Mexican Class – Tacos, Tostada and Empanadas
Mexican Class Recipes
Our cookery classes are as much about learning to cook as they are a sociable experience. We hope you enjoyed your class and are ready to recreate the meals at home.
We Cooked:
- Tacos (Wheat and Corn) – Spicy Chicken with Salsa Verde
- Tostada, Chipotle Prawns
Beef Empanadas
Taco Dough – soft
Ingredients: You can make your tacos any sized but this would make 4 large or 8 small tacos.
- – 300g plain or 00 flour – plus extra for dusting
- – Teaspoon of olive oil
- – 200ml water
- – 0.5tsp of baking powder
Method:
- Add the flour, baking powder, olive oil & 200ml water to the mixing bowl, stir all together using a wooden spoon…once it all combines, take the dough with your hand until it becomes springy . If your dough is too sticky, add a little more flour..if 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 8 balls, heat frying pan to high heat, while the temperature builds, sprinkle flour on clean work surface or board, and some on your rolling pin. Take a ball of dough, flatten into 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 cooked, keep wrapped in tea towel – this softens the taco. Cook all your tacos and then you are ready to serve.
Corn is one of the most important ingredients in Mexican cuisine. In the UK corn flour is usually thought of as a really fine flour used to thicken sauces…but this recipe uses a different type of corn flour – masa harina. Perfect for making tacos, quesadilla or simply to accompany other dishes.
Making corn tacos/ tortillas at home is not difficult, but can take a little practice – you ideally have access to a tortilla press and greaseproof paper for pressing, but if you don’t have one, use 2 heavy books instead.
Ingredients – this makes 16
- 200g corn flour (masa harina)
- 300ml warm water
Method:
- Place the masa harina in a large mixing bowl. Pour the warm water into the flour a little at a time, constantly mixing.
- Mix well until the flour and water have combined fully, and a soft and moist dough has formed. There is no need to knead the dough for long or let it rest, as this is a gluten-free flour, so you can work with the dough as soon as it is done.
- To make tortillas, separate the dough into 16 portions and roll them into little dough balls. Put them back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel, so they don’t dry out.
- Heat a non-stick frying pan over medium heat.
- Meanwhile, open the tortilla press, place one piece of plastic/ greaseproof on the base, then put a dough ball in the centre and cover it with the other piece of plastic. Close the tortilla press and press gently to form a 2mm-thick tortilla.
- Turn the heat up on the non-stick pan. Lift the tortilla from the press and gently peel the plastic off both sides; you can re-use
- Gently place the tortilla in the frying pan and cook for 15 seconds on both sides. When the tortilla puffs up fully, remove it from the frying pan.
- Wrap the cooked tortilla in a clean tea towel to keep it warm.
Salsa Verde Cruda
Ingredients – Makes 1kg:
-
860 g small tomatillos, green tomatoes or regular ripe tomatoes
-
1 onion, roughly chopped
-
a handful coriander leaves
-
2 garlic cloves, cut in half
-
2 green chillies
-
1 head of little gem lettuce
-
1 avocado
-
160ml water
-
Salt to taste
Method:
Either pile everything into a blender and blitz until smooth or omit the water and attack with a chef’s knife until you have everything fine-diced. Either way is great, you may prefer the texture of the diced version.
Taco Seasoning
Ingredients:
- – 1 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
- – 1 tsp. garlic powder
- – 1 tsp. onion powder
- – 1 tsp. salt
- – 1 tsp. Black pepper
- – 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
Method:
- In a small bowl, mix all ingredients together. Store in an airtight contain.
Spiced Chicken
This is great with chicken thighs, the boneless thighs are quick to cook and there is no mess or waste – you can also rub over a whole chicken and roast it. If you are veggie, we recommend a splash of oil on a cauliflower broken into florets and then rub the taco seasoning over. Roasting time is similar.
Ingredients- serves 2:,
- 350g chicken thighs, boneless and skinless
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed and chopped
- 1/2 Red pepper, sliced
- 1 Small Red onion, sliced
- 2 tsp Taco spice
- A handful of herbs of your choice, such as parsley, coriander or chives
- 1 Lime
- 2tbsp of olive oil
Method:
- 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 tacos, slaw or salsa
Tostadas
Ingredients:
- 1-2 days old tortilla wraps or thin flour tacos (could be corn or flour)
- Oil for frying
- salt
Method:
- Heat up the oil in a deep frying pan to 185C
- Line a deeper tray or a bowl with a bit of kitchen towel to dry crispy wraps after cooking
- Tostadas are full-round tortillas, totopos are triangular, both can be fried or baked in the oven
- When the oil is hot enough, deep fry wraps until golden on both sides, immediately transfer into a lined tray and sprinkle with salt while still warm.
- serve immediately as they will only stay crispy for a short while, this depends on the thickness of the wraps you are using.
Chipotle Prawns
Ingredients – Serves 4:
- 80g / 1/2 cup butter (soft)
- 2 tablespoons chipotle paste
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 400g / 14oz peeled king prawns
- 200g / 7oz whole unpeeled king prawns
- 1 lemon (cut into quarters)
- Salt and pepper (for seasoning)
To Serve:
- 1 small handful of coriander (roughly chopped)
Method
- Mix the soft butter, the chipotle paste, and olive oil into a thick mixed butter.
- Place both peeled and unpeeled prawns into a medium size bowl, then add the chipotle butter on top and mix with a wooden spoon. Cover the bowl and reserve in the fridge until you are ready to cook them.
- Heat up a large frying pan over high heat. Once it’s hot enough, add the chipotle prawns and cook them until they turn pink on both sides. This should only take a minute or two. At this point, make sure to add all the remaining chipotle butter that’s left into the prawns, 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…
Beef Empanadas
Empanada dough
Makes 10 big empanadas
Ingredients:
- 500g of plain flour
- 250ml of lukewarm water
- 50g of lard or vegan replacement such as Trex
- 2tsp of salt
Method:
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and start kneading it
Knead it for at least 5 minutes before wrapping it in a cling film and refrigerating it for an hour, pulling it out 10 minutes before using it as it would be too brittle otherwise
Ingredients – Makes 10 pasties, although you can cook big or small to suit.
You can use shop bought pastry or make your own
Ingredients
1x empanada dough; 1 egg separated and then for your filling:
- 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 onion, finely chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 300g beef mince
- 1/2 chorizo ring (120g)
- 2tsp tomato paste
- 1tsp fresh thyme, finely chopped
- 1/2 tsp EACH dried oregano, cumin, paprika
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1/4 tsp cooking salt
- 180ml chicken stock
- 125ml chopped tomatoes
- 1 spring onion, finely sliced
Method for making filling:
- Small dice chorizo
- Sauté aromatics – Heat oil in a large non stick pan over high heat. Cook onion and garlic for 2 minutes.
- Cook meat – Add chorizo and cook for 2 minutes. Add 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.
- Cool – Stir through green onion. Transfer to bowl and fully cool before using (~ 2 hours)
Construct your Empanadas:
- Preheat oven to 220°C/425°F (200°C fan).
- Roll Out – you want round pieces of pastry, so roll pastry until thin, then use a saucer to cut out.
- Filling – Filling should be cold but spreadable. Place filling on the top half of a round of pastry. Spread flat in a half-moon shape, leaving a 1-1.5cm edge
- Seal – Brush edge with egg white, fold to enclose, pressing out air and sealing the edge. Optional: Do empanada pleats or crimp with fork or leave plain.
- Bake 20 min – Place empanadas on 2 baking trays. Brush with egg yolk. Bake 20 minutes or until golden brown all over and crispy on the base.
- Serve hot with dipping sauce or salsa of your choice or with a bit of sour cream.
Filling – If your filling is ice cold and rock hard, it will be hard to wrap. Allow it to come to room temp (or give it a microwave helping hand) so the mixture is loose but still cold (else it will melt butter in the pastry)
Optional: Jalapeno, Pomegranate & Lime Slaw
Ingredients- serves 2-4
- – Lime zest and juice
- – 1tsp of caster sugar
- – 3tbsp of olive oil
- – 1x handful of chopped coriander
- – ¼ red cabbage, shredded
- – ¼ white cabbage, shredded
- – Handful pomegranate seeds
- – 1/2 red onion, finely sliced
- – 1 carrot, grated
- – 1 Tbsp pickled Jalapeno Chilli sliced, small
Method:
- In a bowl, combine sugar, lime zest and juice. Whisk until well combined and sugar has melted.
- Start stirring in the oil, gradually, still whisking.
- Add white and red cabbage, pinch of salt and pepper and roughly rub the marinade in, work with your hands until softened.
- Add the rest of the ingredients and correct the seasoning.
- We could use a tbsp. of mayonnaise or yoghurt for a creamy version of the slaw.
We hope you enjoyed the class!
If you have any feedback about the class or questions for chef get in touch. Email: lovetocook@foodsorcery.co.uk
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