INGREDIENTS

6-8 lbs of Beef Boneless Clod Roast or Chuck Roast

5 chiles Anchos

6 chiles California

2 onions

6 chiles Guajillos

1/4 c of apple cider vinegar

2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

12 black peppers whole

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp thyme

3/4 tsp ground ginger

5 allspice

2-3 garlic cloves

5 bay leaves

3 beef bouillons

cilantro

salt to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

• Cut large pieces of beef roast into smaller sizes to cut down cooking time.
• Remove seeds and veins from the chiles. Add the chiles to a medium pot with water and heat until soft.
• Blend chiles with 1 onion, garlic, sesame seeds, black peppers, oregano, cumin, thyme, ground ginger, salt and all spice with enough water to cover all the ingredients.
• Place beef roast in a sow cooker or instant pot with 1 cup of water.
• Add chile sauce over the beed (strain if desired).
• Cook on medium heat for 6 hours in a slower cooker or 1 hour in an instant pot on high pressure.
• Once the birria is done, you can remove the fat if you like.
• Serve in tacos or a small bowl.
• Top with cilantor, onion and dash of lime.
• Recipe great for quesabirrias.

Prep Time:  1 hour

Cooking Time:  30 Minutes

Yields: 5-7 Servings

INGREDIENTS

3 potatoes

1 cup cotija cheese

8 california chiles

1 ½ tomatoes

1-2 tablespoons oregano

3 teaspoons vinegar

1 garlic clove

salt

water

lettuce

lard or cooking oil

corn tortillas

Potato Mix:

In a small sauce pan, place the potatoes and boil until soft.  Once potatoes have cooled down, peel and place in a large bowl.  Add cotija cheese, salt to taste and mash.

Enchilada Sauce:

Devain and deseed the chiles and place them in a small sauce pan with enough water to cover the chiles.  Bring to a boil and set aside until cooled.  Once the chiles have cooled, place in blender along with oregano, vinegar, garlic, 1 tablespoon of salt and enough water to cover the chiles.  Blend and strain over a medium size bowl.  

Dressing sauce:  

Cut up the tomatoes and place in a blender with oregano, 1 teaspoon of salt and water to cover half of your tomatoes.  Blend and pour into a salsa bowl.

Heat a large pan.  Once pan is hot, add lard or cooking oil.  Dip a single tortilla in your enchilada sauce making sure it is completely covered.  Place in your pan and fry for 30 seconds and flip. Fry tortilla for another 30 seconds.  Add 2 tablespoons of potato mix to the middle of your tortilla.  Quickly flip in both sides of your tortilla to close.  Flip your enchilada until desired crisp.  

Repeat until done.

Serve enchiladas and top with lettuce, cotija cheese, sour cream (optional) and dressing sauce. 

A que la tingada!

Ingredients:

Tostadas

3 pounds of chicken

2-3 Chipotle Chile peppers in adobo

2 onions

4 tomatoes

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp pepper

3 garlic cloves

3 bay leaves

salt to taste

Instructions:

1. Place chicken in pot with 1/2 a onion, 1 bay leaf, 1 garlic clove and salt. Cook until done.
2. Blend tomatoes, 2 garlic cloves, 2-3 chipotle peppers with some of the adobo with one cup of water. Set aside.
3. Add some lard or oil to a pan.
4. Sauté 1 onion (julianed) with 1 tsp of oregano and 2 bay leaves.
5. Add tomato mix.
6. Add salt and pepper to taste.
7. Let simmer for 2 minutes and then add the chicken.
8. Let it simmer for 5 minutes with the chicken.

Enjoy

As simple as this recipe might seem, it was tasty enough to be featured in the Food section of The New York Times. If you would like to taste test it for yourself, you can find my Abuela’s recipe below.

