Mexican sopes

Sopes filled with mashed beans, roast chicken and salsa verde

Sopes are kind of like small fat tortillas with the edges pinched up to hold your fillings.  They are delicious and are crisp on the outside and nice and soft on the inside.  You can fill them with whatever you like - mashed beans, any meat really, cheese, salsa, slices of avocado, and any combination of fillings.  I like putting a layer of mashed beans on the bottom, then topping with cheese and salsa for a veggie version, or a little cooked chicken, chorizo or carnitas on top of the beans with a bit of salsa verde and cilantro.  You could even do a breakfast or brunch dish and do some eggs and cheese, or huevos con chorizo (eggs scrambled with chorizo).  If you're having a few people over, fry up a bunch of them and put out a table full of different fillings and condiments so every diner can top however they like!

Sopes are made in two steps - cooking first on a griddle or heavy skillet to just set and brown on each side, then while they are still warm, use your fingers to pinch up the edges all around to form a rim.  Once you're done with the first part, you'll heat up a bit of oil and then quickly fry them until just crisp.  You can keep them warm in a low heat oven until you're done frying up the whole batch and are ready to serve.  Don't let them sit too long though - they may dry out a bit.

Sopes

The recipe below will yield 8 - 10 or so depending on how big you make them.  You can easily double and triple the recipe to serve more people.

• 1 cup masa harina
• 1 Tbsp. flour (I use whole wheat but a.p. flour is fine)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 cup hot water - you won't use all of it but I like having plenty of water ready so I can keep adding it as needed

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a mixing bowl.  Add your water a little bit at a time, kneading the dough together until you have a nice soft, pliable dough.  Roll the dough into golf ball - sized balls.  Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap to keep them from drying out.

If you have a tortilla press, it works great for flattening these out.  Just press lightly and don't press them out too flat. I recommend getting a tortilla press anyway if you have room in your kitchen - I love making homemade tortillas - they are so easy to make and are delicious.  And you can season them up with species however you like!  Check out my post here on making your own homemade corn tortillas. 

If you don't have one, no worries at all - just use your hands to flatten them out to about 1/4" thick and 2-3" across.  Cover them as you make all of them until you're ready to cook them up.

First stage - browning on each side

Dip a little bit of paper towel into a little canola or vegetable oil and wipe over to coat a large griddle, cast iron skillet or heavy skillet and heat over medium heat.  When your griddle or skillet is hot, put a few of your flattened sopes onto the hot skillet, however many can fit without touching.  Cook for about a minute until they have just browned.  Flip and cook the other side for another minute.  Put them onto a platter.

While they are still pretty warm, use your fingers and pinch up the edges all around to form a rim.  Cover until you're ready to fry.  You can store them in the fridge, covered, if you are making them ahead and will be frying them up either later in the day or the next day.  

Pinch up the edges

When you are ready to fry and serve, get all your toppings reheated and set out to assemble.  If you're making a lot, go ahead and heat your oven to 200 degrees F so you can keep them warm as you fry all of them up.  In a heavy skillet, cast iron skillet, or a heavy pot like a dutch oven, heat up about 1/2" canola or vegetable oil over medium high heat until hot but not smoking.

Frying up the sopes

Slide a few in and fry each side for about 30 seconds or so until browned.  Remove them and drain on a layer of paper towels or on a rack.  Keep them warm in the oven until you are done frying them all up and you're ready to serve.  Or, if you're only making a few, don't worry too much about that.  They don't don't stay crispy for too long anyway, so try to serve soon after you've finished frying everything up.

Fill them as you like - you can put a little salsa down, then a layer of beans, a little bit of meat, another little bit of salsa, and a bit of chopped cilantro or slices of onion or avocado, or any combination of fillings you like.  You can use leftover roast chicken or pork (try my recipe for carnitas sometime), or cook up some meat with a little bit of canned tomatoes, chiles, onions, garlic, maybe a little cumin or chile powder and make a saucier filling like my braised chicken recipe.

Veggie with beans, cheese and salsa verde