Tag: Mexican
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.
Mexican Style Black Beans (Instant Pot)
Mexican Style Black Beans (Instant Pot)
This is a traditional recipe for Mexican style black beans using an Instant Pot. Buy using the Instant Pot, it cuts down the cooking time from 2 hours to 35 minutes. Other than the amazing pressure cooker function the Instant Pot performs, it has a sauté function that works better than my stove top. Onion and garlic get sautéed for 2 minutes, add the rest of the ingredients, set for 30 minutes on the pressure cooker function, then done. Can’t get any easier.If you want to make these beans vegan, substitute oil for lard.One pot side dish by one pothead.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp lard
- 1/4 medium onion diced
- 6 garlic cloves minced
- 3 cups water
- 8 oz dried black beans
- 3 epazote leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Set your Instant Pot to the sauté function on medium heat. Add 1 tbsp of lard. Once melted and hot, sauté the onions and garlic for 2 minutes; just enough to get a little color out of them.
- Add in the water, black beans, and epazote leaves. Turn your Instant Pot to the pressure cooker setting on high for 30 minutes.
- After the 30 minutes is up, release the pressure. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Enjoy your beans as a side dish to any Mexican meal; breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
Pumpkin Seed Sauce Enchiladas
Pumpkin Seed Sauce Enchiladas
These pumpkin seed sauce enchiladas are super easy to make and are something a little different from the standard red or green sauce enchiladas. This is also a great recipe if you don’t eat meat but are still open to eating cheese.You can find pumpkin seeds in most grocery stores in the international aisle by the Mexican products. My local asian market has 2 huge aisles of Mexican foods, where they keep the seeds by the spices.
Servings: 1
Ingredients
Pumpkin Seed Sauce
- 5 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 1 jalapeno (or 2 serranos)
- 3 garlic cloves
- 1/2 cup chicken stock or water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
Pumpkin Seed Enchiladas
- 4 corn tortillas
- 1 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
- 3/4 cup queso fresco
Garnish
- cilantro chopped
- queso fresco crumbled
Instructions
Pumpkin Seed Sauce
- In a small skillet, lightly dry toast the jalapeño and garlic cloves for 3-4 minutes until you get a little color out of them. Peel the garlic. Set aside.
- Dry toast the pumpkin seeds for 2-3 minutes until they are golden brown. They will puff up a little bit.
- Put the jalapeño, garlic, pumpkin seeds, chicken stock, and salt into a blender.
- Puree until smooth.
- In the same skillet, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil over medium heat. Add the pumpkin seed sauce and cook for 3-4 minutes, making sure that the sauce doesn’t curdle. If it gets too thick, add a tbsp of water.
Pumpkin Seed Sauce Enchiladas
- Over medium high heat, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil to a griddle. Cook the tortillas for 30 seconds a side, just enough to be pliable. Drain on paper towel.
- Add queso fresco to each of the tortillas.
- Fold over. Disregard there being 5 enchiladas in the picture. Maybe I was a little hungry and didn’t think 4 was going to cut it for me. Guess what? Neither did 5.
- Pour the pumpkin seed sauce over the enchiladas. Garnish with more crumbled queso fresco and cilantro.
