FeelingWow! Magazine

Mexican dishes usually fill the table with all sorts of soups, stews and sauces. Mexican food recipes are cooked using a variety of ways from quick-frying to slow roasting. All Mexican food recipes have some distinguishing key elements in them. Below are some of these distinguishing elements common in most Mexican dishes.

One of the key elements is corn. Corn is commonly used while preparing tortillas or tacos. Tacos are actually tortillas with fish, beef, chicken or cheese stuffed in it. Corn is also a key element in tamales. This dish is prepared by stuffing the tamales with meat or vegetables and cooking it by steaming.

Another key element in Mexican food recipes are the chilies. Chilies can usually be cooked either in their fresh or in their dried up state. The seed pods and the white veins of the chilies are the hottest parts and to an untrained palate, the heat and the flavor can be easily lost. However, to Mexicans, the heat is a distinguishing part of flavor. There are many chili varieties used in cooking Mexican dishes such as the poblana, chipotle, jalapeno, ancho, cascabel and the habanero.

Another key element is beans. There are many bean varieties ranging from fava beans, lentils to kidney beans. Most Mexican stews and soup varieties will contain beans. The small bean types are used in light broth servings.

Tomatoes are another key element in Mexican food recipes. One common example of their use is in the preparation of salsa Mexicana. They are also used in beef and fish servings to spice them up. A small green tomato type called tomatillo that has a stiff husk is used in making tomatillo salsa. The recipe also includes lots of chilies to spice up the food.

Fruits are another key element in Mexican dishes. Fruits are mostly used in desserts and fruit sauces. Common fruit types are papaya, coconut, pineapple and others. In most cases, they are eaten raw. Some fruit types like nopales are used as a vegetable of sorts and are used to add a sweet taste to desserts. Other ingredients in Mexican foods are squash blossoms, pungent herbs like romeritos and epazote, and pumpkin seeds.

When serving chilies, Mexican food recipes specify that they first have to be cooked. Chilies are used for cooking a variety of foods. However, they first need to be roasted, cleaned and peeled along one side so that they can easily be reconstructed after stuffing. Meat is first boiled, and then spices and garlic are added after which the chilies are added, 15 minutes later to serving.

When preparing sauce, first boil the water and add garlic, onions, chilies and other spices as stipulated. After boiling for 30 minutes, drain the mixture and reserve the resulting liquid. From here, add the necessary ingredients following the recipe. Then season to taste. Both the red and green sauces are prepared using this method. It is therefore not a surprise that Mexican food recipes are preferred by a large majority of food enthusiasts.