MINCE MEAT PICADILLO SOPES

Does it ever happened to you that you had a busy day and you can’t be bother to cook? Well, it happened to me today and I was wondering what to cook without compromising freshness and healthiness, so I remember this quick recipe that I sometimes cook, sopes or pelliscadas! which are these little round parcels made with corn flour, they are like a little corn dough plates which you can fill with almost anything you want! that is the beauty of these lovely things. So I decided to make a quick picadillo, which is beef mince with tomato, onion, coriander and spices and it traditionally comes with potatoes, but I didn’t have, so my picadillo is the simplest picadillo ever! It is called picadillo because everything is finely chopped, so “picar” means to chop. This dinner is excellent for a family of four, in this case, my hubby, my two children and I, so I made eight sopes. I asure you it will take you no time to prepare and they are delicious and very healthy, if you try to make them and they do not come out like mine, don’t worry, keep practising and believe me, soon you will become a sope master, the key is to practice!

Makes 8 sopes

Prep 10 min

Cook 20 min

INGREDIENTS

For the Beef Picadillo

500 gr organic beef mince 5% fat

3 tomatoes finely chopped

1 medium onion chopped

3 tbsp fresh chopped coriander

1 tbsp ground ancho chilli (optional)

a pinch oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

For the Corn Sopes

2 cups corn flour (masa harina, maseca)*

1 luke warm water

1 tbsp very finely chopped onion

1 tsp salt

A pinch dried ground garlic (optional)

To garnish

1 ripe avocado thinly sliced

Any fresh cheese like feta or Anari**

El Tampiqueño® Sour Cream

Spice Salsa

Refried Beans (optional)

Method

Heat the oil in a frying pan. Add the onion and cook for around 2 min, then add the mince meat and break it through so you do not end up with big lumps of meat, after add the tomatoes, coriander, ground ancho chilli (optional), oregano, salt and pepper. Cook around 20 min. Keep aside.

While the meat is cooking, prepare the sopes. Start by heating a large frying pan, so it is ready to cook the sopes, then place the corn flour in a bowl. Add the salt, onion and dried ground garlic (optional), then add the water in little stages, mixing the flour at the same time, once you add all the water, mix the flour very well until you obtain a moist dough. If it feel dried, add a bit more water. The dough doesn’t have to stick on your hands, but it need to be moist.

Once the dough is ready. Make 8 corn dough ball the size of a golf ball. Start working each ball until you get a patty, half a centimetre thick. Make sure they are round, start placing them on the heated pan, so they cook. It takes around 5 min on each side so they are thoroughly cooked, some people fry them in oil after they had cooked them, but this is the healthy option, so we are not doing that.

Once the the picadillo and sopes are ready, it is time to serve. To serve them, spread some refried beans on a sope, top it up with picadillo, then cheese, avocado, sour cream and spicy salsa. Enjoy them with a nice cold Hibiscus agua fresca click on the name and it will take you to the recipe. Enjoy!

Tips

I usually buy my corn flour in any of the online Mexican shops, they have different brands, any brand will be fine as long as it is Mexican corn flour.

The best cheese you can use for these delicious sopes is El Tampiqueño® Cheese, you can find it in different points of sale

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