Nopal

A nopal leaf, trimmed and ready to be chopped for Pico de Gallo










To be honest, I´m not sure if you can buy nopal in Toronto, or anywhere in Canada. Could someone let me know?
Anyway, here is a recipe, for the food adventurers:

Cooking Nopal

Nopal is a type of cactus that is one of the culinary specialties here.
You can buy it in supermarkets or markets, in it’s natural leaf form or already chopped.
To make Pico de Gallo (nopal mixture which is then used in quesadillas):

2 cups chopped fresh nopal
boiling water

½ onion finely chopped
1-2 tomatoes chopped
1 tsp of vegetable oil
Pinch or two of dried oregano
2Tbsp. Fresh chopped cilantro
Salt to taste


Boil the nopal in water until soft and dark green, about 15 minutes.
Drain and rinse well. (you’ll want to rinse off the boba de nopal, the sticky goo)
Lightly sauté the onion
Add the tomatoes, oregano and nopal and heat through.
Remove from heat and add the cilantro, and salt to taste.

The entire mixture can then be placed between two small corn (or corn) tortillas along with some grated cheese and lightly fried until hot. Ya! Una quesadilla!
(It also works well in an omelette)