Makes 11-12 large Sopes
Ingredients to make the Sopes:
- 2 cups of Maseca (Corn Flour)
- 1¼ cups of water (you might need a little more or less)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- Vegetable oil for frying
Ingredients for the Pork filling:
- 1 lb. Pork Rinds cut into small pieces
- 1 lb. Tomatillos or green tomatoes
- 5-6 Jalapeño peppers, (use less if you don't like it too spicy!)
- ¼ of a small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
Ingredients for the Meat and Potato Stew:
- 1 lb. Ground Meat
- 1 large potato, peeled and cut into small cubes
- 6 Guajillo peppers
- 4 Tomatillos or 2 Roma tomatoes
- ¼ of a small onion
- 1 garlic clove
- Fresh Cilantro to taste,
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- salt to taste
- ground black pepper to taste
To Serve:
- Shredded lettuce
- Sliced tomatoes
- Sliced Onions
- Queso Fresco
- Crema Mexicana
- Your favorite Salsa
To make the Pork Filling: Peel off the Tomatillos and remove the stems from the jalapeno peppers. Rinse them both with water, and place them in a sauce pan, cover them with enough water, then cook them on high heat for about 10-15 minutes or until soft. Place them in the blender, also add in the onion, garlic and cilantro, season with 1 teaspoon of cumin, salt and ground black pepper to taste, also add in 1 cup of water, and blend on high until everything is well blended into a smooth sauce.
Place the pork rinds in large skillet, add in the green sauce, stir well, cook on medium for about 20-30 minutes or until the pork rinds are soft. once the sauce is boiling taste the flavor and add more salt and pepper if needed. continue to cook until the rinds are soft. Set it aside until you are ready to use it.
To make the Meat and Potato stew: Peel off the tomatillos, rinse them with warm water, then cut them in half. Remove the stems from the guajillo peppers, cut the peppers in half, shake them a bit, to remove some of the seeds. In a large skillet or griddle, add a bit of oil and toast the tomatillos and the onion for about 4-5 minutes or until they become softer, then in the same skillet add in the guajillo peppers and toast them for about 30 seconds on each side, be careful not to burn the peppers otherwise the sauce will be bitter, once the peppers are toasted , turn off the heat, and add in 1 cup of warm water to the skillet, and just let the ingredients soak in the water for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, in another large skillet on high heat, cook the ground meat, cook it for about 15 minutes or until it browns a bit, then add in the potatoes, season the potatoes with salt, stir with the meat, and let this cook while you blend the guajillo peppers.
In a blender, add in the tomatillos, onion and guajillo peppers, also add in the garlic and the fresh cilantro, season this with ground cumin, salt and ground black pepper to taste, also add in 1 cup of water, and blend on high speed until you get a soft sauce.
Once the guajillo sauce is well blended, add it to the ground meat and potato mixture, give it a stir, taste the flavor and add more salt and pepper if needed, cook on medium heat for about 10-15 minutes or until the potatoes are well cooked. Set the filling aside until you are ready to use it.
To make the Sopes: In a large bowl combine the corn flour with the salt, then add in the water, and knead until you get a uniform dough, the dough should be soft, and moist without being too sticky, if the dough feels too dry, feel free to add more water, and if it's too wet, add more corn flour. (Read the instructions on the package to check the exact amount of water you will need to prepare the dough!)
Once the dough has the right consistency, now grab about 2-3 tablespoons of dough and roll it into a small ball. Keep on repeating this step until you have all the small balls done.
Now roll out the small balls or flatten them up, to make tortillas with them, you want the tortillas to be thicker than regular tortillas, you want your tortillas to be about ¼ - ½ inch thick, because if you make them too thin, the Sopes wont hold together. Keep on repeating this step until you have all the tortillas ready.
So once you have your tortilla circles ready, now preheat a skillet or a griddle and once the griddle is really hot, cook the tortillas for a bout 45 seconds to a minute on each side. The tortilla WONT cook all the way through, you just want to give it a bit of texture. So just cook them for about 45 seconds on each side, then remove them from the skillet/griddle.
And while the tortillas are still hot, pinch the edges of the tortillas upwards to shape the tortilla like a Sope, it should look like a small basket, or a pie crust. So just keep on pinching all around the edges of your tortilla. be very careful because the tortilla will be hot.
I like my Sopes to be really crunchy, but if you want them to be softer just cook them for about 1 minute on each side. Drain them on paper towels, and keep on frying the rest of the Sopes until you are done.
Now you can fill up your sopes, you can fill them with the Pork Rinds or the Guajillo stew, or whatever other filling you have at home, whatever you put in them, they will be delicious!
Garnish with shredded lettuce, sliced tomatoes, sliced onions, Queso Fresco, Crema Mexicana and serve with your favorite Salsa. Enjoy!
