MEXICAN / C.A. FOOD RECIPES - HELP

leahhugh
leahhugh Posts: 144 Member
in Recipes
Ok, so, my husband and I both LOVE LOVE LOVE mexican / central american dishes. The taste is just soooo good and we miss being able to go to any restaurant and get that yummy delicious meal!

We moved to the UK last summer and there is no restaurant that serves that food! We have Taco Bell, but seriously, Taco Bell doesn't cut it.

We are DESPERATE for mexican / central american recipes (you get the gist), on the healthy side! We are meat people too but I would go for anything, minus sea food. Give me all you have!

Replies

  • clehman71
    clehman71 Posts: 139 Member
    A friend of mine (cuban/columbian descent) give me his mother's recipe for Arroz con Pollo

    In a large stock pan
    1 cut up chicken, boil until cooked
    remove chicken and stock but keep chicken stock

    in same large stock pan
    saute the following down to a chunky sauce:
    evoo (enough to cook the veggies)
    5 large tomatoes diced
    1 large green pepper diced
    1 onion diced
    2 cloves garlic minced
    3-4 teaspoons of salt

    while veggies are cooking take 2 cups of white rice (I have never tried brown) and rinse rice until water running through it clear.
    Once veggies are cooked to a sauce ,

    add the rinsed (uncooked) rice
    2 1/2 - 3 cups of the chicken stock
    bring to a full boil and cook until liquid is just above the rice level.
    stir well
    reduce heat to low
    place cooked chicken on top of rice

    cover and cook over low heat for 35-45 minutes. Remove from heat and take lid off. Let set for 10 minutes then serve and enjoy.

    I don't think this dish is low cal, but it is healthy, no processed ingredients.

    Hope you enjoy!
  • brityn
    brityn Posts: 443 Member
    The problem for you will be finding the ingredients for sauces and such.. Do you have a market that sells dried chiles? That will be a huge help! For some really yummy roasted salsa that you can make chile verde or baked enchiladas heres a good one.

    8 medium size tomatillos peeled and rinsed
    1-2 fresh jalapenos (depending on how spicy you like it)
    4 roma tomatoes cut in half
    2 cloves of peeled garlic

    Place everything on a 1" sheet pan and broil until very soft and 1/2 charred. You'll have to turn them every ten minutes or so so they cook evenly.

    Place it all in a blender with 1/4-1/2 cup of cilantro, the juice of one lime and a good amount of salt. To make it spicier you can add 2-3 dried chile japones or chile arbol.

    for chile verde cut up a lb of lean pork loin into 2 inch cubes. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add 2 tbls canola oil. Season pork with salt and pepper and brown well. Add sauce and simmer over medium heat, uncovered for 45 minutes.

    For enchiladas I use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. De-bone chicken. Take 12 corn or flour tortillas and nuke them in the package for 45 seconds until pliable. Fill each one with chicken and a little onion if you like them and roll. Place in a casserole. Top with sauce and shredded jack cheese or cotija cheese if you can find it. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until heated thru. You can make this ahead and freeze it.
  • dotti1121
    dotti1121 Posts: 751 Member
    bump!
  • BlonDeee23
    BlonDeee23 Posts: 11 Member
    Sounds great! I'm going to try it.
  • Cupcakehippiemommy
    Cupcakehippiemommy Posts: 457 Member
    Carnitas -Little Meats


    I usually put 4-6 oz of these Carnitas over a salad or in small white corn tortillas with fresh home-made Pico de gallo.

    
    6 oz portion about 3/4 cup if you don't have a scale :)

    Ingredients
    4 lbs Pork butt also called pork shoulder
    2 Garlic Cloves-Smashed or 3 tblsp Minced garlic
    ½ Medium red onion
    2 Tblsp Cumin
    2 tsp Morton’s light salt (If you use Potassium No Salt you'd reduce sodium by 148mg)
    2 tsp Mrs. Dash Salt free Lemon pepper
    1 cup/8 oz Dr.pepper (Sorry don't like fake stuff)
    2 tsp Fresh black peppercorns
    2 Bay leafs
    1 tsp Knorr chicken or beef flavor Bouillon
    1 orange -sliced/cut in 8 pieces
    Water


    Directions
    1 Trim some of the excess fat not all of it from the meat and discard. Any fat left LITERALLY renders off when you bake this in the oven :)
    2 Place roast in large pot with all the ingredients above. Then fill the pot with water just until the roast is covered in liquid .
    3 Bring to a boil on medium high heat and then bring down to low heat and simmer for 3 to 4hours
    4 Once the roast is fork tender, remove the bone and break the pork into med sized chunks keeping some of the little fat intact
    5 Lay the pieces flat on a baking sheet and bake on 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the pieces are a nice and toasty golden brown.

