Agua de Chocolate

Cacao was most commonly drunk as xocolatl ("bitter water", the origin of the word chocolate) and was the beverage of warriors and nobles. It was considered a potent intoxicant and something that was drunk with great solemnity and gravity which was described as something "not drunk unthinkingly" by the Spanish chronicler Sahagún. Chocolate could be prepared in a huge variety of ways and most of them involved mixing hot or tepid water with toasted and ground cacao beans, maize and any number of flavorers such as chili, honey, vanilla and a wide variety of spices. The ingredients were mixed and beaten with a beating stick or aerated by pouring the chocolate from one vessel to another. If the cacao was of high quality, this produced a rich head of foam. The head could be set aside, the drink further aerated to produce another head, which was also set aside and then placed on top of the drink along with the rest of the foam before serving

Cacao-chocolate=Mole

Cacao

Cacao had immense symbolic value. It was a rare luxury and an import that could not be grown within the boundaries of the Aztec Empire. There are no detailed descriptions of how cacao solids were prepared, but there are a number of allusions to the fact that it was eaten in some form. Cacao beans were among the most valuable commodities and could be used as a form of payment, although of somewhat low value; 80-100 beans could be used to buy a small mantle or a canoe-full of fresh water if one lived on the salty part of the lakes around Tenochtitlan. Nevertheless beans were frequently counterfeited by filling empty cacao shells with dirt or mud.

Spices, spices. We love flavor not only hot also sweet.

Spices

A great number of herbs and spices were available to the Aztecs in seasoning food. Among the most important, chili peppers come in a wide variety of species and cultivars, some domesticated and many of them wild. These included a great range of heat intensity depending on the amount of capsaicin present, with some being mild and others being very piquant. The chilis were often dried and ground for storage and use in cooking, some roasted beforehand to impart different tastes. Flavors varied significantly from one type to another, including sweet, fruity, earthy, smokey, and fiery hot.
Native species of plants used as seasonings produced flavors similar to Old World spices that often proved to be more easily accessible in cooking after the Spanish conquest. Culantro or Mexican coriander provides a much stronger flavor than its Old World parallel, cilantro, and its leaves can be easier to dry. Mexican oregano and Mexican anise likewise produce flavors reminiscent of their Mediterranean counterparts, while allspice has an aroma somewhere in between nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. The bark of canella or white cinnamon has a soft, delicate flavor that might have eased the acceptance of the more pungent cinnamon of Ceylon into modern Mexican cuisine. Before the arrival of onions and garlic, subtler but similar wild plants such as Kunth's onion and other southern-ranging species of the genus Allium, as well as the fragrant leaves of garlic vine may have been appropriated. Other flavorings available included mesquite, vanilla, achiote, epazote, hoja santa, popcorn flower, avocado leaf, and a large array of other indigenous plants.

Comida Azteca

Food preparation

The main method of preparation was boiling or steaming in two-handled clay pots or jars called xoctli in Nahuatl and translated into Spanish as olla ("pot"). The olla was filled with food and heated over a fire. It could also be used to steam food by pouring a little water into the olla and then placing tamales wrapped in maize husks on a light structure of twigs in the middle of the pot. There are several references to frying in the accounts of Spanish chroniclers, but the only specification of the Aztec type of frying appears to be some kind of cooking that was done with syrup, not cooking fat. This is corroborated by the fact that no evidence for large-scale extraction of vegetable oils exist and that no cooking vessels suited for frying have been found by archeologists.
Tortillas, tamales, casseroles and the sauces that went with them were the most common dishes. Chili and salt were both ubiquitous and the most basic meal was usually just tortillas that were dipped in chilis that had been ground in a mortar with a little water. Dough could be used to encase meat, sometimes even whole turkeys, before cooking. In major Aztec towns and cities there were vendors that sold street food of all kinds, catering to both the rich and poor. Other than ingredients and prepared food every imaginable type of atolli could be bought, either to quench one's thirst or as an instant meal in liquid form.

Pico de gallo, Guacamole, Salsa Yucateca.