 | |
| Course | Breakfast, lunch, dinner |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | Mexico |
| Associatedcuisine | Mexican |
| Serving temperature | Hot, room temperature |
| Main ingredients | Corn tortillas,guisados (meatstew),salsa |
Agordita (Spanish pronunciation:[ɡoɾˈðita];lit. 'chubby') inMexican cuisine is a dish made withmasa and stuffed withcheese,meat, or other fillings.[1] It is similar to theColombian andVenezuelanarepa. There are two main variations of this dish, one of which is typically fried in a deepwok-shapedcomal, consumed mostly in central and southern Mexico, and another onebaked on a regular comal. The most common and representative variation of this dish is the"gordita de chicharrón", filled withchicharron (a spiced stew ofpork rind) which is widely consumed throughout Mexico.Gorditas are often eaten as a lunch dish and accompanied by several types of sauce.
Agordita is typically prepared as a thicktortilla. The dough is most commonly made ofnixtamalized corn flour, as also used for tortillas, but can also be ofwheat flour, particularly in northern Mexico close to the United States border. An old variant of corngorditas usesmasa quebrada (broken dough) where the cornmeal is coarsely ground, leaving bits of broken grain.[2]
In the deep-fried version, once themasa has been prepared, it is divided into small portions, each filled with meat, and shaped like an oblong disc. The pastry is immersed in boiling oil until golden and crispy on the outside. After cooking, thegordita is allowed to stand to drain excess oil, and then a small slit is cut into one side to allow vapor and excessive heat to escape before lime juice andsalsa are poured inside, which gives thegordita its characteristic flavor. In some regions of Mexico, the slit is also used to stuff in additional ingredients, mostly dressings such as fresh cheese,nopal salad, tomatoes,guacamole, potatoes, beans orrajas (sautéed strips of chile). By tradition,gorditas are filled withchicharron, but there are local variations which substitute it withchicken stew, shredded beef,carne al pastor, eggs withchorizo sausage,carnitas orpicadillo.
The baked version is prepared almost identically to the preparation of a common tortilla, except it is thicker. When themasa is prepared,chicharrón is mixed directly in the dough, instead of being added later. The dough is shaped like a flat circle, then placed in a comal until cooked, in most cases without adding additional oil. When slit and filled, thisgordita looks like a sandwich made with tortillas instead of bread. This variation is known asgordita de migas.
In central Mexico,gorditas commonly range from being relatively small, but bulky (about the size of a child's fist), to about the diameter of a "regular" tortilla. In northern Mexico they tend to be larger and flatter.
In most casesgorditas are shallow-fried with vegetable oil in a deep comal, but they can also be deep-fried, making the outside crisper.
InDurango and other states of Northern Mexico,gorditas are commonly made fromwheat flour and look like smallpita breads. The dough (masa) is identical to that of a wheat flour tortilla. It is cooked on a comal with a hot piece of metal placed on top that resembles a clothes iron. Thegordita fills with steam, and a small slit is cut into one side where it can be filled withguisados.
The fast food restaurant chainTaco Bell offers a wheat flourgordita that has limited similarity togorditas as served in Mexico, and is more akin to apita breadtaco.[3]
In eastern and central Mexico,gorditas de nata (cream gorditas) are consumed often as a breakfast dish or snack. It is a sweet cake similar to a tiny but extremely thick pancake made with milk cream orclotted cream, callednata in Mexico, cinnamon, sugar, and white wheat flour. They are namedgordita too, due to their appearance, similar to the original friedgordita, but their taste is sweet, not salty. Other than their appearance, this snack is not related to the original one.
The same flour preparation used to preparegorditas de nata is also used to cook a flat cookie variation, which by extension it is also calledgordita, but in contrast, it is thin and crispy, not thick. To differentiate them, these flat cookies are called "gorditas de azúcar" (sugar gorditas).
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