Saturday, September 18, 2010

Tortas Ahogadas--- Who wants a drowned sandwich?

Some how, I came to be in possesion of 1/2 pound of dried arbol chile peppers. I hit the internet searching for a recipe to use them. I came acrossed a recipe for tortas ahogadas. One night I made two of them for dinner. They were wicked awesome. What made the whole dish was the arbol sauce, it rocked. So you are now wondering , what the hell is tortas ahogadas.
Let's travel down to old mexico. In the state of Jalisco, and the town Guadalajara, is the home to a wonderful, open face sandwich, submerged in arbol chile sauce. Tortas ahogadas translates to "drowned snadwich." The bread for this sandwich birote salado, it has a thick crunchy crust and a softer interior. They use this bread because it won't crumble when submerged in arbol chile sauce. The main protein is usually roasted pork.
They can be loaded up with several different fillings, such as tomatoes, refried beans, onions, or others. You can order different options, such as "media ahogada" which is half dipped and "bien ahogada" is well drowned or dipped. They are very messy but still eaten with bare hands.
This is a very popular street vender fare. You can also get one with tomato sauce rather than the arbol chile sauce.
Here is my recipe
Sauce
4 oz dried arbol chile peppers
1 cup vinegar
2 garlic cloves minced
kosher salt

Cut the top off of the chiles. Soak them in hot water for 30 minutes. Put all ingredients in a blender and puree. Some recommend straining the sauce to avoid large chunks of the chile pepper.
Sandwich
1-2 pounds of pork sliced thin
olive oil
4 rolls or buns
1 can of refried beans warmed up
1 big tomato
1 yellow onion

Saute the pork, making sure it cooked thru. Cut almost all of the way thru your bun. Spread the refried beans on the botton of the bun. Place the pork slices on top of the beans then add tomato and onion. Then depending on how much spice you like add the sauce. I always drown mine but I am a glutton for punishment.

This is an awesome sandwich, feel free to add any ingredients.

It's OK to play with your food.

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