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Penticton · the Okanagan

Nearest city · Kelowna Change

Mexican

Pintos — Xicotepec de Juárez, Sierra de Puebla

A regional antojito from the Sierra de Puebla highlands, these thick masa rounds are studded with whole black beans folded directly into the dough. Cooked on a dry comal until opaque and lightly charred at the edges, each pinto is shaped while still warm into a shallow-rimmed vessel, then bathed in a hot jitomate salsa characteristic of the Sierra de Puebla style and finished with white onion and aged cheese. The name likely refers to the speckled appearance of the bean-dotted masa. Diana Kennedy documented this preparation from Xicotepec de Juárez, a coffee-growing mountain town in northern Puebla, where such masa-based snacks anchor daily market eating.

‹Swipe for the next dish›

Serves12 pintos — serves 4 as an antojito*

Within reach1of 6 in Penticton

One in town · five not yet within reach.

How the 6 are reached

In town: 1 · finely chopped white onion (Allium cepa)
Not yet within reach: 5 · prepared corn tortilla masa, softened lard, frijoles negros de olla (whole cooked black beans, Phaseolus vulgaris), drained, salsa de jitomate Sierra de Puebla style, kept at a simmer, finely grated queso añejo or Romano cheese

Cook

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I

The Market List

The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.

340 g (¾ lb / 1½ cups)

prepared corn tortilla masa

Not yet within reach of Penticton · each reach is counted

3 tablespoons

softened lard

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1 teaspoon

sea salt, or to taste

Your own market

¾ cup

frijoles negros de olla (whole cooked black beans, Phaseolus vulgaris), drained

Not yet within reach of Penticton · each reach is counted

1¼ cups

salsa de jitomate Sierra de Puebla style, kept at a simmer

Not yet within reach of Penticton · each reach is counted

6 tablespoons

finely chopped white onion (Allium cepa)

In town · Komatsu Japanese Market · Kelowna →

¾ cup

finely grated queso añejo or Romano cheese

Not yet within reach of Penticton · each reach is counted

Within reach counts in town, delivered, shipped and the nearest city. A staple counts once it has a local seller. Charted from each shop's own pages; not yet vouched by a cook who shops here.

The larder of Penticton →

Each tap is counted, so the stockist sees the demand Provenance sends them.

II

The Method

1

Combine the masa, lard, and salt in a bowl. Work together until the fat is evenly incorporated and the dough is smooth and pliable.

2

Fold the whole black beans through the dough carefully, distributing them without breaking their skins.

3

Divide into 12 equal balls. Using a tortilla press or your palms, flatten each into a round approximately 9 cm (3½ inches) across and noticeably thicker than a standard tortilla.

From the canon — The corn tortilla is the foundational food of Mexican cuisine — a thin, round disc of nixtamalized masa cooked on an ungreased comal (flat griddle) until it … Tortilla — hand press, comal, and the puff →

4

Heat an ungreased comal or heavy cast-iron griddle over medium heat — around 160–175 °C (320–350 °F). Cook each pinto 5 minutes per side until the surface turns opaque and shows light golden-brown patches.

5

While each pinto is still hot, use your fingers to pinch and press a small raised ridge around the circumference, forming a shallow rim.

6

Dip each rimmed pinto briefly into the hot simmering salsa, then set on a warm plate. Spoon additional salsa into the centre, scatter with chopped onion, and finish with grated cheese.

7

Serve at once.

III

Sensory Tests

◇Press the rim of the shaped vessel gently with a fingertip: it should hold its shallow wall without cracking or collapsing, indicating the masa was worked at the correct hydration and temperature — too dry and it splits, too wet and it slumps flat.

◇The underside of the pinto should show irregular dark-brown to near-black char spots from direct comal contact, not a uniform pale tan; uniform pallor means the comal was under-temperature and the masa has steamed rather than sealed, resulting in a gummy interior.

◇Bite through the wall of the vessel: you should encounter the intact skin and yielding interior of a whole black bean distinct from the masa — if the beans have dissolved into the dough, they were overcooked before folding or the masa was worked too aggressively.

◇The jitomate salsa applied to the pinto should smell of cooked tomato with a distinct fried-oil note from being worked in a hot pan with fat; a raw, herbaceous tomato smell indicates the salsa was blended cold and never fried, and will taste thin and acidic rather than round and savoury.

◇Where it lives or dies. The dish lives or dies at the moment the cooked masa round is shaped into its vessel: the window is narrow — roughly 30 to 45 seconds after leaving the comal — when the masa is hot enough to be plastic but not so fragile it tears. Let it cool a minute too long and the rim cracks rather than folds; rush the salsa into a split vessel and you have a wet, structureless mass rather than a contained, sauce-bathed antojito.

IV · Cross-Cuisine Parallels

tlayuda-oaxaca — Oaxacan — Both build on a thick, dry-comal-cooked masa base shaped to hold liquid toppings, relying on the masa's char and density rather than a separate vessel — the structural logic of edible container is shared, though the tlayuda is larger and crisped through rather than soft-walled. arepa-de-choclo — Colombian (Antioqueño) — Whole or coarsely integrated starch elements folded into a ground corn round cooked on a dry griddle, eaten immediately with fresh cheese applied to the hot surface — the same principle of bean or grain inclusions altering the texture and flavour of an otherwise plain masa base. papadzul — Yucatecan — A masa-based antojito whose final character is defined by a hot sauce absorbed into or pooled within the cooked corn element; in both cases the success of the dish depends on the sauce being applied at the right temperature to penetrate without destroying the structure.

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V

What to Pour

Pouring for British Columbia · change · near Penticton

The pairing

Stanley Park Brewing · Metro Vancouver

Stanley Park Brewing · Vancouver →

Beer

From British Columbia

Strange Fellows Brewing · Metro Vancouver

Strange Fellows Brewing · Vancouver →

Beer lager

Without alcohol

Leitz Eins Zwei Zero Riesling

Weingut Leitz · Rheingau

Not yet stocked in British Columbia

Non-alcoholic

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The whole pairing

Pillar VI

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Where the dish comes from and how it came to be — on every recipe.

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The working kitchen

Cost this recipe

Part of The Profession · ingredient costs and your margin

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Part of The Profession · the food-safety plan

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Sourced through Provenance

The hands behind the plate.

Komatsu Japanese Market · Kelowna

Kelowna · finely chopped white onion (Allium cepa)

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