance.

Today it’s all about outrageous, positively indecent (and calorie-defying) drinking food. This idea came to me recently while I was drinking (alcoholic) ginger beer with a Canadian friend in a Canadian bar. There was only one thing to order in that situation.

‘One poutine please’.

If you think poutine sounds French, that’s because it is – or at least it hails from French speaking Quebec. Chunky fries are topped with brown gravy and cheese curds so the whole thing is a greasy, salty, cheesy mess. A pretty tasty mess to be fair.

Ginger beer to cut through the grease

According to my sidekick Ving, this was not poutine in its true form – partly because we just don’t make cheese curds in the same way the Canadians do. But he felt the sentiment was there. Apparently McDonald’s does a version in Canada – I’m not entirely confident about how that might taste.

Chips topped with gooey melted cheese

Poutine is pretty closely related to the cheesy chips that you see on pub menus far and wide throughout the UK. My favourite was a version I came across in Tresco (while snacking on scotch eggs naturally). Good old fashioned chips are drowned with melted cheese so there’s nothing sophisticated going on there but they certainly go down well when you’re drinking copious amounts of local cider.

Crispy, crunchy, chicharrones

While we’re on the topic of fried foods, it doesn’t get much more debaucherous that chicharrónes or fried pork rinds. That’s where they take something already extremely fatty and proceed to deep fry it to really amp up the fat factor. Sounds like something Homer Simpson would eat. Read More

Fishy business

Posted on January 11, 2015 by thefidgetyfoodie

Everyone loves fish in my family, even Macey

Everyone loves fish in my family, especially Macey

If ever there was an ingredient I was born to embrace, it’s fish.

One of my grandfathers was a seafood chef. The other had a fish shop at Wynyard. I learnt how to catch, gut and cook a fish before I could do anything else useful with food. And tuna salad is my default lunch.

Scaling and gutting a leather jacket

Okay maybe that last one doesn’t count, but in essence I eat more than my share of fish and love it in any shape or form, raw or cooked, from head to tail. Especially the tail. Not to mention the skin, cheeks and eyes. Yes eyes! That’s what my dad taught me and his dad taught him so I never raised an eyebrow : )

Fresh fish on the barbeque with a few snags for good luck

I went fishing recently and am glad to see I can still reel ‘em in. The only way (in my family at least) to cook freshly caught fish is on the barbeque with oil, lemon and occasionally garlic. The oil and lemon form an unctuous sauce which is heaven against the crispy fish skin.

But there’s so much more you can do with fish and it’s one of my favourite things to experience when I travel (provided there is a body of water not too far away – I generally stay away from seafood in landlocked countries).

Smoked salmon, any way you like it

Given the vast seas around them, it’s no surprise that the Scandinavians know a thing or two about fish. I almost wept at the sight of beautiful displays of salmon in Helsinki, radiating a signature peachy-orange glow. Read More