Yucatáno Vegano: Hibiscus Pibil and other vegan delights from an El Pueblo Mérida dinner party

Even in the land of meat lovers, a Yucatecan meal can be plant-based, even vegan. A dinner party for friends and neighbors at El Pueblo Mérida held such an affair. Here’s how the in-house chefs brought the right flavors while staying true to host Daniel Cecil Hemingway’s commitment to whole food and plant-based living. The recipes are not precise, as the Yucatecan kitchen staff explains:  

First Course: Charred Onion Petals

Ingredients:

• White onion
• Nixtamalized corn dough
• Pumpkin seed
• Yucatecan lime
• Cashews
• Xcatic chili
• Garlic

For this special night, the charred onions symbolize an offering that unites our ancestors. They fry the corn dough until it reaches a semi-crispy texture. Then, we crush and mix it with grated lime and a cashew-based aioli with roasted Xcatic chili and garlic.

Second Course: Hibiscus Pibil Panucho

Ingredients:

• Nixtamalized corn dough
• Black beans
• Hibiscus flower
• Red onion
• Yucatecan cucumber
• Local avocado
• Red recado or achiote

We traditionally prepared our tortilla, cooking it on a comal and giving it a light deep-fry. We substituted pork with hibiscus flower, marinated it in red recado, and followed the traditional Yucatecan cochinita cooking method. It is accompanied by pickled red onion, cucumber, and a creamy avocado.

Third Course: Sikilpak

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin seeds
• Habanero chili paste
• Roasted tomato
• Local cilantro
• Sour orange juice

Combine the above to make sikilpak, a star dish in Maya culture, and naturally 100% vegan. On this night, we wanted to show that it is not only a snack but a magnificent blend of flavor and history. We followed traditional methods to preserve its pre-Hispanic origins.

Fourth Course: Vegan Tamal

Ingredients:

• Nixtamalized corn dough
• Achiote seeds
• X’pelon (bean variety)
• Oyster mushrooms
• Jackfruit
• Vegetable broth
• Banana leaves
• Cocoa butter
• Tomatoes
• Epazote
• White onion
• Habanero chili

Fill the corn dough with a mix of mushrooms and jackfruit in a pibil style, served with tomato sauce. Traditionally, the dough is prepared with pork lard, and the filling is made with chicken and pork. We used cocoa butter as the fat agent. For the filling, we sought a texture and flavor that is distinctly Yucatecan. The mushrooms served as pork rind and meat, while the jackfruit mimicked shredded pibil chicken. This is how we achieved the texture and flavor of a traditional Yucatecan tamal.

Dessert Course: Pumpkin Tart and Pibinal

Ingredients:

• Pumpkin
• Cinnamon
• Clove
• Piloncillo (unrefined cane sugar)
• Pibinal corn, crumbled
• Wheat flour
• Coconut oil

Pibinal means “buried corn,” derived from the Mayan words píib (buried) and nal (corn). The pumpkin sweet cream is traditionally made with cow’s milk, but in our search for a vegan version, we used cashew milk infused with pibinal corn cobs. When heated, this infusion thickens, resulting in a very creamy texture. For the topping, we shucked and dehydrated the corn kernels, then transformed them into a crumble to accompany our tart.

Written with assistance by Jamart Urial Peres of El Pueblo Mérida.