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Corn Masa Harina Patties Filled with Meat and Beans

in The Too Busy to Diet Blog on September 7, 2021

Sylvia Klinger, our Hispanic Food partner shares her corn masa harina patty recipe with meat and beans

If you’ve ever had them, you already know. If you’ve never had the opportunity to try them (here’s your chance), they are a traditional street food classic from Central and Southern Mexico with a fried corn tortilla as its base, layered with refried beans, a generous portion of meat, sour cream, queso fresco (a type of Mexican shredded cheese), shredded lettuce, and topped with a mildly spicy salsa verde (green sauce). It’s an absolute street delicacy. 

Today, we are bringing you a slightly modified and less-fried version, but a savory one none-the-less. Here’s the breakdown:

1. For the Sopes: made using Masa Harina (corn flour) and used its package recipe (2 cups of harina, 1.5-2 cups of hot water, ½ teaspoon of salt–we omitted the salt to reduce sodium intake). To form the sopes, gently press down (but don’t completely flatten) about 2 tablespoons of dough in your hand and with your thumb and index fingers, pinch the outer layer of the tortilla to create a thick border around the edges to serve as a barrier so that all the toppings will be contained. **Sopes have a slightly thicker base than regular taco tortillas**.

• For the beans: 1 can of low-sodium pinto beans (with 1/4 cup of canned water). Beans are “refried” with a teaspoon of oil in a lodge iron skillet for extra smokiness and mashed until desired texture and consistency (we like to see some bean chunks for texture). 

• For the meat portion: we used a combination of well-seasoned shredded chicken or beef, if needed. You may use an already-prepared taco-seasoning. It will work just fine, otherwise, smoked paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, ground cumin, salt and ground pepper, will do the trick. 

• Toppings: top with sour cream or crema, queso fresco, shredded lettuce, spinach or spring mix, and your choice of spicy or mild salsa. 

Servings: 4 portions