Ingredients

2 pounds of Beef Sirloin Tip Steak

3 tomatoes

2 chiles California

5-8 chiles Japones

1 garlic clove

lard or cooking oil

salt to taste

Instructions

1. Slightly roast chiles.
2. Boil tomatoes until soft.
3. Once tomatoes are done, blend with chiles, garlic, salt, 1/2 cup of water and set aside.
4. Cut meat into cubes.
5. Place meat in a pan with 1/3 cup of water, and salt on medium heat.
6. Once the water has evaporated, add a tbsp of lard to the meat and continue cooking until it has melted.
7. Add chile sauce, lower heat and let it simmer for 5 minutes.
8. Taste for salt.

Enjoy!

I hope this holiday season, you enjoy the little things with those you love.

INGREDIENTS

2 c of flour

1 ½ tsp baking powder

½ cup melted butter

½ c room temp milk

2 eggs

Pinch of salt

Oil

Ground cinnamon

Sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

*In a small plate mix ½ c of sugar and 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon

And set aside to sprinkle the buñuelos once they are cooked.

*Sift flour, baking soda and salt over your working surface.

*Open up the dry ingredients and add butter, eggs and begin to mix with your hands.

*Add milk a little at a time.

*Knead until everything comes together.

*If too soft, add a little bit of flour at a time until you can make 

A solid ball without dough sticking to your hands.

*Knead for 5 minutes.

*Divide the dough into 14-16 small balls.

*Heat up cooking oil on medium high.

*While oil is heating up, spread a pinch of flour on your working surface

And roll out each dough ball to create a round buñuelo until it’s almost transparent.

*Once your oil is hot, place one buñuelo at a time in the oil.

*Using 2 forks, spin buñuelo until the sides are golden brown and flip, occasionally poking the bubbles with the forks.

*Once the other side is golden brown remove the buñuelo from the oil, placing them on

A plate covered in paper towns.

*Sprinkle desired sugar and cinnamon mix.

ENJOY!   

#AbuelasKitchen #Buñuelos #Mexicancooking

Hey … Pull up a chair!

Let me tell you a little secret–

–I feel like I’m on a rollercoaster these days.  

There are moments where I have this immense longing to create.

But then I ask myself…

What’s the point of posting pictures of me?  Who wants to see those? 

Is there a purpose behind my cooking videos without abuela?  There are so many new amazing creatives these days! 

What am I doing? Who do I think I am acting like an influencer.. Btw I hate that term.  

The truth is, there are moments that I allow those voices to get to me.

But then t I remember my Abuela feeling the same way.  And I would give her the pep talk–letting her know how valuable she was and how much she had to offer those who watched her.  I would ask her, are you having fun?  “Si.”  Well then, lets just have fun y que ruede el mundo.  

So I ask myself, “ Do I have fun when creating, no matter what it is?”  I can honestly say I do…

So I’m going to keep creating… for me… and for whoever wants to watch.  Y pues que ruede el mlundo.

INGREDIENTS

•1 pound of Longaniza

•1 cup of Queso manchego or cheese of choice

•1/2 cup Cilantro

•Cream Cheese

•Won Ton wrappers

•Water

•Cooking oil

•Crema Mexicans

•Chili Garlic Sauce

•Chicharron crumbs

•Siracha

•Cotija Cheese

INSTRUCTIONS

•Cook the longaniza.

•Shred the manchego cheese.

•Chop up the cilantro.

• Mix longaniza, manchego cheese and cilantro together.

•With your fingers, moisten the sides of the won ton wrap.

•Add a tablespoon of the longaniza mix to the center of the wrap with 1/2 a teaspoon of cream cheese.

•Fold wrap over to form a triangle sealing the sides together.

•You can pinch the corners together or leave as is.

•Fry for 1 minute on each side in oil of choice or until golden and crispy.

Sprinkle won tons with chicharrón crumbs, Cotija cheese, Siracha and cilantro.

DIPPING SAUCE

•Mix 1 tablespoons of Chili Garlic Sauce per 1/2 cup of Mexican sour cream .

