{sopes aka soh-pees, masa boats}

Ever since the lovely Sher posted her recipe for Sopes I’ve been secretly planning my attack. I had Maseca left over from making Gorditas, yet another one of Sher’s most irresistable recipes. I’m not stalking you I sware it! The allure here is that any filling is delicious, I used up a bunch of produce that needed to be cooked and some lonely chicken from the freezer. I grated up left over white cheddar cheese with chipotle (yum!), cranked open cans of olives and black beans and went for it. Here are the supplies you need for the little boats:

2 med potatos, boiled whole unpeeled
1 c maseca, masa harina
1/2 c warm water, plus a few teaspoons if needed
veggie oil for frying

After the potatos have cooled, peel them with your hands or use the edge of a spoon. The recipe calls for a ricer which I didn’t have. I improvised with a fork by sort of flaking the potato into a bowl until I had about 1 cup worth. With your hands, mix together corn flour, potato and water. The consistency should be that of soft cookie dough, adjust by adding more water or flour as needed. Fight the urge to shape them into cute little creatures and dutifully roll into little balls about 2.5″ in diameter.

Smash each sphere into discs between 2 pieces of plastic or foil, pinch the edges to form a border around the perimeter like so:

Heat a cast iron on high, flip each sopa upside down onto your fingers, peel off the foil, them place bottomside down onto to pan for about a minute to form a seal.

Remove the sealed, yet still uncooked sopa to a plate. Pierce each one with a fork to prevent them from puffing up when you cook them. Carefull not to poke all the way through, just the top layer.

Fry them for about 3 minutes in 1/2″ of oil, drain upside down onto paper towels and set aside until serving.

Beforehand I chopped up half an onion, 1 red pepper, and 2 cloves of garlic to saute with some chicken:

I seasoned the chicken with sweet paprika, a little ceyanne pepper, and salt. Then seared it on the stove, added the veggies, a few shakes of crushed red pepper, olive oil, and finished it in the oven.

I also made some very basic guacamole using two avocados, the juice of 1/2 a lime, and a crushed garlic clove.

Three very ripe tomatos were kind enough to volunteer themselves for a salsa with the rest of the onion, another crushed garlic clove and you guessed it, a lime.

Finally, a can of drained black beans, more crushed garlic, a squirt of lime, a bayleaf, and pepper simmered until tender:

Arrange however you like, this was Chris’s pièce de résistance, how good does that look!?

{tags sopes masa boats recipe}