Tag: Mexican
Al Pastor
Al Pastor
The concept of al pastor was introduced to Mexicans in Puebla, Mexico by Lebanese immigrants. The Lebanese originally created tacos arebas, with thinly sliced lamb roasted upright on a spit, much the same way as shawarma. Mexicans adopted the concept, using marinated pork instead. The pork was roasted on the spit, sometimes with pineapple. Once the outside develops a charred crust, the al pastor is sliced off. The pork and pineapple gets served in corn tortillas with cilantro, onion, and a green salsa. Not much is better than this.
Equipment
- Spice grinder
- Blender or food processor
- deli slicer or sharp knife
- al pastor upright spit
- mandolin
- Probe Thermometer
Ingredients
Al Pastor Marinade
- 1 oz dried guajillo peppers
- 1 oz achiote paste
- 1/2 cup pineapple
- 1/4 cup vinegar
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 tsp mexican oregano
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/4 tsp black pepper
- 1/2 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp salt
Al Pastor
- 3 lbs boneless pork shoulder
- 1 medium white onion
- 1 whole pineapple trimmed
Tacos
- corn tortillas
- white onion finely chopped
- cilantro chopped
- green salsa
Instructions
Al Pastor Marinade
- Grind the dried chilies, cumin, and cloves in a spice grinder.
- Add all marinade ingredients to a blender or food processor.
- Purée until smooth.
- If you have a deli slicer, slice the pork shoulder 1/8”-1/4” thick. If you don’t have a deli slicer, place your pork shoulder in the freezer for an hour to firm up. Using a sharp knife, thinly slice the pork.
- Place the sliced pork shoulder in a bowl.
- Marinate the pork for 3 days. Make sure every slice of pork gets covered in the marinade.
Al Pastor Assembly
- Place the al pastor spit on a baking sheet lined in foil.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place 4 slices of the pork on the spit.
- Place several slices of onion on top.
- Repeat these steps until all of the pork is used.
- Place a trimmed pineapple on top of the pork.
- Roast the pork for 90 minutes. The internal temperature needs to read 160 degrees. Let rest for 15 minutes before slicing.
Taco Assembly
- Using a sharp knife, trim off pieces of the pork and pineapple.
Chicken and Rice
Chicken and Rice
Every Latin country has their own version of chicken and rice. This happens to be a simple Mexican variation. The recipe is pretty straight forward. The most important thing to do with this recipe is to keep the lid on the Dutch oven once the chicken pieces are added. Do not stir! Just let it be. You want to keep in all of the heat and moisture.
Ingredients
- 2 cups rice rinsed
- 4 whole chicken legs cut apart
- salt and pepper
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup carrots cubed
- 3 green onion chopped
- 1/2 cup onion diced
- 1/2 cup peas
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 3 roma tomatoes
- cilantro
- 1 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, add the tomatoes, garlic, and water.
- Purée. Set aside.
- Pat your chicken dry. Season with salt and pepper. In a large Dutch oven, heat up cooking oil over medium high heat. Brown the chicken on each side for 6-7 minutes.
- Set the chicken aside.
- In the same Dutch oven, add the rice. Cook for a couple of minutes, scraping up any chicken bits with a wooden spoon.
- Add in the onion, carrot, and green onion. Cook for a couple more minutes.
- Add the tomato garlic purée. Stir, season with salt, and bring to a boil.
- Reduce the heat to medium. Add in the chicken pieces, peas, and cilantro. Cover and cook for 10 minutes without stirring.
- Turn off the heat. Keep the cover on and let rest for 15-20 minutes.
- Eat this up!
Tilapia wrapped in Banana Leaf
Tilapia wrapped in Banana Leaf
Next to making rice in an Instant Pot, this might be the simplest recipe on Stonedsoup.net. Baking or steaming fish in banana leaves is a very common preparation of fish fillets in coastal Mexico. Having the fish wrapped in banana leaves gives the fish a flavorful herbal taste. You probably won’t be able to find banana leaves in a regular grocery store. My local asian market sells them for really cheap in the produce department. They also have them frozen. When using banana leaves, they need to be washed then quickly roasted in the oven for 2 minutes to loosen then up. This is a very versatile dish. You don’t have to use tilapia. Snapper, rock fish, cod, grouper, barramundi, or mahi-mahi will all turn out great wrapped in a banana leaf. Just remember that if you have thicker fillets of fish, increase the cooking time.
Ingredients
- 6-8 oz tilapia fillet
- 1 banana leaf 8″x10″
- lime juice
- salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
- tomato thinly sliced
- serrano pepper thinly sliced
- cilantro roughly chopped
Instructions
- Wash your banana leaf. Heat in a 400 degree oven for 2 minutes to make pliable. Put a tilapia fillet in the center of the leaf. squeeze lime juice over the fillet. Season wth salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Put 3 slices of tomato and saran pepper over the fillet. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro.
- Wrap up the fish in the banana leaf.
- Place the banana leaf wrapped tilapia on a piece of tin foil on a baking sheet. Bake in your 400 degree preheated oven for 15 minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes before opening the banana leaf.
- Serve in the banana leaf with a side of Mexican style white rice.
