Herbs, The Kitchen

Flor de Jamaica : Tacos dorados con Crema de Aguacate

This dish resulted from a challenge given me by my friend Juan. I am known amongst my Mexican friends as Jamaica Man because I bring agua de jamaica to all of the FOMEX (1) events held in our city. At our last event (Mexican Independence Day celebration) which we held the day the Tallship Cuauhtemoc departed the Port of Fremantle (2), Juan regaled me of a tale of his trek up a particular mountain in Mexico at the peak of which sat a Señora making tacos de jamaica. He had never had them before and was blown away by how delicious they were. He then asked if I’d ever thought about making these tacos as well as the agua de jamaica. I had (kinda sorta). Challenge accepted Juanito. I cooked these tacos for the first time for mis amigos for a birthday party I attended at Juans home this last weekend.

  1. FOMEX : The Friends of Mexico
  2. The Tallship Cuauhtémoc
Agua de Jamaica (right) and my other favourite agua, Horchata, (on the left)

Flor de jamaica is the dried calyxes (not the actual flower) of Hibiscus sabdariffa. The flower is quite ephemeral and only lasts about a day after flowering. The calyx (or sepals) are quite sturdy and remain on the plant for a much longer period of time (and for years once dried). The flor has both culinary and medicinal uses. See Flor de Jamaica (Hibiscus sabdariffa)

Hibiscus sabdariffa
Flor de jamaica (the calyxes of the flower)

Although botanically it is a hibiscus it is often confused with another in the family, that being Hibiscus rosa-sinensis, which is usually the image used when flor de jamaica is used in teas. This bugs me.

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis
The wrong hibiscus displayed. Grrr.

I have Posted on this previously : Flor de Jamaica : A Confusion of Hibisci*

Dried flor de jamaica
How you might find it at the mercado

My first taquito. Muy delicioso.

Using the tortillas I had, this recipe made 18 flautas.

For the tacos

  • 2 cups dried Flor de Jamaica
  • 1 onion – sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3 canned Roma tomatoes (plus 1/3 cup of the tomato puree in the canned tomatoes)
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • ½ cup water
  • 3 chiles de arbol
  • 2 guajillo chiles
  • Oil for frying
  • Tortillas
  • Toothpicks (palillos)
Passata is just blended tomatoes with the skin and seeds removed
I used these tortilla s
Toothpicks (palillos en español)

For the crema

  • 1 large avocado
  • 6 slices of pickled jalapeno chile
  • 300g sour cream
  • 1/3 cup (full cream) milk
  • 6 sprigs of cilantro
  • Juice of 1 lime

Method

To make the tacos

  1. Place the dried flor de Jamaica in a stainless steel or glass pot (do not use an aluminium pot) and cover with 2 liters of water. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat and allow to simmer for 15 minutes. Take off the heat and allow to cool in the pot. Drain off the liquid (which will now be deep red and quite sour- and can be used to make agua de Jamaica). Rinse the cooked flowers in fresh water and drain them well. Roughly chop and set aside.
  2. While the flor de Jamaica is cooking remove the seeds from the guajillos and place them in a bowl with the chiles de arbol. Cover with freshly boiled water and allow to rehydrate for 15 – 20 minutes.
  3. When the chiles are soft place them in a blender with the tomatoes, tomato juice (from the can), the tomato paste, the 1/3 cup of water and the garlic and blend until smooth.
  4. In a pan place a few tablespoons of oil and lightly fry the sliced onions until they begin to colour.
  5. Add the chopped flor de Jamaica and fry for another 5 minutes.
  6. Strain the blended tomato/chile (to remove any chile skin/seeds) mix into the pan and continue frying until the mixture has darkened and thickened. You don’t want it to be too wet. Allow to cool. This is the filling for your tacos.
  7. Heat your tortillas (one at a time) on the comal until pliable. Add a spoonful of the flor de Jamaica mix and roll into a flauta. Use a toothpick to hold it together and stop your flauta from unrolling when being cooked (I’ll get to that shortly).
  8. Shallow fry your flautas in hot oil (about 180 C) until golden brown and place them on paper towels to drain off any excess oil. Remember to remove the toothpick before serving them

To make the avocado crema

  1. Place all ingredients into the blender and blend until smooth

Options

I used canned tomatoes because I had them on hand and it was convenient. You could just use 3 medium/smallish Roma tomatoes and grill them on the comal until soft and blackened instead. They will not be as liquidy as the canned tomatoes I used so you might need a little extra liquid in the form of passata (or tomato paste diluted in water) or perhaps even rehydrated tomato stock cubes (if you can get them)

Notes

Avoid using aluminium (aluminum if you’re from the U.S.A.) pots when cooking your flor de jamaica. The liquid is acidic and might leach aluminium from the pot. Possibly affecting its flavour and more than likely leaching the metal into the liquid – which you really don’t want to consume. Excess aluminium is linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of sourness in the cooked flor de Jamaica. I expected them to be quite sour as the cooking liquid once drained off the flowers is at least as sour as lemon juice. (I keep saying “flowers” but its actually the dried calyxes or sepals of the flower that is used). It does make sense that the flower that remains after cooking wouldn’t be that sour as these elements have been removed by cooking and are now in the water. This process is often used with the cooking of other plants to remove oxalic acid which would otherwise burn the mouth and throat if eaten unprepared. Sometimes the cooking water might have to be drained off and replaced several times to remove all the oxalates to make the plant safe to eat. For more on this see…..

Salud mis amigos
I also got to try a new Tequila for the first time at the fiesta.

Images

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