Mexican "moussaka"? I don't think so.

[Corade]

Please, have you ever in your cookbooks or restaurants in Mexico stumbled upon a true Mexican dish which uses flat layered tortillas and some filling between them ?

Last week we were visiting friends (European) who have prepared so called "Mexican moussaka" !

Aside the word moussaka which comes from Greek, as they say it's their colloquial name for the dish because of the way it's prepared with layered tortillas. They could also colloquially call it Mexican lasagna.

I asked for a recipe, and basically this is how they make it:

A filling between three or four layers of tortillas is a mixture of sautéed julliened chicken fillet, thinly diced red, green and yellow bell peppers, garlic, corn kernels, powder for buritto or fajita sauce, diced zucchini, and a chile powder.

Grate a layer of cheese atop of the vegetable mixture, and repeat layering with vegetables and cheese with next layer of tortillas. Tortillas will cover the dish, grate more cheese atop.

I don't know where they got the recipe, but to me this seems to be just a looks-alike Mexican. Especially as they use bell peppers in the filling.

It's actually Tex-Mex, or the dish that pretends to be Mexican, something from a modern, creative southwestern USA cuisine, but not really a Mexican dish. Am I right ?

Thank you.

Edited for spelling.

Edited May 28, 2012 by Corade (log)

[Lisa Shock]

I lived in Santa Fe, NM for about 15 years. Locals there tend to make enchiladas in the flat style, that is to say unrolled, with fillings in layers. I never saw a series of fillings exactly as you describe, but the filling part was always pretty random -based on what was on hand. A common way (but not the ony way) to make the dish was in a slow cooker, and to have it pretty much fill the vessel. Many people viewed the rolled type of enchilada as restaurant food.

[Corade]

I lived in Santa Fe, NM for about 15 years. Locals there tend to make enchiladas in the flat style, that is to say unrolled, with fillings in layers. I never saw a series of fillings exactly as you describe, but the filling part was always pretty random -based on what was on hand. A common way (but not the ony way) to make the dish was in a slow cooker, and to have it pretty much fill the vessel. Many people viewed the rolled type of enchilada as restaurant food.

So, it is not a real Mexican dish ?

[Lisa Shock]

NM used to be part of Mexico. There are families who have lived there since the early 1700's, after emigrating from Spain.

The construction is classic Northern Mexican.

The ingredients, especially the powdered spices are a big red flag. A real NM recipe would use red or green chile sauce, never raw chile powder. (and ceratinly no powdered, prepackaged spice mix) The diced bell pepper is neither here nor there, since they could appear in a vegetable medley enchilada. The real giveaway for me is the zucchini, because it's watery, this would usually appear in a calabacitas side dish, with the corn kernels, not in the enchiladas.

I suspect that this is a dish that was doctored by several home cooks to the point of unrecognizability.

[Panosmex]

It's apparently "Pastel Azteca", under a different name and with gringo modifications. (The canned corn is a dead giveaway as to the latter modification.)

I was just looking at a recipe for Pastel Azteca on someone's blog yesterday, but I didn't bookmark it.

However, I was able to retrace my steps and I located it here: http://www.lacocinadeleslie.com/2012/05/pastel-azteca-she-made-ella-hace.html

I was just looking; I don't plan on making it.

[Jaymes]

Please, have you ever in your cookbooks or restaurants in Mexico stumbled upon a true Mexican dish which uses flat layered tortillas and some filling between them ?

While the exact fillings definitely do vary, and the filling ingredients you've given might not be typical of "true" Mexican dishes, I've spent time with a great many Mexican home cooks and they very often cook dishes with "flat layered tortillas and some filling between them."

And let me point out that "true Mexicans" are pretty-much like everybody else on the planet when it comes to "modern and creative" ingredients, interpretations, adaptations, and evolving cuisine.

As witness, I'll again mention the infamous chilaquiles that my friend, Lita, born and raised in Queretarro, and still living there with her equally "true Mexican" mom, dad, husband, and children and other Mexican relatives and friends, and speaking no English, and in every way Mexican to her very soul, makes almost every morning for her family.

Chilaquiles is a dish that calls for corn tortillas, and it can be made several ways, including with stacked "flat layered tortillas and some filling between them."

But my thoroughly authentic and true Mexican friend Lita makes what she considers to be her thoroughly authentic and true Mexican chilaquiles with Fritos in her microwave.

I'm sure she'd agree that making her chilaquiles with Fritos in her microwave isn't as "traditional" as beginning the dish with tortillas that she had made with corn that she ground herself.

But if I tried to tell her that that her chilaquiles are not "true Mexican," and are, instead say, TexMex or CaliMex or something that should bear a name from another geographic region, because that's not the way her ancestors made them, I doubt I'd get very far with that argument.

Edited May 29, 2012 by Jaymes (log)

[rancho_gordo]

I would call this Budin Azteca. The bell peppers are a compromise but you do see layered tortillas and fillings. In the Yucatan, there's the famous pan de cazon which uses shark.

[Catherine Iino]

We had a Mexican immigrant doing some house painting for us, and once he realized I like to cook, he would tell me about his wife's "Mexican lasagna" every time he came. I make a version with layered tortillas, beans, and cheese. It's delicious, whether or not it's traditional.