Stocking Up on Mexican Groceries

Every Tuesday I go grocery shopping at the supermarket down the street from me.  But this Monday I made an extra shopping trip.  I drove ten miles to the west side of Cleveland and went to La Plaza, a Mexican supermarket.

Here you can find all sorts of ingredients for Mexican and Latin American cooking that you will not find at other stores.

In the produce section there is a wide variety of chile peppers. 

Along with the tomatoes they have a bin full of "tomatillos", which look like small, green tomatoes covered with a papery husk.  They are used to make "salsa verde", green sauce.

The shelves are filled with all sorts of hot sauces.  Above are pastes for making Mexican cooking sauces... mole, pipián and adobo.

The canned goods section is dominated by canned chiles... jalapeños, serranos and chipotles.

So here is what I bought on my shopping expedition.  From the bakery section I got three pieces of "pan dulce"... sweet bread.   I bought a couple of pineapple filled pastries.  The round bread is called a "concha", one of the most typical types of Mexican "pan dulce".  It was not long before those three had disappeared into my belly.   

At the top of the plate are a couple of "bolillos", the crusty rolls that are so typical of Mexico.  I was planning on buying a bunch of them and putting them in the freezer.  However, the lady in the bakery said that they do not freeze well.  So I just bought two to make "tortas", a type of Mexican sandwich, for dinner the next day.

I bought three "poblanos", the mild, dark green peppers that are so much more flavorful than our bell peppers.   I got a package of "fideos", which are like vermicelli but short.  One day I'll make "fideos" in chipotle sauce.  There is a package of "chorizo", Mexican sausage, and a couple packages of Chihuahua cheese (the name refers to the Mexican state, not the dog).  Nothing can compare to hand-made tortillas in Mexico, but this brand of corn tortillas is much better than what I can buy at my local supermarket.  

 

I bought a jar of "pipián" paste.  " Pipián" is made from pumpkin seeds.  Dilute the paste with broth, and you have a very nice sauce to serve on chicken.  There's a jar of home-style "salsa", and a jar of "mole" paste.  The "mole" is also diluted with broth.  I plan to make that later this week with chicken and rice.  It pales in comparison to the home-made "moles" of Mexico.  It's a very complex sauce with literally dozens of ingredients.  It's not something that I care to make from scratch at home.  So a jar of store-bought paste will suffice.  Finally there are a couple cans of "chipotle" peppers ("chipotles" are smoked "jalapeños") and a couple cans of "serrano" peppers.   The brand names... La Costeña, Herdez and San Marcos... are all names that you see on the shelves of every grocery store in Mexico.

I should be well supplied for a while to satisfy my craving for Mexican food!