Enjoy

My Abuela was the simplest of women and it was reflected in the dishes she prepared. Nothing complicated–most–well, really easy to make. Her dishes were that of a seasoned home cook. She used minimal ingredients due to the little resources she had and I imagine they just became part of her who she was. She also cooked with just a few spices to not take away from the natural flavor of her main ingredient–But just enough to enhance it. Although #SalAPunos (If you know you know!). It is possible that you ran across one of her videos an thought, “How can that even be good?”. Oh but it was because she used her special ingredient in all the dishes she prepares–amor.

Ingredients:

(Makes 18-20 sopes.)

•2 pounds of ground beef

•1 large potato (cut into small cubes)

•2 pounds of masa

•1 Lettuce head (chopped finely)

•1-2 tomatoes (sliced thinly)

•1 garlic clove

•Mexican sour cream

•Cotija cheese

• Salsa of choice (Abuela used Tapatio or a Valentina on her sopes.)

•Sal a puños

Instructions:

1. Place ground beef in a pan and add 1/2 a cup of water and salt to taste and a garlic clove.

2. Let it brown for a couple minutes and add potatoes that have been cut into small cubes.

3. Let the meat brown and potatoes soften, then remove from heat.

4. Make masa dough for the sopes. If you use Maseca, follow the instruction on the package. You can also buy already prepared masa for tortillas where available.

5. Heat up a pan to medium heat with lard or cooking oil. Enough to have a nice coat of lard in the pan.

6. Make a dough ball a little smaller than the size of your palm.

7. You can use a tortilla press to make the sope or you can use your hand by patting the masa between your hands, flipping back and forth and rotating the masa to form a circle. They can be about 2-3 inches wide.

8. Place you sope on your pan and fry until golden brown. Flip it and fry the other side until golden brown.

9. Remove from heat and let it cool down for a few minutes.

10. Once the sope has cooled, you are going to pinch the edges while pulling out at the same time to create the sope. You are creating the rim of the sope.

11. Add the meat and potatoes, lettuce, tomato slices, sour crema, salsa and Cotija cheese to the sope.

12. Enjoy.

Sopes YouTube vídeo

https://youtu.be/O0JzQRniO9M

At home, we always had rice, beans, salsa y un tipo de carnita.  With those key ingredients you were never short of a good meal.  Especially with frijoles in the house. One day you get ricos frijo, another day rico Litos and then the following ricos frijolitos! I know– bad joke.  Blame my dad, he’s told this joke since I can remember.

If you’re  from Michoacan, you’ve probably heard of  Morisqueta. It’s really just rice, beans and red chile. You can add meat if you want, which is really carne con chile.

Growing up I was never really asked what I wanted to eat. So I never knew this amazing combination had a name until Abuela said one day, “a que hacer morisqueta”.  I was so excited thinking I was going to try a new dish! Here I was … waiting for morisquetaaaaa!!!! Turns out, it was a dish I had been enjoying for years.

We got a good laugh that day. But enjoyed un platillo bien simple, Mexicano y delicioso.

Ingredients

• refried Beans
• steamed rice

Sauce

• 2 chiles California 
• 8-9 chiles Japoneses (Add more for spiciness.)
• 3 tomatoes
• 1 a garlic clove (Abuela only uses ½.)
• Cotija cheese (optional)

Instructions

• If you have frijoles de la olla, heat up some lard and add 4 cups of beans, 1-2 cups of bean broth (or water), and salt to taste. Mash them to make refried beans.
• Add 2 cups of washed rice in a pot, add 4 cups of water and salt to taste.
• Place over medium-low heat and cook without uncovering rice until it is cooked through.
• Roast the chiles.
• Cook tomatoes in water until soft.
• Blend chiles, tomatoes, garlic and salt to taste.
• While the refried beans are still simmering, pour the chile sauce over the beans and mix well.
• Simmer for 2-3 minutes.
• Serve rice along with the beans.
• Sprinkle it with cotija cheese.

