My son screams for his corn cake

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My 12-year-old son often decides what he is going to have for breakfast the night before, announces it and gets me or my wife to agree to prepare the meal. Last night, he said he wanted a corn cake topped with melted cheese and eggs.

He was referring to the Colombian arepas I bought recently at Hackensack Market. They are about 5 inches across and it's quick and easy to heat one up on our griddle, top it with a slice or two of cheese and, when the cheese melts, add an egg-white omelet with Aleppo red pepper made in a frying pan. My son likes to pour maple syrup over everything and drink orange juice with it. (Photo: Maple syrup tap.)

After I drove him to school this morning, I prepared a variation for myself, using three green tortillas instead of an arepa. You may recall my recent post asking why these tortillas are green. There is nothing on the bag, including no green ingredient, such as spinach, listed. Chuck, a reader, said he believes they are tortillas de nopales like the ones he saw in Southern California.

Today, I was able to reach the Puebla Foods factory in Passaic city where these tortillas were ostensibly made under the Mi Pueblito label. Edith, who is in sales, said Puebla Foods does not make a green tortilla with cactus, spinach or anything else. I asked her to call  La Batalla, the Mexican restaurant in Bergenfield where I bought the tortillas, and said I would call her back.

Why are these tortillas green?

Image by Hagens_world via Flickr

I had lunch with a friend yesterday at La Batalla, a small, colorful Mexican restaurant with groceries in Bergenfield. Non-meat offerings were limited, but I enjoyed two soft tacos with small shrimp, served with refried beans and yellow rice.

After we paid, I noticed stacks of tortillas, including green ones I had never seen before (Mi Pueblito brand from Passaic city, where thousands of Mexicans live). A customer and the woman who worked there didn't know why they were green. My friend looked at the label and said "green corn." Was that a statement or a question, because when I got home I saw only "corn flour" listed. (Photo: Produce store in Mexico.)

I wanted to use the tortillas for dinner last night, so I heated three of them on my stove-top griddle, topped them with sliced provolone cheese and stacked them on a plate. I made three sunny-side-up eggs in extra-virgin olive oil with salt and coarse Aleppo red pepper and put them over the tortillas and melted cheese, which were delicious soaked in the broken yolks.


I had mixed vegetables on the side and drank pinot grigio from Italy.


La Batalla, 83 N. Washington Ave., Bergenfield; 
201-385-0303. Credit cards accepted. Web site:
La Batalla