Name: Cactus Paddle Casserole (Budín de Nopalitos)
Yield: 4 to 6 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 4 ounces crumbled queso fresco or young ricotta salata, or 1 cup fresh ricotta cheese; 3 tablespoons vegetable oil; Freshly ground black pepper; 6 nopalitos (cactus paddles), cleaned and cut into ½-inch dice; 1 tablespoon cornstarch; 2 small onions, chopped; 2 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped; 2 large ripe tomatoes; 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste; 2 canned chipotle chiles en adobo, coarsely chopped; 3 large eggs, beaten; ½ cup cilantro leaves stripped from stems

Preparation info

4 to 6
servings

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

The Food and Life of Oaxaca

By Zarela Martínez

Published 1997

About

This savory pudding makes a nice luncheon dish or hearty side dish for a simple dinner menu. It is also an excellent vegetarian main dish. When I had it in various parts of Oaxaca, the proportion of eggs to vegetables was higher. You can adjust it to your taste as you prefer. My mother reports that the dish is very good prepared with fresh ricotta cheese, which makes it moister.