Cooking Cacti (Nopales) not for the faint of heart.....

Cactus (we call them Nopales) are a ready available "veggie" in Mexico.  In Mexican markets, you can buy them already cleaned, but in USA, they generally come with needles (espinas as we call them)....and you WILL have to clean them if you want to eat them.

It's funny how certain parts of the world regard certain vegetations as "poisonous" (we stayed with a Nepalese family who had hundreds of cactus plants but said "no, you can't eat those....they're POISONOUS!").  Eventually, after Nando and I patiently cleaned about 12 nopal "pads" and cooked them with tomatoes.....a few brave ones in the Nepalese family tried them and liked them, but the womenfolk were definitely not going to try these poisonous plants).  Likewise, in Sri Lanka it was generally believed that bamboo shoots were poisonous.  The Chinese who lived in Sri Lanka were only too delighted to relieve Sri Lankans of "those useless, poisonous roots".

Anyway - the cacti I will show you is not poisonous at all.  This is how it looks when you cut the pads:

Pretty SCARY, right????  And I guarantee if you pick these pads up in your hands all these needles will stick in your fingers, causing tremendous pain.  Firstly, wear gloves (that's important!).  Secondly, the majority of the needles are around the edges, so if you trim 1/4 inch all around, you'll be rid of quite a lot of the needles.
Nextly, remember that BOTH sides of the cactus pads have needles.  In Mexican markets elderly ladies (whose fingers are probably numb by years of cactus peeling) clean the rest of the needles out with a knife, like this:

This is a way I only recommend for the very "experienced".  My daughter and I have our own system - tweezers (we wear gloves) and a small glass of water.  We TWEEZE the needles out then dip the tweezers in the glass of water to rid the tweezer of the needles.  It's a slow process, but can be fun, chit-chatting all the while or listening to music.  She and I are FAST now.....we pile up the cleaned "nopales" on a large plate.

Now then, cacti ooze a slimy substance like okra (called "ladies fingers" in some countries and a lot of people do not like the texture of that slim.  Firstly, in COOL water rinse the CLEANED cacti to make sure no needles are left on.  As you run cold water over the cacti, you will notice that the oozing stops.  The next step is to slice the nopales on the diagonal, like this:

Discard the stub or base of the nopal; it is too tough to eat.  Drop into boiling water a just parboil, do not cook.  Rinse and drain again with cool water.  NOW they are ready to be cooked.  We always cook (just till they turn darkish green) with freshly chopped tomatoes (the acidity of the tomatoes absorbs all the rest of any leftover "slime" and adds flavour), onions, chilies, cilantro (coriander leaves) and a bit of salt and pepper.  They make a delicious ("veggie") side dish, or a great ingredient in tacos.  Enjoy - but please don't get hurt by the needles while cleaning!!