Cinco de Mayo/Taco Tuesday
On the menu:
- Chicken Tinga Tacos with Pickled Jalapeño Salsa (from the Half Baked Harvest Super Simple cookbook)
- Mexican-Inspired Black Beans with Melted Cotija Cheese
-Mexican Rice Pudding
-Horchata
Everything was very easy to make, there was just a lot to make. So I planned everything out, starting with the rice pudding and salsa the day before.
For the salsa, all it was, was 2 cups of freshly chopped pineapple, about 2 tablespoons of the jalapeños - chopped (I added a little extra because my husband and I like things spicy), the juice of one lime, and a pinch of salt.
Rice pudding is nostalgic for me. My grandma always made it for me growing up, and I was always the odd one out of my friends that liked different kinds of foods (especially for my age groups), so I always loved when she made it for me. For the rice pudding, I tried to make a more authentic version and used short grain white rice, whole milk, sweetened condensed milk, a dash of vanilla, and one cinnamon stick. While the rice was boiling (until soft) with the cinnamon stick, I mixed about one cup of the whole milk with about half the can of sweetened condensed milk. Next I added the milk and vanilla and let that simmer for about 15 minutes - until it thickened. It was SO good, and even better with some cinnamon and golden raisins.
I never made Horchata before, and was very excited to try it, so for this as well I tried to find an authentic recipe. I only had basmati rice left for a white rice to use, so I soaked that overnight with water and cinnamon. The next morning I strained the water out and blended the rice and cinnamon with one can of evaporated milk and strained out the liquid from that (in a fine mesh strainer) of which I added about 1 and a half cups of milk, a little over a half a cup of sugar and a dash of cinnamon and vanilla. The horchata was still a little grainy when we drank it, but overall I was pretty happy with it for my first time making it!
I've always wanted to try making chicken tinga because it's always my favorite thing to order at Mexican restaurants.This recipe wasn't quite as traditional, but I always love Half Baked Harvest's recipes, so I decided to try this one out from her cookbook - Half Baked Harvest Super Simple. All you have to do is brown chicken breasts with chopped onion and then simmer with one can of enchilada sauce and a few chipotle peppers in adobo. The chicken ended up super tender and really easy to shred. We ended up charring the tortillas on our gas stove, and used two tortillas per taco because we were about to load them up with fillings.
The black beans were probably the star for me, because they're my absolute favorite Mexican side dish to order. I can't help mixing the beans with the rice when I eat them. I definitely wanted to find a more traditional recipe for this one, so I could get it close to the style in restaurants. I sautéed some chopped onion until softened, added minced garlic, cumin, cayenne and salt and then simmered the beans with chopped cilantro for about 20 minutes (adding a few tablespoons of butter at the end) until thickened. I was super happy with the end result!
It may have been a lot of prep work (finding the best recipes/combination of recipes, preparing the ingredients) but that's part of the fun of it for me. Spending those hours completely focused on creating a well-rounded and well thought-out meal is my favorite part of cooking. And it helps when everything turns out tasting delicious, and Sanjeev and I can enjoy an awesome meal together.