    This is 12 servings-About 2 – 3 tacos per person 6 oz of pork
    Calories:250 Sodium: 348mg as opposed to Fast food Carnitas
  • leahhugh
    leahhugh Posts: 144 Member
    The problem for you will be finding the ingredients for sauces and such.. Do you have a market that sells dried chiles? That will be a huge help! For some really yummy roasted salsa that you can make chile verde or baked enchiladas heres a good one.

    8 medium size tomatillos peeled and rinsed
    1-2 fresh jalapenos (depending on how spicy you like it)
    4 roma tomatoes cut in half
    2 cloves of peeled garlic

    Place everything on a 1" sheet pan and broil until very soft and 1/2 charred. You'll have to turn them every ten minutes or so so they cook evenly.

    Place it all in a blender with 1/4-1/2 cup of cilantro, the juice of one lime and a good amount of salt. To make it spicier you can add 2-3 dried chile japones or chile arbol.

    for chile verde cut up a lb of lean pork loin into 2 inch cubes. Heat a large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add 2 tbls canola oil. Season pork with salt and pepper and brown well. Add sauce and simmer over medium heat, uncovered for 45 minutes.

    For enchiladas I use a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. De-bone chicken. Take 12 corn or flour tortillas and nuke them in the package for 45 seconds until pliable. Fill each one with chicken and a little onion if you like them and roll. Place in a casserole. Top with sauce and shredded jack cheese or cotija cheese if you can find it. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes until heated thru. You can make this ahead and freeze it.

    Stationed here so we get american foods.
  • leahhugh
    leahhugh Posts: 144 Member
    These are awesome recipes! Keep em comin! I'm not scared of eating these recipes for a month straight, thats how much I miss mexican food!
  • leahhugh
    leahhugh Posts: 144 Member
    Carnitas -Little Meats


    I usually put 4-6 oz of these Carnitas over a salad or in small white corn tortillas with fresh home-made Pico de gallo.

    
    6 oz portion about 3/4 cup if you don't have a scale :)

    Ingredients
    4 lbs Pork butt also called pork shoulder
    2 Garlic Cloves-Smashed or 3 tblsp Minced garlic
    ½ Medium red onion
    2 Tblsp Cumin
    2 tsp Morton’s light salt (If you use Potassium No Salt you'd reduce sodium by 148mg)
    2 tsp Mrs. Dash Salt free Lemon pepper
    1 cup/8 oz Dr.pepper (Sorry don't like fake stuff)
    2 tsp Fresh black peppercorns
    2 Bay leafs
    1 tsp Knorr chicken or beef flavor Bouillon
    1 orange -sliced/cut in 8 pieces
    Water


    Directions
    1 Trim some of the excess fat not all of it from the meat and discard. Any fat left LITERALLY renders off when you bake this in the oven :)
    2 Place roast in large pot with all the ingredients above. Then fill the pot with water just until the roast is covered in liquid .
    3 Bring to a boil on medium high heat and then bring down to low heat and simmer for 3 to 4hours
    4 Once the roast is fork tender, remove the bone and break the pork into med sized chunks keeping some of the little fat intact
    5 Lay the pieces flat on a baking sheet and bake on 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until the pieces are a nice and toasty golden brown.

    This is 12 servings-About 2 – 3 tacos per person 6 oz of pork
    Calories:250 Sodium: 348mg as opposed to Fast food Carnitas

    Ugh, this sounds so good. In this recipe do you have to use Dr. Pepper, or is there something I can substitute with?
  • brityn
    brityn Posts: 443 Member


    Ugh, this sounds so good. In this recipe do you have to use Dr. Pepper, or is there something I can substitute with?