For a heartier meal, add meat of choice to your chile sauce to make carne con chile. Serve rice, beans and the carne con chile.

Usually, you place the rice on your plate first then add the beans or carne con chile over the rice.  But Abuela always loved to serve them side by side.

Link to original video.

It is said that your eyes show the strength of your soul.

And I could definitely see it in the eyes of my Abuela.

In  her 87 years, she saw generations being born…Deaths of those she loved.

She Experienced joys and heart aches… like many of us.

What a bitter sweet thing.

Yet, she continued…

Strong women aren’t born, they’re forged in the fires they’ve had to walk through… Paving the way for those who come after.

Abuela has passed down her mantel– her apron. And I carry her essence that comes forth when I need it… Maybe even when you need it.

INGREDIENTS

2 cauliflower heads

6 eggs

1/4 c of flour

3-4 tomatoes

1/4 of an onion

1 garlic clove

1 tsp of cumin

Cotija Cheese

Cooking oil or Lard

Water

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rinse cauliflower.
2. Boil cauliflower until soft then set aside to cool down.
3. Cut into small pieces.

4. Make egg batter by mixing egg whites until nice and fluffy.

5. Add yolks, flour and salt to taste.

6. Dip each cauliflower pieces in egg batter and fry in lard or oil.

7. To make tomato sauce, blend tomatoes, onion, garlic, salt and water.

8. Heat up a pan and add 2 tbsp of lard or oil.

9. Add 2 tbsp of flour and mix quickly to make a roux.

10. After is it well blended, add tomato mix.

11. Add cumin and let it simmer for for 2-3 minutes.

12. Sprinkle in Cotija cheese to liking and check for salt.

13. Add cauliflower and simmer for 3-4 minute.

14. Add more Cotija cheese if you like.

Serve with rice and or beans.

Full Video.

Growing up in a home where we ate Chiles Rellenos once a year but never used the word LENT– I still looked forward to that season. Not because I was religious in any way, but because it would be those celebrated days like Christmas where I would try special dishes and gather around the table as a family. The word Lent didn’t become part of my vocabulary until we started making cooking videos and was forced to translate the recipes. Matter of fact, there were many words I wasn’t familiar with. For example, Sancochar. I thought to myself, “How on earth do you translate that?” I guess some words are meant to be translated are some aren’t. Nevertheless, here I am cooking a recipe my Abuela left me with, to now share with my little family and yours.

INGREDIENTS

10-12 Chiles Poblanos

7 Eggs

Cotija Cheese

Montrrey Jack Cheese

1/4 cup of all purpose flour

Salt

Oil or Lard

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Wash and dry the chiles
2. Roast chiles on all sides on a comal or directly on the fire.
3. After roasting them, place in a plastic bag or anything with a lid to steam them.
4. Once skin begins to detach, peel the skin off.
5. You can remove seeds and membranes but my abuela always left them. Just don’t eat them or se te va a la visicula. LOL
6. Cut your cheese into small pieces and add 1-2 pieces of cotija cheese and Monterey cheese.
7. Add egg whites to a bowl and mix until nice and fluffy.
8. Mix in the egg yolks on a lower speed adding salt and flour.
9. Add oil or lard to your cooking pan.
10. Once it’s nice and hot, dip chile relleno into the egg batter and place into your pan with oil.
11. Fry for about 2-3 minutes on each side.
12. Place on a plate covered in paper towels.
13. Serve with rice and beans.

POTATO PATTIES

If you have left over egg batter, you can enjoy some delicious potato patties by adding 2-3 cooked and mashed potatoes, salt and 1 cup of shredded cotija cheese.

Fry them on each side for 3 minutes or until golden brown.

*****Original Youtube recipe from 2012

Chiles rellenos en caldillo recipe: