Mexican Class – Tacos, Tostada and Empanadas

• Add the flour, oil and water to the mixing bowl, stir all together using a spoon. Once you have a dough, take out of the bowl and knead on a clean surface until it becomes springy. If your dough is too sticky, add a little more flour. If it's too crumbly, add a little more water.
• Set aside – it doesn’t need to rest for long, but you can wait until you need to cook.
• Split dough into balls, heat a frying pan to a high heat, while the temperature builds, sprinkle flour on a clean work surface, and some on your rolling pin.  Take a ball of dough, flatten it into a rough circle with your hand, then roll until thin, keep turning and flipping over.
• Add 2 -3 tacos to your pan at a time and cook until you see the taco blister and char.  Once both sides are cooked, keep wrapped in a tea towel – this softens the taco.  Cook all your tacos, and then you are ready to serve.

• In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together. Store in an airtight contain.

• Either pile everything into a blender and pulse so you retain a texture or omit the water and chop until you have everything fine-diced.  Either way is great

• Preheat oven to 190C.
• Mix your spices, 1tbsp of oil and garlic and coat the chicken thighs.
• If time permits, marinade in the fridge, ideally for a couple of hours or overnight.
• Pop it into the centre of the oven, and it’s ready after about 25 minutes – it will look slightly browned and will be soft to the touch. Shred with two forks and set aside.
• Heat a frying pan with the rest of the oil and saute the onion, garlic and red pepper before adding the chicken
• Cook until the red pepper has softened and the chicken browned
• Serve with a wedge of lime, tacos and salsa

• Heat the oil in a frying pan
• Line a tray with a bit of kitchen towel to dry wraps after cooking
• When the oil is hot enough, shallow fry the wraps until golden on both sides. Immediately transfer them into your lined tray and sprinkle with salt while still warm.
• Serve immediately as they will only stay crispy for a short while.

• Mix the soft butter, the chipotle paste, and the olive oil in a bowl
• Place the prawns into a medium-sized bowl, then add the chipotle butter on top and mix. Cover the bowl and reserve in the fridge until you are ready to cook them.
• Heat a frying pan over high heat, when hot add the chipotle prawns (saving the chipotle paste until ready). Cook the prawns until they turn pink on both sides 1-2 mins. Add all the remaining chipotle butter that’s left, squeeze the lemon juice on top, and add the lemon pieces to your pan to cook in the juices. Simply season with salt and pepper and remove from the heat once ready.
• Serve with tostadas and your favourite salsa...

For the Pastry Dough

• Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and knead for about 5 minutes, then cover and refrigerate for an hour. Take out at least 10 mins before needed.

For the Filling:

• Small dice the chorizo and set aside
• Heat oil in a pan over high heat. Cook onion and garlic for 2 minutes.
• Add the chorizo and cook for 2 minutes. Add the beef and cook until you no longer see raw beef. Add tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Then add everything else except spring onion, then stir.
• Stir through green onion. Transfer to bowl and fully cool before using , about 2 hours.

Construct your Empanadas

• Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F (200°C fan).
• You want round pieces of pastry, so roll pastry until thin, then use a saucer to cut circles.
• The filling should be cold but spreadable. Place the filling on the top half of a round of pastry. Spread flat in a half-moon shape, leaving a 1-1.5cm edge
• Brush the edges with egg white, fold to enclose, pressing out air and sealing the edge. Optional: Do empanada pleats or crimp with fork.
• Place empanadas on 2 baking trays. Brush the outside with egg yolk. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown all over and crispy on the base.
• Serve hot with salsa of your choice or sour cream.

Size of Empanadas

• Empanadas come in all sorts of sizes, for authentic Mexican, go big or go home! But feel free to make smaller ones, the cooking time is the same.