I had nopales for the first time when I went to visit my mom while she was living in Guadalajara back in 2006 and they were pretty good!
But then we tried to prepare them ourselves and it was a flop...the slime, called baba, was too much... I gagged some of it down and tossed the rest.
The nopales release a LOT of baba, so you want to make sure you don't skip on the first step which removes this. Some people will say you can just boil them for 10 minutes and rinse and that is sufficient to remove all the baba. I have not found this to be the case, at least not to remove it to an acceptable level for my palate. Dry cooking it does a nice job of removing the baba so you can enjoy the nopales.
Spines are also another thing you may have to contend with. Nopales are a cactus, so if you buy the whole leaves you may need to remove the spines. The easiest way to do this is lay them on a cutting board and using a large knife slice across the nopales removing the spines and any of the brown bumps. Sometimes you will find them already prepped in this manner, or even prepped and chopped or sliced...which is what I buy. Our local Hispanic groceries have them all chopped up and ready to go so it makes for a super easy prep.
The nutrient profile of nopales is pretty impressive as well, which I never realized until just the other day! They are loaded with antioxidants, vitamins and nutrients and they also are a great anti-inflammatory.
This salad is yummy all by itself, but I love pairing it with scrambled eggs and sauerkraut. Throw some avocado on top of it all and enjoy. A little cheese is delicious too!
Or you could use the salad as taco filling or in conjunction with a protein, just add some salsa and you're ready to go!
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