Last year when Dian Anggraini, the Program Manager of Omar Niode Foundation, visited Cancun, Mexico  for a UN Conference on Climate Change, she was impressed by Mexican warm hospitality and for a week relished the Mexican culture and cuisine.

It turned out that this year’s conference is going to be held in Doha, Qatar. She was delightfully surprised by an invitation from Qatar Airways for a Mexican food event in Jakarta. 

Historic cuisine

Along with salsa dance, sombrero hat and historic structure, Mexican dishes are world renowned due to the flavor, color and spiciness.

Recognized as the oldest world cuisine influenced by the Aztecs, Mayan and Spaniard,  the United Nations Educational Scientific and Culural Organization (UNESCO), added Mexican cuisine to the list  of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in the world. 

It made the list for the comprehensive cultural model comprising farming, ritual practices, age-old skills, culinary techniques and ancestral community customs and manners. This model is made possible by collective participation in the entire traditional food chain: from planting and harvesting to cooking and eating.

Jakarta Mexican Food Festival

To commemorate Mexican Independence Day which falls on September 16, Hotel Gran Melia Jakarta, the Embassy of Mexico, Hotel Melia Cabo Real Mexico, and Qatar Airways organized a Mexican Food Festival at Gran VIA Café in September 2012. 

On site to oversee the festivities was Chef Cesar Cauich flown directly from Hotel Melia Cabo Real in Mexico. The chef recently contributed his expertise in feeding world delegations during the G20 meeting in Los Cabos. It was a no mean feat for Chef Cesar as the delegates were the representatives of countries which together represent around 90% of global GDP, 80% of global trade and two-thirds of the world’s population.

One of the Mexican Food Festival highlights was the Mexican Cooking Demo and Lunch held on Thursday, 13 September 2012.

This event, according to Tomy Bastaman, a Qatar Airways  representative was special as guests not only watched a cooking demo by Chef Cesar  but were also given the opportunity to cook the food guided by Chef Cesar and Chef Miswanto, Senior Sous Chef Indonesian Cuisine of Gran Melia Jakarta.

Clean your cactus

While the 2 weeks Festival had tables of genuine Mexican food, at the cooking class guests learned step by step how to cook 3-course Mexican meals: Tortilla Soup, Mexican Style Cactus Salad and Enchiladas with chicken.

Chef Cesar and Chef Miswanto showed the correct way to clean cactus for the salad, making guests curious whether it is alright to use any kind of ornamental cactus available, to which Chef Miswanto explained that the best is the large cactus as it is simple to clean, has thicker pads and easy to process.

In an article, Cooking with Cactus: Nopales Cactus, Karen Hursh Graber shared her tips that adding a pinch baking soda is more effective in extracting the sticky liquid from the vegetable.

Chef Cesar further mentioned 5 major components found often in Mexican meals: tortillas, cheese, salt, pepper and tomatoes. Most of these are readily available in Indonesian markets as the dishes, like Mexican are also  spicy, hot and colorful.

A memorable experience

Mexican music and aromas enveloped the 6 invited guests for 3 ½ hours, ending in lunch with the food they cooked under the tutelage of the famous chefs.

All had feelings of joy, enthusiasm and curiosity as it was a new experience for most, not to mention receiving certificates of attendance and recipe booklet written by Chef Cesar. The Chef and Qatar Airways hoped that after the cooking demo and class guests will try the recipes at home and introduce Mexican food to friends and families.

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Tortilla Soup recipe by Chef Cesar Cauich

Ingredients:

3 pc Tortillas

12.5 ml Crapeseed oil

50 gr Chopped onion

10 gr Minced garlic

200 ml Chicken Broth

205 gr Diced tomatoes, undrained

2.5 gr Course salt

125 gr Shredded cooked chicken

82.5 gr Riped avocado

25 gr Shredded Monterey Jack cheese (or mild cheddar)

12.5 gr Chopped fresh cilantro

70 gr lime, cut into wedges

Method:

1. If you are starting with some what old, dried out tortillas, great. If not and you are starting with relatively fresh tortillas, put them on a fried sheet and place them in the oven at 200° F for 10 -15 minutes to dry them out. It is best to start with tortillas that do not have a lot of moisture in them. Cut tortillas in half, and then cut the halves into ¼ inch wide strips. Heat oil over medium high heat in a 3 quart pot. Working in three batches, fry the tortillas strips in the oil, until lightly browned and crisp. Remove the tortillas strips from the pan and let drain on a paper towel lined plate.

2. Add the chopped onions to the pan, cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the chopped chile (optional) and cook for 2-3 minutes more, until the onions and chiles have softened. Add the garlic and cook for additional 30 seconds. Add the broth, tomatoes, and salt. Increase the heat to high, heat until the soup begins to boil, then reduce the heat to a low simmer, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. 

3. Cut the avocado into 1 inch / piece. Divide half of tortilla strips among 4 individual serving bowls: ladle in soup. Top with avocado and cheese, garnish with remaining tortilla strips and cilantro. Serve with lime wedges.

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Photos by Dian Anggraini and Gran Melia Jakarta.