Pambazo

• servings: 2
• active time: 15 minutes
• total time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

2 soft but sturdy bread rolls, sliced in half (pambazo, telera, bolillo, whatever you got)

½ lb raw chorizo

1 medium waxy potato, diced into small cubes (yukon gold, etc)

Sauce

5 guajillo chiles

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 cup chicken stock

Hot water

High heat oil

Optional Toppings

Pickled onions

Cotija cheese

Lettuce

Salsa verde

Directions

First, we’ll make the guajillo sauce. This can be done the day before as desired.

Add the guajillo chiles to a hot pan over medium-high and toast for 10-15 seconds, turning constantly so that they don’t burn. Remove them from a pan and cover them with hot water, allowing them to soak for 10 minutes until the chiles have softened.

Remove the chiles and drain any water still left in the chiles. Add the chiles to a blender along with the garlic and chicken stock, and salt to taste. Don’t make this too salty, as the filling and toppings will add salt to the overall sandwich. The sauce should be pretty loose at this point, but add chicken stock / water if it’s too thick. Set the sauce aside, or store it in the fridge if making beforehand.

Add chorizo to a cold medium pan, and set it over medium heat. Let the fat render out, about 2-3 minutes, then add the diced potatoes into the pan. Mix things around occasionally and saute everything until the potatoes have softened and are starting to brown, about 8 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Spoon some of the guajillo chile sauce onto a plate and dip the bread rolls to completely cover the outside of both halves (do this one at a time to not allow the bread to dampen as it sits). Add a drizzle of high heat oil to a medium nonstick pan over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the dipped bread halves and fry both sides until crispy. Complete this with the rest of the bread halves.

Assemble the sandwich by adding the lettuce, potato and chorizo filling, cotija cheese, and pickled onions. Add some extra guajillo sauce if you want, or have a separate thing to dip your sandwich. Enjoy!

Notes

A sandwich from Mexico City consisting of soft bread stuffed with potatoes and chorizo, covered in a guajillo sauce. The potatoes will get cooked in the fat from the chorizo, making a very flavorful filling. There are many other popular filling additions, and this recipe includes a few of those, like salsa verde and cotija cheese. The sandwich is traditionally pretty mild, but add spices to the chorizo as desired. Feel free to add whatever leftovers you have as well. Somewhat messy to eat, but tasty.