Cooking Weblog

If you like Mexican food your gonna love this. Beautifully seasoned shredded chicken wrapped in crunchy corn tortillas smothered in guacamole, shredded lettuce, shredded cheddar cheese and tomatoes. Homemade restaurant quality refried beans that are creamy and delicious and a wonderful Mexican style fried rice. