We were given excellent instructions to find the home of Ricardo and Julie, our culinary guides for the evening. Ricardo invited us into his kitchen first where everything was beautifully arranged for our class to begin.

When Julie arrived moments later, she got the blender going to mix up perfect lime margaritas. They went down so easily that I imbibed in a second one!

When Ricardo shared that we were going to learn how to make

blue tortillas,

guacamole,

chicken mole (Veracruz style),

red rice

and chilies relleno, I was delighted and could not have chosen a better menu myself. Our fellow students were Donna and James from Texas and they were the people who made the selections. The other menu options are: Tinga de Pollo, Pork in dry red chili sauce, Ground Beef in Morita Chilies, Roasted Poblano Peppers in Mexican Cream Sauce, Pozole (red or Green) and Ceviche de Ricardo.

Julie is a world traveller who fell in love with food when she met Ricardo who hails from Vera Cruz. He explained that Mexico has many cooking regions that have their own unique recipes or spins on traditional recipes.

All the dishes that we sampled that evening were from Ricardo’s grandmother and mother Emil’s own collection. The couple have made an on line cook book of these specialties that you can purchase on line at https://eltoritomexicantacos.hotmart.host/gracias-madre-7cb05f97-c360-45b5-bea3-147a2adc74ae?

First up, rookies were tasked with stripping the seeds from the dehydrated chilies for the mole and the fresh jalapeño chilies for the chilies poblano. We decided later that someone must have missed some seeds because a couple of bites of the finished chilies were mucho caliente!

While we students chopped wonderfully fresh ingredients for the guacamole, James formed the blue tortilla dough. Ricardo rehydrated the former chilies in a little vegetable oil and roasted the jalapeños and sweated them for peeling.  Sister Sue stripped the blanched chicken breasts for the mole.

Then we all seemed to get busy at the same time: rolling the tortilla dough into uniform balls and then flattening them out in an authentic wooden press; chopping tomatoes and garlic for the rice; shredding the oxaca cheese into strips to stuff into the chilies then rolling them in flour as eggs were whipped for their final coating.

As well as blending the 17 complex mole ingredients in three batches and then simmering the many ingredients with crushed animal crackers (believe it or not) and rich Mexican chocolate. I tested myself on remembering all the ingredients in the mole and could only come up with a few of the 17. There were three kinds of chilies: ancho, pasilla and mulatto. I remembered peanuts but not sesame and pumpkin seeds, cinnamon but not cloves and onion but not garlic. The sauce was perfection but so were all the other dishes and we all commended ourselves on being fast learners.

While all this was going on, Julie set a simple table in the covered outdoor space. Hibiscus juice was offered and we all tucked in.

Ricardo demonstrated stuffing the blue tortillas in one case with the red rice and mole and the other with the chilies relleno. The guacamole could be eaten on its own or ladled into either of the tortilla wraps.

After admitting defeat before all the entrees were eaten, we were served a luscious tres leche cake from a neighbourhood bakery called D’tentacion, where a husband and wife team also specialize in flans.

Part way through the evening I asked for the reason that the cooking class was called Hala Kin as I thought it might be a person. Turns out it is a Maya greeting that means ‘you are my other me’. Rick illustrated the hala ken handshake which is a unique intertwining of the fingers.

From my own research I learned that a variety of ancient greetings all say the same thing. Namaste: from East India, Wiracocha: from the Inca and Mitakuye Oyasin: from the Lakota. In Mayan tradition it is an honoring for each other and a statement of unity and oneness. What the world needs right now!

The conversation through preparation and dinner was engaging. I especially appreciated the shared philosophy that I too am guided by: that preparing food is a love language that can be freely given and taken and when we share our family’s cooking heritage, we are sharing the identities of our regions and countries.

The next time I sample Hala Ken’s fare it may be hiring Ricardo as a private chef as they create private dinners and catering for large groups! I also saw mention of a Chef’s Table recently.

It truly was a unique and magical experience. I had never taken a cooking class on the island and I have been visiting for 20 years!

Kath’s quote: “An evening with us is much more than a dinner, it’s a cultural experience. LOVE is always the first ingredient.”-Julie and Ricardo

Love never fails.

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