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Black Bean and Chicharron Tamales
Black Bean and Chicharron Tamales
Tamales are one of my favorite Mexican foods. This tamales are so good that I ate the entire recipe over the course of 2 days when I made this. Black beans in tamales sound great to me, but when you mix in crushed chicharrones, the tamales are taken to another level! There is a lot of steps to making tamales. You definitely need to have patience when making these; but it will pay off in the end.Try making tamales in a banana leaf. It gives them a whole different flavor.
Servings: 16 tamales
Ingredients
- 2 cups masa harina flour
- 2 cups Mexican style black beans
- 2 cups chicharrones crushed
- 1 cup lard
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 3 green onion chopped
- 2 tsp salt
- 16 corn husks plus more
Instructions
- Boil enough water to pour over the corn husks. Weigh down the husks with something to make sure they are all submerged. I used the pot I boiled the water in. Soak for 45 minutes.
- Whip the lard in a bowl with a spatula until smooth. Add in the masa harina flour. Mix.
- Measure out 2 cups of chicharrones.
- Lightly crush.
- Mix the chicharrones into the dough.
- Mix in the black beans, green onions, salt, and chicken stock.
- Form a small turd-like dollop of the dough down the center of a corn husk.
- Fold the right side of the husk half way over the tamale.
- Fold the top part of the husk over the tamale.
- Roll it up.
- Do this until you run out of dough. This recipe yields about 16 tamales.
- Since I don’t have a proper steamer to steam these tamales, I used my sticky rice steamer. Fill the pot with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Layer all of the tamales so they are standing somewhat upright.
- Cover with any remaining corn husks. Put a kettle lid over the tamales. Steam for 1 hour.
- Let the tamales rest for 10 minutes before serving. Eat them in the husk. Top with sour cream and a salsa of your liking.
Pork and Bean Empanadas
Pork and Bean Empanadas
There are many different variations of empanadas in many cultures. This recipe is of Mexican variety, stuffed with ground pork, red beans, and queso fresco. The dough is made out of masa harina flour and water. Simple enough. The easiest way to assemble the empanadas is with a tortilla press. When using a tortilla press, I recommend cutting a gallon sized ziplock bag in 2 pieces to keep the dough from sticking. You also will use the bottom ziplock bag to fold over the empanada and crimp. If you don’t have a tortilla press, roll the dough in between the ziplock bags with a rolling pin to no more than 1/8″ thick. If you don’t have a rolling pin, you’re fucked. There are endless options to what you can fill an empanada with. Cheese, beans, chorizo and potatoes, chicken tinga; what ever sounds good to you.
Servings: 8 empanadas
Ingredients
Empanada Filling
- 1 lb ground pork
- 1/2 medium onion diced
- 1 cup cooked beans pinto, red, or black
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 green onion chopped
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 cup crumbled queso fresco
Empanada Dough
- 2 1/2 cups masa harina
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 tsp salt
- vegetable or canola oil for frying
Instructions
Empanada Filling
- In a large saute pan over medium high heat, brown the ground pork, onions, and garlic until cooked through.
- Add in the beans, green onion, cumin, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper. Cook for another 4-5 minutes.
- Transfer the filling to a bowl. Let cool. Stir in the queso fresco. Set aside.
Empanada Dough and assembly
- Mix together the masa harina flour, warm water, and salt. Form into a dough.
- Place a cut apart gallon sized ziplock bag over your tortilla press.
- Place a small dough ball, a little smaller than a golf ball, in the center of the press, with the other side of the ziplock bag over the top.
- Press until the dough is about 1/8″ thick.
- Remove the top ziplock bag. Place a heaping tbsp of the filling in the center of the top half portion of the pressed dough.
- Fold the bottom half of the bag over the empanada, crimping it while it’s underneath the ziplock bag.
- I like to take the edges of the empanada and curl them in a little more.
- I then take a fork and crimp the edges once more.
- You should yield about 8 of these.
- In a medium sized skillet over medium high heat, add enough oil so that it will cover the empanadas half way. Once hot, add in 2 empanadas.
- Cook for 4-5 minutes a side, until golden brown. Cook these in batches. Drain on paper towel.
- erve empanadas over finely shredded cabbage. Top with sour cream and hot sauce.
How to make Chili Oil in an Instant Pot
How to make Chili Oil in an Instant Pot
Ever eat at a Chinese restaurant and they have that chili oil at the table? Then you end up putting it on everything because it’s so damn good. Well now it’s time to learn how to make it for a fraction of the price of the store bought brands. Making this couldn’t be easier using the Instant Pot. The most important thing in making this chili oil is to not burn the ingredients. You want to keep the oil between 225 and 250 degrees. The Instant Pot has a custom temperature setting which makes making this street free. You can still make this on a stove top if you don’t have an Instant Pot. Just make sure to use a cane thermometer to make sure the oil doesn’t get too hot. If the ingredients burn, you will have to start over.Most cultures have some sort of chili oil in their cuisine, all made very similarly. This recipe is for a Chinese style chili oil, so I used ingredients in Chinese cooking. If you were to make a chili oil for Italian cuisine, you would you’d Italian crushed chili flakes and maybe some garlic and dried herbs in the oil. So experiment with making different oils. The chili flake is always the main ingredient, followed by aromatics steeping in the oil.
Ingredients
- 2 cups vegetable oil
- 1 large cinnamon stick
- 5 star anise
- 3 tbsp Szechuan peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 cup crushed Szechuan chili flakes
Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot to the sauté function. Choose custom temp. Set to 230 degrees, Add your oil, cinnamon stick, star anise, peppercorns, and bay leaves to the Instant Pot. Cook for 30 minutes, giving an occasional stir. Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Put the crushed chili flakes in a mason jar. Take a small piece of cheese cloth and put it over the jar, with a rubber band around it to hold in place.
- Take out the cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Pour the oil into the mason jar. The cheese cloth will catch all of the peppercorns and star anise..
- Screw on the cover and let cool to room temp. Refrigerate up to 6 months.
