Achiote Paste

The most commonly known Yucatecan recado is a paste based on ground achiote seeds and other flavorings, bought premixed in market stalls or commercially packaged in bars. It lends flavor and a wonderful orange-red color to many sauces. Here is a homemade version that shows a crucial technique of Mexican cooking—briefly toasting or searing aromatic ingredients to bring out their flavor and fragrance before adding them to a mixture. In Mexico this would be done over a flame, on a small