Segueza de conejo
Sequeza is one of the pre-Hispanic stews that is still being made in Oaxaca. It is usually served with pork and chicken, but I have eaten variations of the same dish with beef, rabbit and native red beans that grow wild mixed in the corn stalks every summer. If you don’t have a neighbor who raises rabbits, you can use a combination of pork ribs and chicken parts or just beef stewing meat and the stocks from each to give it flavor. The corn has to have texture. If you do not have a metate or grain mill, you can toast it first, then place it in the food processor and pulse it bit by bit. You want to be careful not to turn it into corn flour, but to have a real texture to the corn. Serve this with Arroz con Chepil.
Makes 6 servings.
INGREDIENTS
(Segueza de Pollo: chicken substitution notes below)
For the rabbit stock:
2½ pounds rabbit, portioned into 6 pieces, head reserved for stock
1 medium white onion
1 head garlic
5 bay leaves
Sea salt to taste
3 tablespoons sunflower or vegetable oil
For the segueza:
4 chiles chilcostle rojos, stemmed and seeded
4 chiles guajillos stemmed and seeded
½ pound tomatoes (1 medium to large round or 4-5 plum)
2 large tomatillos, husks removed
7 garlic cloves, peeled
3 black peppercorns
2 whole cloves
½ pound dry yellow corn (maíz)
1 tablespoon lard or sunflower oil
2 -3 leaves hierba santa
1½ - 2 tablespoons sea salt
To make it with chicken: Replace the rabbit with 2½ pounds of bone-in chicken pieces. Follow the same stock method, simmering with onion, garlic and bay leaves for 45 minutes instead of 1 hour. Everything else stays the same.
METHOD
For the stock: Make a rabbit stock by placing the reserved rabbit head (if available), the onion, garlic, and bay leaves in a 6-quart stock pot with 3 quarts of water. Bring to a boil and add the rabbit pieces. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook for 1 hour, covered, until the meat is soft. Remove the onion and garlic.
For the segueza: In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of water to a boil. On a hot 10-inch dry comal, griddle or in a cast-iron frying pan, roast the chiles on both sides over medium heat until they blister and give off their scent. Place them in a bowl and cover with the hot water to soften. Soak for 20 minutes.
On the same comal roast the tomatoes and tomatillos until soft. Also roast the garlic until translucent. Add the peppercorns and cloves and toast quickly; set aside. With the comal or griddle empty, toast the corn until brown, moving it constantly with a wooden spoon for about 8 to 10 minutes. When it is puffed and toasted, remove the corn from the comal and set aside to cool completely.
When the chiles are soft, place them and the tomatoes, tomatillos, garlic and spices in a blender with ½ cup of the chile water and blend until smooth. Pass this mixture through a sieve or a food mill.
In a frying pan, heat the lard or oil until it smokes. Add the chile-tomato mixture and stir. Fry for 20 minutes, then add to the rabbit stock.
Grind the cooled corn kernels until coarse, (like rough cornmeal) on a metate, in a molcajete (bit by bit), a hand grinder or in the food processor, pulsing (see Hint). Add the corn and the hierba santa leaves to the rabbit mixture and cook until thickened, about 45 minutes. Add sea salt to taste. Serve in wide bowls with fresh tortillas.
Excerpted from ¨Seasons of My Heart, A Culinary Journey Through Oaxaca, Mexico¨ (Ballantine Books, November 1999, ISBN 0-345-42596-0) Last modified September 13th, 2021 January 2022
