Lime cured scallops

This ceviche-style dish is very simple but tasty, and very hot too!
The subtle flavor of the scallops is given a spicy kick by marinating them in a blended mix of lime juice, green serrano peppers, cilantro and cucumber.
A classic dish from the coastal states of Mèxico.

"Drowned" octopus

The baby octopus are slowly cooked in a reduced chile de àrbol, and tomato sauce with a hint of parsley. Served on a tostadita, it makes a flavorful appetizer.

Peanuts

Peanuts origin dates to 7400 years back in Peru, where the oldest traces of this plant and seeds have been found. It spread all over the American continent; in Mèxico, it was called - cacáhuatl - meaning "cacao on the ground" as the peanut pods rest on the ground.
The Spaniards then took it to Europe and the far East, where it became a very popular ingredient in Asian gastronomy.

In Mèxico peanuts are commonly found as a bar snack, roasted, salted and spicy; or in more elaborated dishes as a sauce, also as sweet treats such as caramelized pralines or peanut brittle.

See the following post for a sweet dessert made with cacahuates..

From Veracruz

The "torito" is a beloved beverage from the state of Veracruz, where it is an institution. Toritos are considered an aperitif, but they make also a good after-dinner drink, they are also very potent because of the high content of aguardiente or cane liquor.
The most popular flavors are peanut, nanche, mango and guanàbana or soursop.

MEZQUITE's version of this torito is transformed into ice cream.
A lovely dessert with a kick!

Tamales from Oaxaca

Probably the first-known kind of portable food, tamales originated in the pre-hispanic Aztec civilization and then spread to the rest of Mesoamèrica. Tamales have been ever since as ubiquitous and varied as the sandwich is today.
Almost every state in Mèxico has its own way of making them, and even then, the recipes vary from region to region.

This flavorful tamal is filled with the Oaxacan staple "amarillo" - a mild-flavor mole, made with regional chiles and corn - chicken, and hierba santa leaves.

The ancient grinding tool

A metate (meh-tah-teh) is most of the times a volcanic stone slab and a sort of rolling pin of the same material, used for processing grain and seeds. In traditional Mesoamerican culture, metates are typically used by women in order to grind calcified maize and obtain the base flour for tortillas, tamales and other corn-based foods.

In the modern world, grinding machines are used to produce the corn flour, but in many regions in Mèxico, the metate grinding tradition is quite alive, since the textures you get with this tool are impossible to obtain with any machine.

It is also used to grind the numerous ingredients needed to make Mole.

Using this grinding method is a tremendous workout! To begin with, you have to kneel in front of the metate and bend forward keeping this position the whole time, then hold the heavy stone pin by both ends, and start grinding using your whole upper body and your arms pressing hard against the stone slab and pushing away and back an infinite number of times until the corn kernels are reduced to powder!
This definitely makes you appreciate a hand-ground tortilla a lot more.

From Chiapas with love

From the southernmost state of Mèxico, Chiapas - these steamed corn masa tamales are wrapped in banana-tree leaves, and filled with shredded chicken with Mole, almonds, olives, prunes and plantain, a delightful mix of sweet and salty flavors!