The first few months we were here, we'd go out for dinner or lunch more often than we are now.
We've 'settled' a bit more, finding places where we can get the produce we need to prepare our own food, and this needed time. It's not always easy here to find what you're looking for unless you want to get all your shopping at Walmart, with Walmart prices. Which is not really an option all the time.
In this post I'd like to share the very first dinner I ever made for us here.
I think it was the second day after we'd arrived, with products from local shops that we found, and some from Walmart (they DO have a good selection of vegetables & fruit).
Nopales & Co.
Nopales are the 'leaves' or pads of that flat padded cactus plant most people will know. They grow pretty much anywhere here, and we had them all around our house back in the day, when I lived in Las Vegas.
It is a Mexican staple food. You'll see them in every shop but people mainly prepare them at home. You can find them in restaurants but only the really traditional ones.
In spring, these plants get beautiful bright yellow, or purple flowers, and the fruits after that can also be eaten. They taste a bit like a sweeter kiwi. Personally, I love them and they're very healthy with lots of Vitamin C and minerals.
The simple recipe
The nopales usually come cleaned from their spikes here but sometimes you'd have to remove them yourself.
It's easy to do with a sharp knife.
Of course, if you have them growing in the garden, you need to be careful with the spikes hehe.
I used nopal pads, white onions (which are quite amazing here, very tasty), mushrooms, tomatoes, and bell peppers.
I fried the onions and bell peppers first with the nopales,
then added the mushrooms, and when they were done, I added the tomatoes.
This way the tomatoes become tender but not too much. I like their zesty taste when they're like that.
And then I added raw garlic and gave it all a stir before turning off the cooker.
For the salad, I just cut tomatoes, cucumber, a little bit of onion, and as you can probably see a LOT of coriander (cilantro). But that's my personal taste. I just LOVE coriander hehe.
I kept the dressing for the salad quite simple too.
Just some lime juice (1 or 2 limes), then I added some olive oil, a bit of salt and pepper, and a tiny bit of mustard.
That's it!!
These two dishes were done in less than 30 minutes and taste amazing. The kids are not a fan of the nopales, but I love their taste. They did like the rest though!
My Nopales dish.
It's easy to see that I like coriander!
So what do you think?
Would you eat this? Does it sound like you'd enjoy it?
Or would you add something to it?
Of course, for vegetarians or meat lovers, you could always add chicken or a fried egg or an omelet to the dish.
It's an easy to make food dish, with lots of flavor.
And if you leave the washing of the dishes to the rest of the family, you can put your feet up in no time!
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I'm really curious how Nopales taste like. We have a basic dish like that with tomatoes, green pepper and onions + eggs called "Menemen" and it falls to the vegeterian category other than vegan.
Thanks !CTP
Are you Turkish?
I know there's a Turkish dish like that!
I always loved it!
Made it a lot when I was in college because it was easy to
make, cheap and really nice.
Yes I am Turkish, The smell of menemen is the smell of Sunday mornings :) But yes, it's a very fast and cheap dish which is also very tasty and healthy.
Yammie! Simple and good tucker. Thanks for the delicious recipe.
Ah, I remember that we tried them in Spain when we were volunteering at some hostel. The owner told us about these and we tried them, funnily enough, I don't remember what I thought about them lol. Should try them again probably :)
Hahaha, well they probably didn't leave too much of an impression then.
Well my kids eat them but aren't crazy about them.
I can't think of anything to compare them to.
Maybe a cross between ocra and bell peppers. But most people wouldn't
know ocra either.😆
Nope, don't know it:)
and probably they didn't leaven an impression indeed ;)
I love coriander in my dishes! yum!
Ohhh, I could eat coriander on its own, as a salad haha.
And if you've ever tried the fresh seeds of a coriander plant,
when they're still green just before they turn brown...
WOW. It's like a coriander explosion of freshness.
Amazing herb!
ahh cool! I will check it out!
i just made a veggy curry and the coriander is the missing ingredient which gives a nice kick.
I would love to try the nopales. I have never seen them on a menu here in Alabama. Thanks for sharing.