Papadzules: what they are, Yucatecan origin and recipe

What is it?

Papadzules are one of the oldest and most emblematic dishes of Yucatecan Maya cuisine: freshly made maize tortillas, submerged in a creamy sauce of ground pumpkin seed and epazote water, filled with chopped boiled egg and topped with a tomato sofrito. They are finished with a thread of green oil extracted from the pumpkin seed itself, which provides a ceremonial touch. It is a naturally vegetarian dish, simple in appearance but technically demanding: the pumpkin-seed sauce breaks easily if heated too much, and the tortilla masa must be fresh. They are traditionally eaten at breakfast or lunch in homes and eateries of Yucatán, Campeche and Quintana Roo, where they form part of the menu of regional kitchens alongside cochinita pibil and salbutes.

Origin and history

Papadzules have pre-Hispanic Maya origins and are one of the few Yucatecan dishes whose basic recipe remains essentially vegetal and pre-colonial. Its name comes from the Yucatec Maya: there are two linguistic interpretations, one that derives it from papak suul, food smeared for the lords, and another from papak dzul, food for the lords or foreigners, which suggests that it was a dish offered to illustrious visitors. Fray Diego de Landa, in his Account of the Things of Yucatán of the 16th century, describes the ritual importance of ground pumpkin seed in Maya cuisine. The chef Ricardo Muñoz Zurita, author of the Diccionario Enciclopédico de la Gastronomía Mexicana, places the dish within the group of Maya sauces thickened with pumpkin seed or sikil, alongside sikil pak and sikil enmoladu. After the Conquest, the recipe remained practically intact since its ingredients —maize, pumpkin, tomato, egg, epazote— were all available in the region. Today it figures in the fundamental recipe books of Yucatán and is considered an emblematic dish of the regional cuisine.

Characteristic ingredients

The soul of the dish is the small Yucatecan pumpkin seed, a small variety that is toasted on the comal and ground on a metate or in a blender until it forms a fine paste. This is mixed with water infused with epazote, an aromatic herb that provides the characteristic aniseed flavour; some traditional recipes also add chives. When the pumpkin seed is kneaded with the warm water, it releases a bright green oil that is reserved as a final decoration. The sauce is served warm, never boiling, because the natural fats of the pumpkin seed split with excessive heat. The tortillas, made with nixtamalised maize masa, are submerged one by one in the sauce, filled with finely chopped boiled egg and rolled or folded. On top a sofrito of ripe tomato stewed with onion and ground or chopped habanero chilli is poured, and it is decorated with the pumpkin-seed oil. Regional variants include a mixed filling with young espelón bean (a variety of tender Yucatecan black bean) and, in contemporary versions, shredded chicken.

Cultural significance

Papadzules are one of the most representative dishes of the pre-Hispanic Maya recipe book that has survived colonial syncretism and the passage of time. They form part of the intangible heritage of Yucatán and are traditionally prepared at family festivities, Day of the Dead offerings —called Hanal Pixán in Maya— and town celebrations. Yucatecan cuisine was included as part of the dossier of Traditional Mexican Cuisine declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO in 2010. They appear on the menus of emblematic restaurants such as La Chaya Maya or Los Almendros, as well as in family eateries of Mérida, Valladolid and Campeche. Economically, they sustain the demand for Yucatecan pumpkin seed, a traditional crop of small producers, and are one of the gastronomic tourist draws of the Yucatán Peninsula. For many contemporary Maya cooks such as Roberto Solís and David Cetina, they are an obligatory reference of the ancestral cuisine that is still alive.

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