"Nopalitos... Nopalitos compuestos para el taco"

The summer season gives me the opportunity to get together with the family and friends.and to show off my culinary skills with the BBQ grill.... preparing delicacies with beef, chicken, freshly caught fish and ancestral recipes like, nopalitos (no-pahl-etos). A visit to  my favorite Mexican food market, often reminds me of the early days of my youth, back in Mexico city. I recall the hot afternoons filled with fun and games with my friends . When suddenly we would hear the yell and cries of, "Nopalitos compuestos para el taco". Don  Refugio, the nopalitos vendor, would arrive in our street. The ladies, including my mother would come out from their homes with their red clay platter to purchase at least a kilo of the tasty, yummy, nopalitos chopped with onions, tomatoes, chiles topped with panela cheese. The nopalitos were fully cooked and ready to eat with freshly made corn tortillas. Needless to say, the game came to a sudden end. My friends, my brother Daniel and I would quickly follow our mothers home to savor tacos de nopalitos.

This cactus, nopal is planted in a garden along with fruit trees and the lawn, not necessarily ideal
to produce off  young tender paddles. Why? too much water.

This small cactus, on the other hand is planted along a fence away from any garden. It seldom gets water
and its' growth of young, tender paddles is exactly the kind needed for a tasty dish

 
Now, here in el norte, nopalitos have become more than a salad. They're a cult exclusively in the Mexican community and fanciers of healthy eating. Just the other day, my daughter, Sara asked if I would  make an ensalada de nopalitos, cactus salad for her office pot-luck. Considering myself a premier culinarian of nopalitos, I reasoned her request as an opportunity to display my skills to a wider palate. Correspondingly I would  share this little known vegetable with a wider audience. Nopalitos  are a tasty vegetable from Mexico and southwest part of the US. It's good tasting like broccoli, string beans, soy beans or bell peppers. More precisely they remind me of okra with a Mexican flavor.

A visit to my local Mexican supermarket provided me with a venue to find all the ingredients needed. With the onset of health conscious consumers and adventurous palates you will surely find a variety of fresh vegetables, fruits and spices which not long ago were considered exotic.When purchasing nopales, choose leaves or paddles from 6 to 8 inches long, the optimum stage of maturity, taste and texture.

 These nopales above are a bit too large and mature for my taste. So I purchased a package of smaller size already cleaned and peeled, below. The only thing left to do was to wash them and grill them. A word of caution here... Most of the nopalitos in restaurants are boiled in water. This method of cooking not only washes many nutrients down the drain but also the the sensory examination is lost through boiling.  I highly recommend grilling, either on a barbecue or hibachi.

All the ingredients needed are nopalitos, onion tomatoes, chiles, cilanto, seasoned salt, pepper and extra virgin olive oil. Once your cactus are grilled, cut it into small pieces. Dice your onion, tomatoes, cilantro and chiles- remove seeds and veins.You will be able to control the spiciness and  heat with spicy olive oil.

The nopaltios are grilled, vegetables are diced un-cooked. Note that the amount with the exception of jalapeños are about equal. Salt and black pepper to taste. On the left high grade virgin olive oil infused and seasoned with chile de arbol and on the right olio extra vergine di oliva. The concluding step is to toss all the ingredients together and enjoy the earthy, smoky, spicy,  texture in every mouth-full. A summer afternoon is a perfect time to concentrate on and enjoy the succulent aromas of this wonderful salad with family, friends and a cold beer. Enjoy!

Hmm... hmm good

Nopales belong to the genus opuntia ficus-indica group of plants. They have been a source of nourishment and medicinal purpose from ancient times in Mexico. Curanderos or healers, use them to help burn victims, slicing them in half and placing the fist size paddle leaf with the open face on the wound and securing it with a bandage. I've also seen sobadores, folk masseuses, use the slimy juice as a rubbing ointment to massage sports injuries or muscle pain. You can also find the juice in soft drinks, skin medications and vitamins made from this product. But the best and most popular use is in the culinary arts... I recall  Angel, my uncle, in Mexico city, puts them whole on the grill stuffed with a generous slice of cheese, making them like a nopal quesadilla, a true delicacy!.