Achiote Paste
"This is an old family favorite. It is easy, can be frozen for future use, and is ten times better than the store bought junk. Use this for my Cochinita Pibil recipe.
http://www.recipezaar.com/229460"
- Ready In:
- 5mins
- Ingredients:
- 6
- Yields:
-
4 Tablespoons
ingredients
- 2 tablespoons annatto seeds (See Note *)
- 1 teaspoon cumin seeds or 1 teaspoon cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon black pepper or 1 teaspoon chipotle pepper
- 5 allspice berries
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 pinch nutmeg
directions
- Put all ingredients into a spice grinder, and grind until you have a fine powder.
- Take the powder and put it into a bowl and add teaspoons of water at a time until you get a thick paste which binds together, in a putty like consistency.
- Separate into Tablespoon size portions and freeze individually.
- When you want to use it, mix the TB size portion with 10 cloves of garlic crushed, and 4 TB Seville orange juice and marinade pork or chicken overnight.
- Some might say to add tequila, but that is an Americanization of this Yucatecan specialty.
- *NOTE* You can find them at most Mexican grocers, and maybe even at your Lucky's or Safeway.
- Annato seeds are very, very hard, and are difficult to grind with a mortar and pestle, use the grinder or it won't make a paste.
- They DO, and WILL stain your grinder, and anything you happen to spill it on, be careful.
- You can double, or multiply this recipe as you wish, and I usually make enough for a year's worth.
- About 4x this recipe.
- It freezes very well, and will last the year in the freezer no problem.
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Reviews
-
Excellent recipe! I made it sometime ago and stored it in the freezer until I needed it. It lasted me almost a year. Time to make more!! :) -
thanks for posting this recipe -
"Learning the ways of the annatto seed, I am" - Yoda. I have recently discovered annatto seeds at a local oriental market. I used this recipe for recipe #178883. I don't know what this is "suppose to" taste like, so I can only tell you what we thought. Both dh & myself liked the marinade quite a bit. And since most of the marinade is from this paste, we must have liked this paste! I appreciate you posting this, as it made my life easier. Instead of having to search high & low for achiote paste, I just had to type in a couple words here at Zaar. Thank you very much for the recipe & I feel honored to be the first reviewer. Sorry I didn't take a picture - I'm trying to get better at that.
RECIPE SUBMITTED BY
I have lived in many exciting places including Hawaii, Nothern and Southern California, Colorado, Oklahoma(ok, not so exciting), Dijon, France, and now reside in Southern Germany with my wife, who is German. I started to grow chiles about 4 years ago because we just can't get jalapenos, serranos, habs, anaheims, and poblanos here. Now my balcony is full of chile plants.
I studied French at the Uni, and expected to marry a French gal, but as fate would have it, I met and fell in love with a German gal. So, now I live in Germany, and have picked up a third language, and love living here and am very happy. I am working on an MBA, and teaching English as a Second Language, and selling chiles, homemade ristras, and homemade chile marmalades to help finance the MBA. I am trying to open the German's eyes so they realize there are more than just green and red chiles in the world.
I started cooking while serving at a Mexican resataurant in Sacramento, Ca., and have enjoyed it ever since. My love of spicy food goes back twenty years. It started with black pepper, and over the years has worked itself into a passion for chiles, and all that is spicy.
You may notice I always give four or five stars. That is because I only bother rating a recipe if it is worth four or five, and if I will be making it again, and or often.
