Tortas de Nopal - Prickly Pear Cactus Patties

My grandma is the best at prepping and cleaning nopales, she is so patient removing the prickly thorns. This batch was from her, my aunt grows wild cilantro and my mom had marjoram in her herb garden. I cooked the fresh nopales and made patties with a spicy tomato sauce.

My brother was gifted fresh farm eggs and this meal just made sense when I came home after visiting mom and bringing back all these ingredients.

A Nopal is a prickly pear cactus in English and it is a very nutritious ingredient in Mexican cooking. You can add nopales to a pico de gallo and it is amazing! We also grill it whole and call it a vegetarian steak (it looks like a paddle, a cactus paddle). I grew up eating it with scrambled eggs for breakfast tacos. My son compares nopales to green beans because of the color, shape and texture. I have heard that it is also a combination of bell pepper and okra. I recommend that you try it!

You will find it already cooked in jars at your local grocery store. Or, if you are brave, cook it from scratch, it is really easy. I’ll share how I cooked mine.

I enjoyed them on a porch date with my son and hubby during this quarantine season, wine is a must on porch dates!

Tortas de Nopal

Ingredients

1 Lbs Nopales, cooked and cubed or cut in strips

4 Eggs, separate yolks and egg whites

Enough oil for a frying

1. Heat oil in a pan over medium heat.

2. In a a bowl or electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they are fluffy. In a low mix setting, add the yolks one by one until they are combined with the fluffy egg whites.

3. Combine the nopales with the egg mixture. To make the patties us a spoon to scoop the nopales into the pan forming a patty. Cook until browned on both sides and place each patty onto a platter lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.

4. Serve the nopal patties with the tomato sauce and garnish with cilantro and queso fresco.

Spicy Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

6 Roma Tomatoes

1/4 Onion

1 Garlic Clove

1 Habanero

4-6 leaves of fresh Epazote or 1 Tbs. dry Epazote

1 Tablespoon Chicken Bouillon Powder

Salt and Pepper to Taste

1. In a pot with water, simmer the tomatoes, onion and garlic for 10 minutes. Turn heat off and let it cook for 15 minutes.

2. In a blender add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, habanero, bouillon powder and salt - pepper and add 1/2 cup of water

3. Blend until smooth, strain. It should yield about 2 1/2 cups of sauce.

4. To heat the sauce, in a skillet heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil with the epazote leaves to give the oil fragrance, add the sauce and simmer for 5-10 minutes.

How to cook Fresh Nopales

1 lb. Nopales, cleaned and cut

1/4 Onion

1 Garlic Clive

1 teaspoon salt

In a skillet add all the ingredients and on med heat, cook for 20 minutes covered. Stir occasionally until the nopales’ natural juices cook the nopales and any slime dries out. It takes about 20 minutes, strain under cool water and store in refrigerator.

I add 2 cilantro and marjoram stems with leaves if I have them on hand.