Mexican Made Easy Season 2 Episode 12 Full of Beans

Susie Castillo returns with a great Mexican dish! She and Marcela make this traditional dish from Mexico City featuring beans, ham, and nopales. Nopales are the tender pads of the prickly pear cactus, which are rich in calcium, potassium, and vitamins A and C with a slightly sour taste similar to green beans. The dish is called a "hambriento casamiento," which literally translates to "hungry marriage" and is a reference to its hearty nature. This dish is perfect for any time, especially for breakfast.

The dish starts with the preparation of the beans. Marcela advises soaking the beans overnight, so they plump up before cooking. After soaking, the beans are drained and taken to the stove to start cooking. Marcela adds garlic, onion, and spices to the beans to give them flavor as they cook. She also adds some vegetable oil to help make the beans softer for the dish.

The next ingredient Marcela works on is the nopales. She shows us how to clean and prepare the nopales, which need to have their spines and edges trimmed. Once they are trimmed, the nopales are then sliced and added to a pot of boiling water with some salt to give them flavor. The nopales require about 15 minutes of boiling to soften for consumption.

Susie returns to the kitchen to prepare the rest of the ingredients. She starts with dicing up ham and making an onion and tomato mixture. She also prepares cilantro, cheese, and tortillas for serving. Marcela adds the ham and the tomato and onion mixture to the beans, and the dish begins to come together.

Once the nopales have finished boiling, Marcela adds them to the pot of beans and ham. She gives everything a good stir, and now the dish is almost ready. Marcela also adds some fresh cilantro for extra flavor. The dish has a rich, hearty smell that is sure to whet any appetite.

Susie and Marcela sit down to enjoy their creation and share their feelings about what they've made. Susie praises the dish for its unique blend of flavors, particularly the sourness of the nopales. Marcela adds that the dish is easy to make, and can be enjoyed anytime, anywhere, by anyone. She hopes this recipe will inspire viewers to try more traditional Mexican dishes.

After trying the dish, Susie and Marcela discuss some of the possible variations of the hambriento casamiento. They suggest that adding chorizo or bacon can give the dish a bit of a spicy kick. They also mention that it can be a vegetarian dish if you omit the ham and add more vegetables instead. The possibilities are endless and this dish is very versatile.

Marcela gives us some tips on how to store leftovers, stating that it can be kept for up to a week in the fridge. She also gives advice on how to cook beans if you don't have the time to soak them overnight. In this case, you can use a pressure cooker or canned beans as a quick alternative.

Overall, this episode is a great one, featuring a unique Mexican dish with great ingredients and lots of flavor. It is educational, entertaining, and definitely worth trying. The dish can be enjoyed by anyone who loves hearty, satisfying meals, and by those who have a keen interest in Mexican cuisine. If you want to know how to make a dish that will leave you full of beans, then this episode is the one to watch!