Tag: Mexican
Tilapia Tacos
Tilapia Tacos
This is a real simple fish taco recipe that takes almost no time to make. I used tilapia for this recipe, but you can use cod, red snapper, mahi-mahi, salmon, catfish, among many other types of fish. The only topping that doesn’t go with fish tacos is cheese, so avoid that combo at all cost.
Ingredients
- 1 lb tilapia fillets cut into chunks
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- 4 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp mexican oregano
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tsp lime juice
Taco Toppings
- white onion/cilantro/green onion mix
- pickled red onion
- pickled jalapeños
- real Mexican sour cream
- lime wedges
Instructions
- Cut tilapia into chunks. Marinate with garlic, paprika, Mexican oregano, lime juice, salt, pepper, and 1 tbsp of olive oil for 15 minutes.
- Heat up olive l in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Sauté the tilapia for 8-10 minutes until the fish is cooked all of the way through.
- Serve the tacos with white onion/cilantro/green onion mix, pickled red onion, pickled jalapeños, real Mexican sour cream, and lime wedges.
Pibil Style Chicken (stove top version)
Pibil style Chicken (stove top version)
Pibil style chicken originates from the Yucatan Peninsula. The main ingredients in the sauce are achiote paste and citrus, usually a combination of orange and grapefruit juices. The chicken is placed on a banana leaf covered with the sauce, topped with a slice of tomato, onion, and epazote leaf. It is then wrapped up in the banana leaf and steamed. This is a stove top version of the traditional recipe, stewing the chicken the sauce instead of steamed in a banana leaf.
Equipment
- Large sauce pan or Dutch oven
- Blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 6 garlic cloves
- 100 grams achiote paste
- 3/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup grapefruit juice
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1 tsp mexican oregano
- 3 lbs chicken pieces
- 2 roma tomatoes sliced
- 1/2 large white onion sliced
- 6 epazote leaves
- salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- In a blender or food processor, place the achiote paste, orange juice, grapefruit juice, oregano, garlic, and cumin.
- Purée until smooth.
- In a large sauce pan or Dutch oven, layer tomato and onion slices. Place the chicken pieces on top of them.
- Cover with the sauce and epazote leaves.
- Cover the chicken and simmer over medium low heat for 50 minutes. You may need to add a little more liquid to the sauce. I recommend using more orange juice or chicken stock.
- Serve with steamed rice and avocado.
Cheese Empanadas
Cheese Empanadas
This is a nice and simple empanada recipe. Having the sugar in the cheese mix brings out a little sweetness mixed with savory, making this hard to not eat the entire batch of empanadas in one sitting. I blame the devil’s lettuce.
Ingredients
Empanada Dough
- 1 1/2 cup masa harina flour
- 1 1/4 cup warm water
- 1/2 tsp salt
Empanada Filling
- 1 1/2 cup crumbled queso fresco
- 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
- 4 tsp sugar
- 2 green onion finely chopped
Garnish
- shredded cabbage
- sliced tomato
- sour cream
- cilantro
- serrano pepper thinly sliced
- crumbled queso fresco
Instructions
Empanada Filling
- Mix all filling ingredients together. Set aside.
Empanada Dough
- Mix all of the dough ingredients together. You may need to add a little bit more warm water to the dough. The consistency should feel like firm mashed potatoes.
Cheese Empanada Assembly
- Roll the dough into equally sized balls, depending on how big you want your empanadas to be. I made mine fairy large and yielded 6. 8 is a more realistic size, but that’s really up to you.
- Using a tortilla press, place 1 dough ball on top of a halved ziplock bag with the other side of the bag over the top, in the center.
- Press until the dough is about 1/8″thick.
- Take off the top ziplock bag. Place 2 heaping tbsp of the cheese filling across the top half of the flattened dough ball.
- Take the bottom half of the ziplock bag and fold over the empanada. Crimp the edges while they are underneath the plastic.
- I like to then roll the crimped edges of the empanadas in a little more to make them more secure. f you want to take it a step farther, crimp the edges with a fork after this step.
- Heat up cooking oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Fry the empanadas in batches, making sure to not overcrowd the pan.
- Fry for 4-5 minutes a side.
- Drain on paper towel.
- Place the empanadas over a bed of shredded cabbage. Top with sour cream, more queso fresco, diced tomato, and cilantro. If you’d like a little heat, add sliced Serrano peppers on top.
