Zamora Style Potatoes

To continue the hopscotch around ingredients and flavours from Spanish and Mexican cuisines with my fusion menu inspired by a meal at a Spanish restaurant in Chicago, unlike the main course of lamb, which was a fusion Spanish-Mexican, or the first side dish of roasted carrots, which followed the Spanish dish, these potatoes are purely Mexican.  The potato dish from the original meal was patatas bravas, a classic of Spanish tapas (snacks) that features a spicy sauce on fried potatoes; the idea of spicy potatoes immediately made me think of papas zamoranas, a classic street food snack in the Mexican state of Michoacán, named after the city of Zamora.  This is a very healthy choice, as street food is concerned, since the potatoes are cooked whole, then simply sliced and topped with one or more of three vegetarian sauces, all spicy: salsa negra (black sauce), salsa de aceite (oil sauce) and salsa de pepino (cucumber sauce).  

For the black sauce, dark dry peppers, usually pasilla, are fried until even darker and very brittle. I did not have pasilla peppers in my cupboard, but I found some mulato peppers, also dark and very flavourful; if these options are not available, ancho peppers will do in a pinch.  The oil sauce uses chile de árbol, but if not available, dry Thai red peppers may be used.  Finally the cucumber sauce is a raw salsa that gets its spicy kick from jalapeño peppers.  

Zamora Style Potatoes – Papas zamoranas

Printable recipe:  Zamora Style Potatoes

Ingredients 

4 large Russet potatoes; washed 
2 limes; washed and sliced in half
Salt, to taste
   Spicy Cucumber Sauce (salsa de pepino):
1 English cucumber; washed, ends removed, peeled (optional) and cut into chunks
4 jalapeño peppers, or to taste; washed, stems removed and cut into chunks
1 tsp salt, or to taste
¼ cup water
   Black Sauce (salsa negra):
¼ cup oil
1-2 dark dry peppers, such as pasilla, mulato or ancho; wiped clean
½ tsp salt, or to taste
   Oil Sauce (salsa de aceite):
Oil from previous sauce
10-12 chiles de árbol, or dry Thai red peppers
½ tsp salt, or to taste

Prepare cucumber sauce:  Place all ingredients in a blender jar (photo below, left).  Process lightly, pulsing if possible, to achieve a chunky consistency for this sauce (photo below, right):

Transfer to a bowl:

Prepare black sauce:  Warm up oil in a frying pan over medium/high heat, then add peppers (photo below, left).  Fry peppers, turning a couple of times, until the peppers are plump and very crispy (photo below, right):

Transfer peppers to paper towels, then remove pan from heat and reserve oil for next sauce.  After a couple of minutes, the peppers should be very brittle; remove and discard stems, and break peppers to pieces into a compact blender or mini food processor, adding the salt (photo below, left).  Process by pulsing, until pulverized, or reduced to flakes (photo below, right):

Transfer to a bowl or jar:

Prepare oil sauce:  Using reserved oil and pan from previous sauce, warm up over medium/high heat.  Add peppers and fry (photo below, left).  Continue frying, turning to avoid burning, until peppers have swollen and crisped without changing colour (photo below, right):

Transfer to the compact blender or mini food processor; allow the oil to cool down for a few minutes, then pour in with the peppers, then add salt (photo below, left).  Process, pulsing a few times, until the peppers are broken into small flakes (photo below, right):

Transfer sauce to a bowl or jar:

Cook the potatoes unpeeled and whole, either boiling, or microwaving, until tender but still firm.  

To serve:  Peeling the potatoes is optional.  For each portion, slice one potato into rounds, and arrange on a plate.  Sprinkle with lime juice and a little salt, to taste, then top with one or more of the three spicy sauces. Repeat with the rest of the potatoes.  In the photo at the top of this post, and below, with cucumber sauce on the side, and covered with black and oil sauces:

My husband liked these Mexican papas zamoranas over the restaurant’s papas bravas, and I liked them both.  One may speculate that comparing is hard, though, because other than involving potatoes and being spicy, the two dishes are completely different. 

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I am sharing my recipe at  Full Plate Thursday #703 with Miz Helen @ Miz Helen’s Country Cottage.

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I am bringing my recipe to Thursday Favourite Things #669 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 #546 with Angie @ Fiesta Friday, this week co-hosting with Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook.