Week 29: Mexico

Week 29: Estados Unidos Mexicanos


We returned to West End last night (see suburb profile week 23). About halfway down bustling Boundary Street, in amongst a clutter of fast food outlets, other ethnic restaurants and street buskers, you will find El Torito (after a struggle to find parking). Jorge and Doris Perez (two of 3,576 Mexican residents in Australia) established El Torito in 1996, bringing the unique flavours of Mexico to Brisbane.  There are many ordinary franchised Mexican eateries around town, however El Torito stands apart when it comes to freshness and quality. You may have to wait a little bit longer for your meal, as each dish is freshly prepared.  It's BYO (wine only), and the kitchen closes at 9pm. Provecho!


The key ingredients of Mexican cuisine are corn, beans and chili peppers. Corn is the most planted crop in Mexico, with over 42 different types of maize to choose from. It therefor comes as no surprise that corn flatbread or tortilla is eaten with every meal. Tortillas can be large, small, soft or crunchy; they are rolled, folded, stuffed or fried. To distinguish between Burritos, Chimichangas, Enchiladas, Fajitas, Nachos and Taco's is simple...it all depends on what they do to the tortilla (sort of). So we tried them all. Whether it had a black bean puree, chicken or beef filling, or whether it had extra jalapeno's, another dollop of guacamole or more salsa -   they were all delicious. Couple of Mexican beers, some good Spanish red wine - how could you not be happy.


Mexican cuisine does not only centre around corn flatbread. The pantry is also filled with tomatoes, some squashes, rice, bellpeppers, cocao, vanilla and avocodo's. If you are an avo fan, there is nothing tastier than a delicious chunky guacamole - so I thought I'd share my favourite guacamole recipe with you:

1 large ripe red tomato

3 avocados, very ripe but not bruised

juice 1 large lime ( or two small ones...hint: roll the lime on the kitchen bench with the palm of your hand before squeezing...this will allow you to extract more juice)

handful coriander, rinsed, leaves and stalks chopped, plus a few leaves, roughly chopped, to serve

1 small red onion, finely chopped

1 chilli, red or green, deseeded and finely chopped

tortilla chips to serve

1. Use a large knife to pulverise the tomato to a pulp on a board, then tip into a bowl. Halve and stone the avocados (saving a stone) and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh into the bowl with the tomato.
2. Tip all the other ingredients into the bowl, then season with salt and pepper. Use a whisk to roughly mash everything together. If not serving straight away, sit a stone in the guacamole (this helps to stop it going brown), cover with cling film and chill until needed. Scatter with the coriander, if using, then serve with tortilla chips or spicy potato wedges and sour cream. It is also delicious on a piece of toast for breakfast!

Fact sharing was interesting last night, There were eleven of us, so the contribution was enormous , and fused into conversation and discussion rather than the usual bullet-point style of fact-sharing. Margo set the tone with an animated description of the Aztec sacred ritual of  Human Sacrifice and how 80,000 mortals were sacrificed over a period of 3 days in early 1500. This opened the door for our first ever in absentia fact, sent by Louise who could not make it: On 31 October, for up to 3 days, the Mexicans celebrate Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), honouring deceased family and friends with the favourite foods and beverages of the departed, decorated sugar skulls and wreaths of marigolds. Which led to Andrew's fact: never (ever) give a (living!) girlfriend a bunch of marigolds. We discussed the fenced border with the USA (then I foolishly shared some very politically incorrect Mexican jokes which were not appreciated...); how Mexico City is built in the middle of a lake that formed in a volcanic crater and is actually sinking by 1cm a year  - in fact, it has plunged more than 10m in the last century...and you thought Venice had a problem!; the wealthiest man in he world (2013) was Mexican Tele-communications entrepreneur Carlos Slim (today the second wealthiest); the mysterious Teotihuacan Pyramids (and their role in human sacrifice); of course the flag and the national animal (Golden Eagle); the oil industry and silver mining (Mexico is still the largest producer of silver in the world) and many, many more.

But we have to move on. From Burritos with salsa we go to Beuschel und Spatzle... Austria, here we come!