Mexican Gazpacho

Oooh boy, summer in a bowl. I made this last year, and as soon as it FINALLY started to warm up here, I jumped at the chance to make it again. I go heavier on the poblano chiles, add an extra piece of bread to the crumbs mixture and usually fry up more bread cubes to sprinkle on top as croutons. My favorite part is the mango chunks and crispy bits of radish. I brought this to a potluck party once and my friend who claimed to never really get into chilled soups said it was delicious. But to be fair, it's not really even like a soup, more like an excuse to pile a bunch of fresh stuff into an amazing salsa.

Recipe from The Spiced Life, found here.

Gimmie Gummies

Those of you that got Christmas presents from me, probably got one of these babies in the package too:

And then if you visited me shortly after Christmas, you probably got sick on the leftovers with me too. This is my favorite “bad” candy. You have all the staples of a good meal: pizza, hamburgers, fries, hotdog, and two bottles of coke to wash it down.

And they taste dreadful. Like candy flavored Styrofoam. I just get some kind of regressive childhood pleasure out of eating candy shaped like junk food. It makes me happy.

Now imagine my awe when I saw this lovely item in the store:

That’s right, MEXICAN DINNER GUMMI! Complete, all the way down to the cliché Mexican kid in a sombrero! All your favorites are here:

Starting at the top you have Tortilla (I think Spain style, as I have never seen a tortilla like that in my life), frijoles, and huevos rancheros. Then as sides, feast yourselves on: A chile, taco, coke, corn on the cob, some kind of fruit drink, and a drink that looks like lemonade. And look at that adorable Mexican style packaging!

How do they taste you ask? Fucking awful. It is like they forgot to even add the sugar to their Styrofoam mix. They aren’t sweet, and I get the distinct impression I shouldn’t swallow something so obviously unnatural.

The “drink that looks like lemonade” actually turned out to be tamarindo flavored. For those of you that are fans of the citrus-spicy flavor of fake tamarindo, it may satisfy.

Why oh why did I buy a dozen of these. If you want one let me know!

Enchiladas para cena

SO hungry, so I made enchiladas for everyone. When you make enchiladas you gotta make a ton, or it's just not worth it.

my pictures turned out kinda sad and dull. But the food was amazing. Chicken, beef, and a little round dish just for Rachel with cheese enchiladas.

Paris and Felicia’s little tortilla pockets

When Felicia was visiting me, we made chiles rellenos with homemade tortillas for dinner one night. The next day we found that we had leftover everything. So for breakfast we invented these little pockets. We were quite proud of ourselves, only to find out there is a real thing very much like these. Oh well.

We started with:
Grilled Poblano Peppers
Cheese (In this photo I used Mexican cheese)
Tortilla dough (see my last post)
Some Chorizo (already cooked)
and Cilantro (AKA Coriander).

I chopped the cilantro and cut the pepper into strips (peel off the skin first). Then we flattened out some tortillas, just like normal (see making corn tortillas). The I would takes some chorizo, a slice of the pepper, a sprig of cilantro, and some cheese and place it in the middle and seal it up like a ravioli or Chinese dumpling.

I try to get it as flat as possible, so that it can cook evenly on the comal. You cook it just as you would a tortilla, but you might need to press down on the edges to make sure they cook, as it is not completely flat.

They are done when the outside looks just like a cooked tortilla. Later, at the suggestion of my friend Dominick, I tried frying them, which turned out really well!

I like to make a few of both kinds, and sit down to watch a movie with these as snacks.

When you bite into one and get melted cheese, chorizo, poblano and fresh cilantro flavors, it makes you so happy. A caveat though, the raw forms so not store in the refrigerator well. I would cook it slightly. then store it.

Making your own corn tortillas!

Making your own corn tortillas is not that hard, and tastes far better than the store bought ones.

You will need:
Masa Harina (look in the Mexican section of your grocery store)
Salt
And one of these things (a tortilla press):
Mix together some masa and water with a little bit of salt. Use your hands. If it sticks to your hands it is too wet. Keep adding small amounts of flour until the mixture can form a ball and does not stick to your hands. Kind of like play-dough.

Open up the press and place an opened plastic bag over it. Place a small ball of dough on the side with the handle.
Close up with the ball of dough between the plastic and press down.
Try to get it flattened evenly, I sometimes rotate it and re-press to get it uniform. Open it up and peel it from the plastic. Now place it on your comal or griddle, set to a medium heat.

Let it cook and flip it when I allows itself to be flipped. If you have to force it off the cooking surface, it still needs to be cooked on that side. If, by the time you can flip it, it is burnt, your stove is too hot. Repeat for the other side until it looks done! Make a bunch and wrap in cloth to keep them warm and soft!

I topped mine with some simmered pork, salsa and slices of avocado. They tasted awesome.

Special thanks to Natalie, who was my hand model in these photos.

Flour Tortillas and Plastic Plates

I found this flour tortilla recipe awhile ago and the last couple of times I made it I really liked it. The tortillas always end up pretty thick and chewy. Plus, they are super simple and easy to make. So, without further ado, here it is.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vegetable oil
3/4 cup water or milk

Or, you can see the picture below if you are illiterate.

*not pictured, water and/or milk. Good luck figuring that out to those unable to read.

Now for the directions:

1. Mix ingredients together in bowl! I use my hands, less dishes that way. It should be somewhat sticky. Kneed the dough until the stickiness goes away. About 2 minutes.

2. Cover and let the dough sit for 15 min. Then divide up the dough into as many balls as you like depending on what size you want your tortillas. Then cover and let them sit for 20 min. (I'm not sure why it needs to sit since it doesn't rise, but it really does make it better)

3. 4. Roll out the dough pretty much as thin as you can get it. When you roll it out it's very stretchy and resilient so you don't have to be very gentle. They fluff up ablot when they cook too so no matter what you do they will end up being thick and chewy.

5. 6. Finally, set it in a pan on lowish heat with no oil or anything. Once you see it start to bubble you can flip it. Set the hot tortillas in a folded towel or whatever you like.

* Instruction pictures are numbered in wingdings font.

And finally, you can eat them! they stay pretty good wrapped up in the fridge too. Just warm them up again.

Here is the final project, pictured with paris's salsa! Notice that the tortilla is partially eaten because I couldn't wait. Oh yeeeaaassss.

* plate is a plastic miffy childrens plate with seperate sections to keep your food from mixing together. Like this one! Moni and Rachel gave it to me for christmas since I like using baby utensils.

Riconsito!

You want good, real, and cheap Mexican food on the eastside? Look no further than Taqueria El Reconsito!

I love this place so much that I convinced the person interviewing me at Microsoft that we should go there for my lunchtime interview.

Why do I like it so much? It is hard go get good Mexican food in the Redmond/Bellevue area, but this one place may just make up for it. Tasty and properly made dishes are here, like medudo, posole, birria (they just have great soups in general), enchiladas, quesadillas…and my favorite…Tacos! The real tacos, in two little soft tortillas, with grilled meats and cilantro, for about a dollar a taco.

This is me waiting for my tacos to arrive, my limes, radishes, and green salsa eager to be used. To help mitigate the pain of waiting, I recommend the horchata. Yes, they have great horchata and other aguas frescas, such a tamarindo, mango, and piña. With endless refills!

And here they are, the moment of truth:

Served with grilled onions and jalapeño, you squeeze your lime on the tacos, pour on your salsa, put radishes on the meat, and add a sprinkling of salt. Then dig in.

Amazing.

Chávez Mexican Cooking: Pico de Gallo salsa

I have been asked to post how I make salsa, so here is the process. I would like to apologize for the lack of precision, I don't have measurements for most of these types of dishes.

To make a fresh salsa you will need:

Ripe tomatoes
Jalapeños
Cilantro
Onions
Garlic
Lime
Mexican Oregano
Cumin
Salt

Chop up the tomatoes to be as fine or as chunky as you like. Mince the jalapeños (you can remove or keep the seeds depending on how hot you want it. Leaving all the seeds will make it very hot) and add them to the tomatoes. Chop the onions, and mince the garlic and add to the mixture.

Wash the cilantro completely, and remove the leaves from the stems. Chop the leaves and add to the mixture. I usually like a lot of cilantro, I try to make it look 50% green and 50% red. As with all the ingredients in this dish, adjust to your personal preference.

Squeeze lime juice in the salsa, and add some cumin, mexican oregano (be careful with these, they can overpower the flavor), and the salt. Mix up, and see if it tastes good! You can eat this with almost anything.

I did not take this photo, but it looks pretty good, no?