Tag: Mexican
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.
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.
