Durango Style Gorditas

Click here to go to printable recipe:  Durango Style Gorditas

In Mexico, gordita  is a generic name for a patty, which includes those formed from any dough, filled or dressed before or after cooking, cooked on the grill or fried, have sweet or savoury ingredients, and so on. The word gordita means “chubby”, a very appropriate name for this treat, since it is formed into a nice, round shape, often stuffed generously.  It is safe to say that every region in Mexico has its own gordita recipes; I have posted about Mexico City style corn gorditas, very popular street food, usually stuffed with savoury fillings before grilling or frying.  In Northern Mexico, it is more traditional to grill plain corn masa patties; they are then opened and stuffed with a variety of dishes or stews, called guisados.

My sister and brother in-law were visiting Mexiquillo, a natural park in the Northern Mexican state of Durango; in the photos below, picturesque cabins nearby, where visitors full of nostalgia for the olden ways, may stay: 

Also nearby, there are several rustic restaurants, no neon signs or anything fancy, just offering the local specialty of gorditas de guisados:

They stopped for a meal in one of them; these restaurants are all very simple, a few tables with plastic tablecloths and chairs, set on a dirt floor.  They might seem austere at first, but as seen in the photo below, there was a welcoming a counter, bursting with a variety of snacks and refreshments, and an open cooking area, where the pots may be seen, aligned, keeping all the yummy guisados hot:

The menu is simply a list of fillings for the gorditas (and burritos, in this case):

From the list above, my sister and brother in-law’s order included gorditas with nopales con huevo (paddle cactus with egg, photo below, left), requesón (curds), frijoles (beans), and cheese (photo below, right):

 At home, people typically choose to make only two or three fillings at a time; for this post, I tried to achieve as much coverage of the list as I could. I noticed that several had a verde or rojo version, for example picadillo – ground beef, meaning it is the same dish, but prepared with either green or red sauce, respectively.  So at home, it is a good idea to start by preparing a batch of each sauce, to have on the side, to add to individual portions of the different fillings later on:

Guajillo Red Sauce – Salsa roja de guajillo

Printable recipe: Guajillo Red Sauce

Ingredients (makes approximately one cup)

4 guajillo peppers; washed
2 cloves garlic; peeled
1 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
1 cup water

Remove stems and seeds from peppers: 

Warm up oil in a frying pan over medium heat.  Add peppers and garlic cloves, being careful to turn frequently to avoid burning (photo below, left).  Continue cooking just for a few seconds.  Remove pan from heat and allow oil to cool down for a few minutes.  In a blender jar, add water, salt, and fried peppers and garlic (photo below, right):

Pour in oil from the pan (photo below, left).  Process for at least one minute, until smooth (photo below, right):

Strain sauce through a fine colander into a bowl (photo below, left).  Discard solids in colander, and reserve sauce (photo below, right):

Green Sauce – Salsa verde

Printable recipe: Green Sauce

Ingredients (makes approximately one cup)

½  lb (225g) fresh tomatillos; husks removed, and washed
1 serrano pepper, or to taste
¼ white onion; peeled
¼ cup cilantro; washed, and chopped
¼ tsp salt, or to taste
2 tsp lime juice, optional, depending on the acidity of the tomatillos

Place tomatillos in a large pot with water, over high heat (photo below, left).  Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium; continue cooking until tomatillos have changed colour.  Drain into a colander, testing tenderness with a skewer (photo below, right):

Transfer to a blender jar along with the serrano, onion and cilantro (photo below left); process until smooth. Pour back into the (now empty) pot (photo below, right):

Season with salt, and allow to simmer for a few minutes.  Add lime juice if needed (photo below, left).  Transfer to a bowl (photo below, right):

Reserve both sauces:

For the fillings, going back to the menu:

 I have posted about (click on highlighted text for recipes and stories): deshebrada –  shredded beef, machaca – dried pounded meat, rajas con queso – poblano pepper strips with cheese, frijoles – beans, nopales – paddle cactus, and asientos – cracklings (strained bits of fat), so I am not including those dishes here.  

I have a post about all types of chicharrón, and others specifically about how to make chicharrón prensado – pressed pork cracklings at home if not available at Hispanic stores, and also how to cook with chicharrón cuerito – fried pork rind.  Fried pork rinds just need to be broken up into small pieces (photo below, left) and pressed cracklings may be simply reheated in a pan over medium heat and then transferred to a bowl (photo below, right):

Picadillo is a dish made with ground meat, generally beef, seasoned with a sauce.  For this application, I simply fried ground beef in a little oil, breaking it up into bits until fully cooked (photo below, left).  For huevos, eggs are simply scrambled, to taste (photo below, right):

Durango Style Gorditas – Gorditas de guisados

Printable recipe:  Durango Style Gorditas

Ingredients

Guajillo red sauce
Green sauce
Choice of fillings
Nixtamalized corn dough (for approximately one dozen gorditas):
   3 cups nixtamalized corn flour (masa harina, such as Maseca™, or Bob’s Red Mill™)
   2 ¼ cups water, plus more as needed
   ¾ tsp salt, or to taste

Prepare dough:  Mix all ingredients for the masa in a bowl making sure to hydrate all the flour (photo below, left).  Knead with hands, to form a soft and moist dough, that does not stick to the hands (photo below, centre).  Cover with a clean towel, and allow to rest for twenty minutes (photo below, right):

Divide the dough into twelve balls: 

Working with one ball at a time, pat or press flat into a disc (photo below, left).  The disc must be thin so it cooks through, but thick enough to be easy to slice open later on; about one quarter of an inch (6 mm) is a good compromise (photo below, right): 

Repeat with the rest of the dough.  Warm up a comal (Mexican griddle) or iron skillet over high heat, then reduce to medium.  Cook the discs in batches (photo below, left), flipping to cook on both sides (photo below, right):

Allow to cool down for a couple of minutes, then holding down each patty with a clean towel, slice horizontally with a sharp knife, being careful not to cut all the way through, to form a pocket:

Continue with all the patties. 

Right before serving, stuff patties generously with fillings of choice, then return the stuffed gorditas to the griddle for a minute per side, to warm everything up nicely, especially if they have cheese, so it will melt, as seen below with papas con queso (potatoes and cheese, left), and chorizo con queso (Mexican sausage with cheese, right); in the centre, huevo rojo (scrambled eggs with red sauce):

At the top of this post, and below, from left to right, picadillo verde (ground beef in green sauce), chorizo con queso, chicharrón cuerito (pork rinds), huevo rojo, papas con queso and chicharrón prensado (pressed pork cracklings):

Other flavours, from left to right, papas con chorizo (potatoes and Mexican sausage), huevo verde (scrambled eggs in green sauce), and picadillo rojo (ground beef in red sauce):

The combinations are endless, and the sauces may also be offered on the side, to add to each gordita, to taste, as shown below, from left to right, for picadillo con papas (ground beef and potatoes), chicharrón prensado con queso (pressed pork cracklings and cheese), and chorizo con huevo (Mexican sausage and scrambled eggs):

There are two more choices on the restaurant’s chart: Discada, a medley of meats and veggies, and Asado Rojo, a pork stew in red sauce.  Stay tuned for recipes and stories for these very traditional dishes from Northern Mexico, in my next posts.

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I am bringing my recipe to Full Plate Thursday #670 with Miz Helen @ Miz Helen’s Country Cottage.

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I am also sharing my post at Thursday Favourite Things #636, with Bev @ Eclectic Red Barn, Pam @ An Artful Mom, Katherine @ Katherine’s Corner, Amber @ Follow the Yellow Brick Home, and Linda @ Crafts a la Mode.

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I am joining Fiesta Friday #513  with Angie @ Fiesta Friday, this week co-hosting with Pauline @ Beautiful Voyager.

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I am sharing my recipe at What’s for Dinner? Sunday Link-Up #448 with Helen @ The Lazy Gastronome.