Got a Few Minutes? Make These Tinned Fish Sopes

Fish sopes with Masienda Heirloom Blue Corn Masa Harina

January 24, 2023

Sopes are thick masa pancakes, often with a raised ridge for retaining toppings. They can be fried or cooked on the comal. Sopes are also known as pellizcadas, picaditas, and garnachas (Yucatán and Guatemala). Any size sope goes, really, but they’re often 3 to 4 inches across and enjoyed as an antojito (“little whim”) or appetizer. In the Yucatán, the sopes (garnachas) may have a higher ridge, more closely resembling small cups.

We love this weeknight-friendly sope recipe from chef Marisol Corona of ATLA in New York City because it requires hardly any cook time and is mostly about the assembly. Chef Marisol suggests making it with smoked trout, but says you can also use high-quality canned tuna or your tinned fish of choice (or even cold roast chicken).

Born in Guanajuato, Chef Marisol Corona migrated at a young age with her family to Elgin, just outside of Chicago. After interning for The Alinea Group, where she spent two years as part of The Aviary team, she reconnected to her Mexican culinary roots when she joined the ATLA team in 2018, where she now runs the kitchen. In her cooking, Marisol seeks to transmit nostalgic flavors deeply rooted in her memory, celebrating Mexican cooking and the local ingredients she has access to in New York City.

La Familia Masa Harina Bundle

Tinned Fish Sopes

Chef Marisol Corona

Servings

8

Ingredients

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240 g (2 packed cups) Heirloom Corn Masa Harina
480 g or ml (2 cups) warm water

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2 ripe avocados
½ lime
Salt to taste

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½ lb smoked trout or other tinned fish such as good quality canned tuna (roasted cold chicken also works great)
2 Roma tomatoes, de-seeded and diced
1 small English cucumber, diced
1 small carrot, shaved
1 serrano pepper, chopped
¼ cup cilantro, chopped
1 lime
Vinegar-based hot sauce, to taste
Pickled red onions

Directions

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Put your masa harina in a large bowl. Add warm water, starting with 2 cups, and mix, kneading with your hands, for about three minutes. Add more water if needed, a bit at a time, until the dough reaches a Play-Doh-like consistency. Cover with a damp paper towel and let rest while you make the other components.
Portion the masa into 8 equal-sized balls (68 g each).
Using a tortilla press, your hand or the bottom of a glass, press the masa into 1 cm discs and cook on a preheated comal or griddle, flipping after about a minute and a half, until each side gets a bit of char.
Remove from the heat and pinch around the edges to create a base for the sope (careful not to burn your fingers!).

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Mash the avocado in a bowl or molcajete and season with lime and salt to taste. Reserve.

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In a bowl, break the fish into large pieces and mix in the tomatoes, cucumber, Serrano, carrots, lime and salt to taste.
Reheat the sopes (pinched ridge side-down) until the base is crispy. To the base of the sope, add the guacamole followed the fish mixture. Garnish with pickled red onion and hot sauce to taste and enjoy.