Mexican Food Night!

Yay Mexican food night!

Am entering this menu of ours to SCC by @woman-onthe-wing 😉

So loving the theme for this week because the timing is perfect for us. We always have Mexican dish once a month – every first day of the new month!. So the theme worked wonderfully. Granted, normally I prepared the same, either taco, burrito, and churros. This time, I prepared differently and it surprised my family 😅😅😅

We literally just finished dinner and here I am, relaxing and typing my entry 😂 I am so stuffed. My 7 yo kept saying ‘food is good, mommy’, during dinner. I so believed him😉

Tonight we had a complete meal of:

Corn Tamales as our appetizer
Rice with Chorizo for our dinner
Cantaloupe Punch for our drink
Apple Raisin Turnover for our dessert

Sooooo good, seriously yummo!

Let’s check out how I prepared them😊

Corn Tamales

Normally tamales is made with masa harina and steamed. I have lived in this small city of ours for 5 years now, not once I have ever seen masa harina (I’ve always wanted to make tamales as I am from Indonesia and we have something called ‘lepet/lemet jagung’ which totally looks like tamales, so I always wanted to see if tamales is the same, but nope, no masa harina). We do have ethnic products, but not many varieties. So I have to be a little creative most of the times when we feel like meals with foreign flair.

My tamales is using fresh corn and cornmeal, thus they need to be boiled for the cornmeal to soften cooked/soften properly 😊

Since we also don’t have ready to use corn husk, I washed and patted dry the husk I got from the fresh corns. A little tricky but it worked just fine.

For these tamales you will need:
2 big fresh corn, run through knife from up to down to get the kernels (should be enough for 2 c kernels)
1/2 c water
1 c yellow cornmeal
3/4 of a medium size onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1-2 tbsp olive oil
Freshly cracked black pepper
Salt to taste (1/2 tsp)
Enough clean dry corn husk.

Process corn and water in a blender, milky but slightly lumpy. Pour into a bowl.

Preheat oil, saute onion and garlic until translucent. Take off from heat, add it to corn bowl, mix.

Add 1/4 c at a time of the cornmeal, mixing nicely each time.

Place 1 heaping tbsp of corn mixture (since the husk isn’t wide, unless you stack overlapping one another, then you can have more than 1 tbsp filling) on a corn husk, wrap and secure tightly with either corn husk ribbons or a string.

Bring water to fully boil, drop tamales and cook for 20 minutes. Take out tamales with a slot and let cool slightly (warm is awesome but room temperature is best for my kids).

Rice with Chorizo (Morisqueta con Chorizo)

-recipe for the chorizo followed.

This is a dish from Michoacan and Jalisco, per the books I have in my library.

Morisqueta literally means boiled rice, so you can use storebought chorizo or homemade, it’s up to you 😊

2 c of cooked rice
2 c of chorizo
1/2 of a medium size onion, diced
1 tbsp olive oil
1- 2 Roma tomatoes, sliced/roughly chopped
Salt to taste
Fresh lime juice , for serving, optional

Heat oil, brown slightly onion
Stir in chorizo and tomatoes
Stir in rice and season with salt
Cook until rice is warm enough.
Serve and enjoy 😊

Chorizo (crumbled sausage)

Awhile back someone shared tempeh a chorizo and I wanted to try, so I sent my husband shopping around for specific chile powders (guajillo, ancho, chipotle and/or chile de arbol) for chorizo to 3 grocery stores in town, no luck.

So for this following chorizo, obviously I had to adjust to what I had in the pantry. Nevertheless, the result is amazing if I may say so myself.

And oh, in case no one noticed yet, I am vegan, so my chorizo is vegan style 😉

4 c of TVP
2 heaping tbsp smoked paprika powder
1 tsp cayenne powder
1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp each cinnamon powder, allspice powder, and dried oregano
A pinch or two freshly cracked black pepper
1/4 tsp each Kala namak (Indian black salt) and clove powder
1 tbsp salt
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp vegetable shortening (for that fat taste of meat chorizo)
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 c apple cider vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar

Place everything on a pan, cook stirring continuously until bubbly and shortening melted

Stir in TVP and 2 c warm water

Take off from heat and let stand for an H before using

Aguas Frescas de Melon aka Cantaloupe Punch

(sooooo refreshing)

1 cantaloupe
1 lime
1/4 c sugar
3-4 c water

Process cantaloupe meat, freshly squeezed lime juice, sugar and water to a fine mixture. Strain.

Pour punch into a jug and add some ice cubes

Apple and Raisin Turnovers (Empanadas de Manzanas y Pasas)

I make this turnovers once awhile. Sometimes I use cornstarch (as below), sometimes tapioca starch sometimes tapioca starch plus quick minute tapioca, but adjusting the water measurement obviously!

And yes, this is vegan style turnovers 😊

This turnovers remind me McDonald’s apple pie somehow.

For the skin, you will need

2 c flour
2 tbsp sugar
A pinch of salt
3/4 c vegan margarine
1 tbsp red kidney bean aquafaba
1/4 c ice cold water

Mix and knead. Let rest in the fridge while making the filling.

For the filling, you will need

2 apples, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp water
1/4-1/3 c sugar
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 tsp each cinnamon powder and allspice powder
A pinch of salt
1 handful raisins

Place everything in a pan, cook til thicken and apples softened, the stir in raisins.

Let cool to room temperature before filling the skins

Let’s make the turnovers!

Roll skins, cut circles and place each on the empanadas maker. Place filling in center and shape using the maker. If you don’t have the maker, just cut circle, place filling, fold and tada 😉

Bake in preheated 400 F for 15 minutes

Take out turnovers and brush them with a mixture of 1 tbsp brown sugar dissolved in 1 tbsp red kidney beans. Place back into oven and bake for another 10 minutes.

Cool on rack and enjoy 😋😋😋😋

Here’s my 7 yo enjoying his dinner 💕💕💕💕

Thank you for looking!