All Intensive Purposes

Tyler Cowen eats in Hermosillo, Mexico:

Downtown there appear to be more Chinese than Mexican restaurants. The Chinese, however, came here in the 1880s, and have since had little contact with Szechuan grannies. Imagine them having imported the menus for Chinese food, but not the recipes, and trying to recreate those titled dishes using their imagination and Mexican ingredients.

This reminds me of a recipe I've made a number of times:

Chicken Machaca

In this contemporary twist on beef machaca, chicken breasts are pounded thin, cut in slender strips, and then quick-fried in a manner that resembles stir-frying.

Serves 6

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 small tomatoes, preferably Roma or Italian plum, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 green or yellow bell pepper, diced
1 to 2 fresh jalapenos, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon vinegar, preferably white wine
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds, toasted and ground
2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro, for garnish

Pound the chicken breasts to 1/2-inch thickness and slice them into ribbons about 1/2 inch wide.

Warm a large, heavy skillet over high heat. Pour in the oil and swirl it around then pan. Add the chicken and cook it through quickly, stirring continuously. Remove the chicken with a slotted spoon and transfer it to a nearby plate. Add the onion, tomatoes, red and green peppers, and jalapeno to the skillet and cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium and stir in the garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, and cumin. Cook another 1 or 2 minutes, then add the chicken back to the skillet and heat through.

Serve immediately, garnished with cilantro. The dish pairs well with Mexican Red Rice.

The similarity to stir-frying techniques in the Chicken Machaca is not just an odd coincidence. There has been a strong Chinese influence in southern California, Baja, and Arizona since the early railroad years. Pauline Wiley-Kleeman's fascinating 1929 cookbook, Ramona's Spanish-Mexican Cookery: The First Complete and Authentic Spanish-Mexican Cook Book in English, included a chop suey recipe among the Mexican dishes. Mexicali, the capital of Baja California Norte, has several dozen Chinese restaurants.

Cheryl Alters Jamison and Bill Jamison, The Border Cookbook: Authentic Home Cooking of the American Southwest and Northern Mexico 273 (The Harvard Common Press, 1995).