Nopales: The Topic

[ravum]

I just found a bag of diced nopales at the local Mexican grocery.I havent cooked with them before and a search on egullet gave a link to an interesting article about them.HereThis is the only place I have found where raw nopales are used.Will that work?I also plan on making the salad.I'll boil them with onions and cilantro as Marlena suggested in an earlier post.Does the water have to be salted?Can it be boiled in advance and refrigerated?I wouldnt have bothered to pick up the cactus if I wasnt sure that I could find out what to do with them on egullet!! Thank you.

[rancho_gordo]

Here's Everything I Know about nopales.

Wait. Here's One More Thing

[Pan]

That tortilla looks fantastic!

[andiesenji]

I'll second that. It makes me want to break out the ingredients and start cooking right now, even though I am full of pork, beef and chicken from the Superbowl chowdown at my neighbors.

[rancho_gordo]

It's really swell! And purty, too.

The link is a little out of context. The recipe is by Pilar Sanchez of Pilar here in Napa (discussed a lot elsewhere on eG). I hosted a Slow Food event (info/pics) with Pilar doing the food and this was one of the dishes.

I don't want to give the impression that I came up with the tortilla!

[ravum]

Thank you Rancho for the answers.I'll be making a salad with onions,avocados and nopales tonite.

[ravum]

The salad tastes really good and I wish i'd tried nopales before!!.

Boiled for 15 mins and then drained,the insides are soft but the skin still has a crunch.There is a little bit of stringiness though,should it be boiled more?

[rancho_gordo]

The salad tastes really good and I wish i'd tried nopales before!!.

Boiled for 15 mins and then drained,the insides are soft but the skin still has a crunch.There is a little bit of stringiness though,should it be boiled more?

←

I can't imagine cooking more than 15 minutes but I've never had a stringy texture. I don't know!

You will find nopales an incredible source of fiber, if you know what I mean and I think you do (or will!)

[shelora]

The only way I've had nopales raw is in juice. Damn good for you!

[ravum]

I tried the pineapple nopale juice using raw nopales and it was quite good.

[Yajna Patni]

I just got a big bag of nopales. My question is how to prepare them. i got a bag of paddles. there are no spines, but there are the little brown nobs where the spines used to be. do i have to scrape these nobs off, or do i leave them?

[Chris Amirault]

For years I have wanted to be able to prepare fresh nopales (finding the canned ones horrible), and I finally got the chance this weekend, when I spotted them at the local supermercado looking pretty good -- considering we're in Rhode Island. I made the nopales al vapor estilo otumba from Diana Kennedy's Essential Cuisines of Mexico: sauté the trimmed and diced nopales with garlic, sacllion, jalapeño, and salt, first covered and then uncovered, with some epazote tossed on at the tail end. It was very, very good, and I'm hoping it holds up for a day in the fridge for tomorrow's dinner party.

Made me want to keep an eye on the nopales supply in town for future reference -- which makes me want to know what other folks are doing with their cactus paddles.

[Snadra]

I'm intrigued. I understand it's classified as an invasive weed here, but there are a couple of large stands of prickly pear just down the road and the local fruit shop has the fruits for sale when they're in season. Are the nopales seasonal as well? I'm sure I could get my hands on some and try them out.

[Doodad]

We eat them all the time. On a whim, I tried breading and frying like okra. They are fantastic fried. They get a sweetness to them and a citrus note that is hard to beat. Only way I will cook them from now on.

[Chris Amirault]

Deep fried? Pan fried? Coated in flour or cornmeal?

[Doodad]

I deep fried them in a wok and treated them just like okra. Milk soak and coated in cornmeal. Try it, they are incredible.