Nopalitos

Updated: September 16, 2022

OPUNTIA SALAD (NOPALITOS)

Have you ever heard about cactus salad? If you grew up in the United States probably not. But cactus (Opuntia ficus indica) has been consumed by Mexicans for hundreds of years.

Some other time I will tell you all about the Opuntia. Its health benefits, nutritional value, uses, etc. It is a fascinating cactus.

But today I just wanted to share a delicious recipe made with the pads of the Opuntia (Prickly pear cactus).

WHERE TO BUY

Get the nopales in any Hispanic store, or online. Many chain stores also have an Hispanic Foods section.

You can get them in different ways:

Whole, raw, not peeled or cut

Raw, peeled and precut

Peeled, cooked and precut

NOPALITOS RECIPE

If you are using raw nopales, check out this link that tells you how to remove the thorns and cook them.

http://40aprons.com/how-to-cook-nopales-cactus/

I will show you how we make this salad at home. I almost always use the nopales in a jar! Less work. And this recipe becomes a very quick one to make.

Ingredients:

- 1 jar of nopales
- 1 large tomato
- ½ onion
- cilantro
- olive oil
- salt
- garlic powder
- cotija cheese
- corn tortillas
- avocado, if you wish
- chopped jalapeño pepper (stem and seeds removed), if you wish

You can change the amounts freely. If you love tomatoes, add more of those. You don’t love onions that much? Add less of those.

Rinse the nopalitos in cold water. They have some sort of slime you want to get rid of.

Chop the tomatos and onions roughly and add them to the rinsed nopalitos. Chop the cilantro and add to the salad. Add some olive oil, salt and garlic powder. Try and add whatever you think you is missing.

Warm some tortillas, add the salad and also add some cotija cheese.