Are you familiar with Chayote? It's a squash-like plant from Mexico that is fairly uncommon in other parts of the world, at least from what I've seen, even though Wikipedia claims it is cultivated and eaten virtually all over the world. Okay, so maybe it was me who paid little attention to it, even here in Mexico, where it is quite common in vegetable soups. My lack of interest may have been due to its bland taste, making it overall less exciting.
However, since we happened to have a good number of Chayotes at home, I decided that before I let them go to waste, I would try to make something out of them that I actually enjoy eating. I was not entirely sure which form that would take, but a stir-fry seemed to be as good as anything. Of course the Chayotes needed to be cooked and peeled first.
Peeling Chayotes Correctly
As it turns out, peeling a chayote is not as straight forward as you may think. At first I cut them in half, and started peeling the first one like a potato. It was not too difficult to remove the thick skin, but as I was doing so, I listened to my wife read out some scary stories about how the juice of the chayote may irritate your skin, and it is advisable to rub oil on your hands to prevent it. I thought that was too much of a messy affair, and since I had already peeled one half, I decided to take the alternate route, and cook the chayotes before peeling them.
Whatever Goes Best With Chayotes
While the chayotes were cooking I prepared the rest of the stir fry. I cut up an onion, some carrots, a few chiles seranos, and a piece of bacon, and added it all into a pan with a piece of butter. As the chayotes were getting tender, I started to the fire under the pan.
Once they were cooked, the chayotes were even easier to peel. Then I cut them into cubes and added them into the pan with the rest of the ingredients.
All that was needed for a stir-fry at this point, was simply to fry the whole thing for a little bit, while stirring it a little. This is also when I added the spices. Nothing fancy, just a bit of slat, pepper, and thyme. It already had onion and chili, so not much else was needed.
Once it looked all done, I tore up a handful of quesillo. This Oaxacan cheese is very stringy, making it ideal for quesadillas, but it also offers itself ideally to melt on top of a finished stir-fry. Then I only heated up some tortillas, and dinner was served.
Learning to Love Chayotes
In case you're wondering, the stir-fry ended up tasting super delicious. The blandness of the chayote is no problem at all, if you combine it with other flavors. And I am pretty sure this is just the beginning, since there are many other applications to try.
This post was part of my What to Eat in Mexico collection, where you can find other posts and recipes, all around Mexican foods.
