Sopa de Joroch': Zucchini and Squash-Blossom Stew with Tiny Corn Pancakes

Joroch' (YO-roch) are small, soft masa cakes — more pancake than dumpling — that are formed, cooked separately, and added to the broth at the moment of service so they hold their texture. The stew itself is a straightforward Yucatecan vegetable broth built around calabacita zucchini, squash blossoms, and chaya or epazote, with a sofrito of charred tomato and habanero as its flavour base. It belongs to the everyday milpa kitchen of the interior towns and villages — food that rural Yucatecan families ate on weekdays long before Sunday comida became an occasion for showier dishes. Its importance lies precisely in that ordinariness: it shows the structural logic of Yucatecan cooking — masa as protein and thickener, squash as the primary vegetable, and the habanero used for fragrance as much as heat.