These vegan sopes or sopes de nogada are topped with a walnut “meat”, refried mayocoba beans, tomatillo avocado salsa, queso fresco, and cilantro. Reprinted with permission from La Vida Verde by Jocelyn Ramirez, Page Street Publishing Co. 2019.
3 cups Prepared masa harina ((about 2 cups masa harina and 2 cups hot water))
3 Tomatillos, large, (fire roasted)
1 Jalapeño, (destemmed (deseeded if too spicy), fire roasted)
1-2 tbsp. Lemon juice
1/8 tsp. Ground cumin
1/2 Medium Hass avocado
1/4 bunch Cilantro
Salt, (to taste)
Queso cotija
Cilantro
Categories
Appetizer
Cuisine
Mexican
Steps
To make the walnut meat, use a food processor to break down the walnuts to small pieces similar to the size of ground beef pieces. If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a blender and blend the walnuts 1 cup (120 g) at a time. Add the ground walnuts to a bowl and set aside.
Place the sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl of warm water for 10 minutes, or until rehydrated. In the blender, place the rehydrated sun-dried tomatoes (reserve the hydrating water), liquid aminos, sugar, cumin, paprika, red pepper flakes, nutritional yeast, garlic, 1⁄2 cup (120 ml) of the oil, 1⁄2 cup (120 ml) of the water used to rehydrate the sun-dried tomatoes and salt. Blend until completely smooth and add the mixture to the bowl of ground walnuts. Mix until the walnuts are fully incorporated.
Coat the bottom of a sauté pan with 2 tablespoons (30 ml) of oil, and preheat over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the walnut mixture to the pan. Sauté for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the mixture slightly darkens, the walnut pieces soften and the flavors meld together. Taste for seasoning, adding more as needed. Set the walnut meat aside.
To make the beans, coat the bottom of a medium pot with the oil. Preheat the oil over medium heat and add the mayocoba beans, crushed red pepper flakes, cumin, bay leaf, vegetable broth, salt and pepper. Allow the beans to simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the bay leaf, and use a bean smasher or hand-held emulsifier to smash the beans into a rough and slightly runny paste. Taste for seasoning, and add more as needed.
To make the sopes, preheat a comal or griddle over medium heat. Divide the masa into 1⁄4-cup (65-g) balls. You should have 12 balls. Use your hands to press the masa into thick 4-inch (10-cm) round disks, using your fingers to gently press any cracked edges. These will be thicker than tortillas and will take slightly longer to cook. Place each sope on the comal to cook for about 2 minutes. When the first side sears and the edges start to slightly dry, flip it over to the second side and cook for 2 more minutes. Flip the sope again and remove to a plate to slightly cool. Once each sope is cool enough to handle, use your fingers to pinch the edges, forming a rim around the edge of each sope. Put them back on the comal to heat through.
To make the avocado salsa, add the tomatillos, jalapeño, lemon juice, cumin, avocado, cilantro and salt to a blender. Blend until smooth. Taste for lemon juice and salt, and add more as needed.
To serve, add a layer of mayocoba beans to the bottom of each sope. It should be enough to fill the rim of the sope. Add the walnut meat over the beans, and top it with the salsa. Garnish with Queso Añejo and cilantro.
Nutitrion
Serving Size: 4 sopes
Calories: 1413 kcal
Carbohydrates: 101 g
Protein: 34 g
Fat: 105 g
Saturated Fat: 11 g
Sodium: 741 mg
Sugar: 14 g
Reviews
Andrea on 2021-02-09 (5 stars): By the way, here are a few tips that I can share, from my experience with making the dish:
- I love the avocado salsa recipe, and I use fresh Bacon or Fuerte avocados, when they're in season, and I skip the cilantro, cumin, and jalapeno. The remaining ingredients make for an amazing salsa.
- When I'm in a pinch for time, I use Amy's refried beans instead of making my own. They taste wonderful and are a quick and organic alternative for me to use.
- I sometimes layer fresh romaine head lettuce into the sopes -- usually, between the layer of beans and the layer of sopes meat. That adds a delicious and different kind of crunch, compared to the walnut meat, to the dish.
Andrea on 2021-02-09 (5 stars): I had received a copy of La Vida Verde for my birthday last year. This was the first recipe out of that book that I had tried. When I couldn't find my copy after moving homes, I was so glad to find this one reprinted (with permission) so that I could make this dish again until I could find the book!
I absolutely love this recipe, and the dish is delicious! I was surprised at the depth of flavor of this dish with only a few ingredients required. I've never had meat sopes, since I've been vegetarian for 15 years, but I'm sure that I'll never miss out on the flavors of the original, now that I have this recipe!
Theresa on 2020-06-15 (5 stars): Can I substitute the walnuts with anything else??
Kenzie on 2020-04-08 (3 stars): Everything but the walnut meat turned out great! I wasn’t aware we needed to continually stir the walnuts and accidentally burned $7 in walnuts in 3 minutes. Maybe you could add that tip to the instructions. Everything else was fabulous :).
