What’s Cookin’ Good Lookin’ – Mexican Cooking Class

Through my study abroad program I’ve been able to go on guided excursions, trips to the beach, take salsa classes and cooking classes! We had one cooking class earlier this month and we had another one a few days ago. I was excited for these classes because one of my favorite things to do with my mom is cook. I love food too, so that probably played into it. I loved this class in particular because we went to a “Quinta” or country home on the outskirts of Merida. The quinta was beautiful and we had so much space to work in. Our lovely teacher Señora Gloria taught us how to make two traditional Yucatecan dishes- Panucho and Chayitas. She even threw in a desert and we learned how to make sweet empanadas as well! Usually when I cook or bake I try not to stray too far from the measurements. But, in Mexico they follow family recipes that aren’t written down. A little flour here and dash of salt there and you have your dough! Although it’s a little intimidating to cook without explicit measurements or instructions I put some faith in Señora Gloria (and myself) and went for it! The results were delicious!  

 Beautiful bowl of Chaya leaves. If you aren’t familiar with Chaya it is a leaf similar to spinach and grows on trees here in the Yucatan! 

 Here’s me chopping up some Chaya and trying not chop off my fingers.

   
 We mixed the chopped Chaya with some simple dough and fried it up to create Chayitas! Some people put salsa on theirs but I preferred some shredded chicken! 

   

 For the base of the Panucho we stuffed the inside of some corn tortillas with beans and fried those as well. 

   
The Panuchos were topped with a little bit of lettuce, seasoned shredded chicken, cabbage, tomato and red onion soaked in sour orange juice. These were delicious! 

   

 For desert we made sweet empanadas. We made a simple sweet dough and pressed it into circles. We filled them with a cream cheese filling and then brushed melted butter on top. And for an extra bit of sweetness we sprinkled some sugar on top before baking. These weren’t like our typical American desert but they were delicious! I hope I can try to recreate some of these recipes when I get home! 

Thanks for reading and hasta luego!