Mexican food in NZ

[Moorf]

I know a few of you are keen to find Mexican foodstuffs here so I noted a website from the recent Dish magazine.... I haven't tried their products but will be seeking them out. Has anyone used them?

http://www.tiopablo.co.nz

[clg]

We used to buy their corn tortillas and bought masa from them once. They are fine but a bit dear. I have not tried the seasonings, they are new. We now make our own corn tortillas and they are much better fresh than anything already made.

We got masa and a tortilla press from: http://www.mexifoods.co.nz/

I highly recommend doing your own tortillas if you eat them regularly! It is a higher outlay at first but for us it easily pays for itself, the press is $50. We failed miserably trying to do it without a press.

They have a wide range of other things as well so worth checking out!

Chris

[jen]

I haven't tried tiopablo so can't help there, but I've ordered twice from mexifoods and been impressed with how fast/reasonably priced their delivery was. I get dried chilis, tomatillos, some sauces & hominy from them. I'm too scared to start making homemade tortillas as I'm sure we'd gain several kilos each if we had fresh ones in the house!

For those in Wellington, the Wellington High School community education programme offered Latin American & Mexican cooking classes last year which we took. They were fun & I regularly make some of the recipes we learned, like enchiladas with homemade sauce and Cuban ropa vieja/moro. It's not on the schedule for the rest of 2008 but if you're interested for next year, their website is here: http://www.cecwellington.ac.nz//course/food

Jen

[YouMeAndThree]

They were fun & I regularly make some of the recipes we learned, like enchiladas with homemade sauce and Cuban ropa vieja/moro. It's not on the schedule for the rest of 2008 but if you're interested for next year, their website is here: http://www.cecwellington.ac.nz//course/food

Jen

Jen, any chance of a copy of your enchilada sauce recipe please, pretty please?

Lx

[jen]

Jen, any chance of a copy of your enchilada sauce recipe please, pretty please?

Sure! We learned this in the cooking class we took from Wellington High School's community education programme:

Red Enchilada Sauce

4 small chili peppers*
2 cups chicken stock
1/4 cup fresh coriander/cilantro leaves
3 garlic cloves
1 T oregano
1 T cumin
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2 T vegetable oil
salt and pepper to taste


*the peppers would ideally be serranos, but we use thai green chilis since they're available in the groceries here.

Heat the oil in a pan and add chopped peppers. Cook for 60 seconds. Cover with the chicken stock and simmer ~ 20 minutes. Place in a blender with cilantro, garlic, oregano, cumin, tomato, and salt/pepper. Blend until very smooth.

Cook the mixture in a heavy skillet over medium heat for 10 minutes. Can be prepared up to 24 hours in advance.

[unar]

Yay! It is good to know we can get good ingredients in NZ. It is hard enough in London.. but it is getting better.

-una

[JasonS]

i really miss being able to go out and have good mexican food with a nice cool margarita... i will have to take a look at getting a tortilla press. we buy them all the time, and they are not cheep.

for those of you in the wellington region, there is a place called the "chilli patch" just south of otaki on HWY 1. we stopped there in late summer and picked our own chillies, including jalapenos, to make homemade salsas and cook with. i wish we would have picked more, our stash that we kept in the freezer is gone now. so we will have to wait until summer...

they also sells some homemade bottled chilli sauces which are great to add to homemade mexiacan dishes.

laurel

[DanFromCali]

mmmmm. mexican food. i'd kill for a carne asada taco and a chile releno. Last time my friend went back to California, he brought back a suitcase full of tortillas. I make sure i stock up on tapatio as well.

i did find a local restaurant in Matakana that has access to good tortillas - they apparently tried it as a mexican food restaurant, but discovered there is little demand for it in NZ. owell.

[Moorf]

It's strange, Dan, the Kiwis I've met really aren't in to hot and spicy food, I find... I made some savoury muffins for a neighbour with a pinch (v. small pinch) of cayenne and she complained it nearly blew her head off - I couldn't taste it!

[Xaviera]

It's strange, Dan, the Kiwis I've met really aren't in to hot and spicy food, I find... I made some savoury muffins for a neighbour with a pinch (v. small pinch) of cayenne and she complained it nearly blew her head off - I couldn't taste it!

Just to let you know Moorf, there are kiwis out there who love chilli hot food! I know this because I am one of them. We grow our own - halapenos, habenaros among others - lovely. Oh for some mexican restaurants in Napier!