    We make our carnitas with a can of seltzer water and 3 tbls of molasses...
  • tuffytuffy1
    tuffytuffy1 Posts: 920 Member
    I make my version of tostadas like this:

    small corn tortilla
    1/4 cup vegetarian or fat free refried beans
    diced red bell pepper
    diced sweet onion
    diced jalepeno
    1/4 cup light shredded mexican cheese
    2 TB fat free sour cream

    Spread the refried beans on the tortilla and top with the diced vegetables. Cook at 325 until beans are cooked through and tortilla is crisp. Remove from oven; top with shredded cheese; and return to oven until cheese is melted. Remove from oven and top with sour cream. Super low cal and delicious!
  • purple_orchid
    purple_orchid Posts: 129 Member
    i am so saving, thank-you
  • leahhugh
    leahhugh Posts: 144 Member
    i am so saving, thank-you

    Whatever it is in your profile picture looks appetizing!!
  • brityn
    brityn Posts: 443 Member
    Tortilla soup

    For the chicken and stock you can make your own by boiling a whole chicken in salted water with an onion, a couple of carrots, the juice of one lemon, and a few stalks of celery. De-bone it once it's cooked and cooled enough to handle. Otherwise, if I'm in a pinch, I'll use store bought stalk, a de-bone rotisserie chicken and the juice of a lemon for the base.

    One de-boned chicken
    8 cups good quality chicken stock
    Juice of one lemon plus more wedges for garnishing
    3 whole tomatoes
    One raw onion
    4 dried chile arbol
    2 fresh jalapeño
    1/2 bunch of fresh cilantro

    Garnishes
    Pico de gallo (diced cilantro, tomato, onion, jalapeño, with lime juice and salt)
    Diced avocado
    Crispy tortilla strips (I use white corn chips crumbled up a bit)
    Sour cream
    Crumbled queso fresco or cotija cheese
    Shredded green cabbage

    For the salsa base (this is what flavors the stock)

    Cut onion and tomatoes in 1/4ths, jalapeño in half. Place in a medium saucepan and just cover with water. Add 1tsp salt and dried chiles. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until very soft. Reserve liquid and add cooked veggies to blender. Add cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Puree until smooth (add cooking liquid as needed)
    This may be on the spicy side depending on how hot the peppers are. So, heat stock in a large pot and add 1/4-1/2 of the salsa. Taste and see if you need more (if it's for company I like to add a little and leave the rest on the side with the garnishes for people to add as they like) add the chicken to pot. Garnish as desired...
  • mnbakk
    mnbakk Posts: 42 Member
    BUMP!
  • brityn
    brityn Posts: 443 Member
    Salmon Tacos

    6 oz salmon fillet
    1 tsp garlic
    1 tsp butter or olive oil
    1 glug of olive oil for pan
    1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
    sprinkle of paprika

    wash and dry salmon and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat a skillet at medium-medium high heat (if your fillet is really thick then just medium so it doesnt burn before its cooked thru) add a glug of olive oil or cooking spray. Place fillet skin side down and top with remaining ingredients. Put a lid on it and let steam for 3 min. Flip and put the lid back on until cooked thru and it comes off easily from the pan.

    We serve them on warm corn tortillas with shredded cabbage, lime, sliced avocado and make a mango pico de gallo with diced mango, cilantro, white onion, jalapeno, tomato and lime juice. Top with a sprinkle of Tajin and enjoy
  • AimersBee
    AimersBee Posts: 775 Member
    bump... *mouth watering*
  • imkelc
    imkelc Posts: 11 Member
    bump
  • MyChocolateDiet
    MyChocolateDiet Posts: 22,281 Member
    I cook mexican. You can friend me. I could never put all the things I make here but sometimes they will pop up on my food diary. If not and you're curious about a particular thing or see a bunch of ingredients that hint I made something mexican PM me and I'll provide instructions as convenient. I am a real authentic mexican so cook with those flavors but do not break my neck to make homemade tortillas or do every little thing from scratch because I learned from family whose daily life was cooking these foods every single day, not just a weekend adventure. So it had to fit into schedules from the 70's with my liberated mom working and then coming home to cook for her traditional husband who wanted his food to taste just so and be on the table FAST.
  • tiffanyheth
    tiffanyheth Posts: 510 Member
    Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cut into bit size chunks. Begin sauteing in a pan with EVOO and taco seasoning. Just before done, add in a can of Black Beans, and a 1/3 c. red onion, cook until chicken is completely done and onions are tender. Sitr in diced tomatoes, diced avacadoes, cilantro, and if you want shredded cheese and top with sour cream. I eat this with a fork as is, but my hubby likes to use it as a dip and eat it with torilla chips. You can also serve it with hot tortillas.
  • ittybittybadonkadonk
    ittybittybadonkadonk Posts: 11,634 Member
    skinnytaste.com has mexican pulled pork (which I am having for dinner now and its yummy)
  • hookilau
    hookilau Posts: 3,134 Member
    annnnnd bump!

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