Tag: Mexican
Chicken Tinga
Chicken Tinga
Chicken Tinga originates from the state of Puebla, where the Mexican army defeated the French armada in 1862 of the 5th of May, now celebrated as Cinco de Mayo. Tinga can be made out of chicken, pork, or beef, and will always contain tomatoes, onions, and chipotle peppers in adobo. This particular recipe is the most popular way to make chicken tinga in Mexico, but the real authentic version contains chorizo mixed in with the main protein.Chicken Tinga is great served on it’s own as a main dish with rice and beans, but is also great as taco, burrito, and empanada filling as well as a topping for sopes and tostadas.
Ingredients
- 2 lbs chicken thighs skinned, boned, and diced
- 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
- 1/2 large onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 medium tomatoes diced
- 3 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup chicken stock
- 1 tsp thyme
- 1 tsp Mexican oregano
- 1 can chipotle peppers in adobo
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, add the cooking oil. Sauté onion for 5 minutes.
- Add in the garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
- Add in the diced chicken, thyme, and oregano. Cook for 8 minutes until chicken is browned.
- Stir in the diced tomatoes. Add salt and pepper. cook for 5 minutes until the tomatoes start to break down.
- Add in the chicken stock and bay leaves. Cook for another 5 minutes.
- Add in the can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Cover and simmer for 30 minutes on medium heat.
- After the 30 minutes is up, uncover and cook for another 15 minutes to reduce and thicken the sauce. Make sure to break up the chipotle peppers in the chicken tinga.
- Chicken Tinga is great served as a main dish with beans and tortillas. It can be used as taco or burrito meat, sopes, empanada filling, or on top of tostadas like you see in the pic.
Roasted Salsa Verde
Roasted Salsa Verde
Salsa Verde is a staple in Mexican cuisine. It can be used in countless dishes such as enchiladas, chilaquiles, pork ribs, and tamales, just to name a few. There are multiple different ways to make salsa verde. The main ingredient are tomatillos and either Serrano or jalapeño peppers. These are usually accompanied by onion, garlic, and cilantro. In this version of salsa verde, the vegetables are all dry roasted before being pureed in a blender. This type of salsa verde is used more for cooking as a sauce instead of a table salsa.If you are looking to make a salsa verde as a table salsa, simmer your vegetables in a pot of water for 12-15 minutes instead of dry roasting them. Add the vegetables, cilantro, and 1/4 cup of the water from the pot to a blender, then puree. Cook with 1 tbsp of cooking oil over medium heat for 5 minutes.
Ingredients
- 1 lb tomatillos
- 5 serrano peppers
- 1/3 onion
- 6 garlic cloves
- 1/3 cup cilantro
- 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
- 1 tsp salt
Instructions
- In a skillet, dry roast the tomatillos, Serrano peppers, onions, and garlic cloves for 6-7 minutes.
- Make sure to get some color out of the vegetables.
- Add the roasted vegetables and cilantro to a blender.
- Puree until smooth.
- In the same skillet, heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Add the salsa verde and salt. Cook for 5 minutes. Now it’s done and ready for use!
Refried Beans
Refried Beans
This is a very simple recipe to make homemade refried beans instead of buying the canned variety. Once you get this recipe down, it will be like night and day compared to eating store bought.I made my pinto beans in my Instant Pot. I kid you not, it took 25 minutes in total to boil unsealed beans. No more soaking of 8 hours and boiling for another hour for me. This has become a real game changer for me and beans. You can make the refried beans vegetarian if you’d like by using oil instead of lard. I happened to have a container of render pork fat from a whole pork belly that I made, so that was my fat of choice. There are many things you can add the the beans. You can add a little bit of cooked chorizo to your beans if you want them to have that flavor. Diced jalapeño would be great in your beans if you want a little spice. Refried beans are even better when topped off with some queso fresco cheese.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups cooked pinto beans
- 1/4 cup white onion finely chopped
- 2 tbsp lard/vegetable oil/canola oil
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- salt to taste
- pinto bean broth
Instructions
- If using an Instant Pot, add a whole bag of dried pinto beans to 4-5 cups of water. Set to Pressure Cook on high for 25 minutes. If doing this on a stove top, soak your beans over night or for at least 8 hours. Fill a stock pot up with water and boil your beans for an hour or until tender.
- Drain your beans. Save a cup or two of the bean stock water.
- In a large skillet over medium high heat, sauté the onions in the lipid of your choosing. I happened to have some rendered pork fat from a whole pork belly I saved. Cook until browned.
- Add in 2 1/2 cups of the cooked pinto beans. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Using either a bean masher or the bottom of something flat like a ramekin, start mashing the beans while slowly incorporating the bean stock water. Continue this process until all of the beans are smashed and run smooth and are creamy.
- Stir in smoked paprika. Salt to your liking.
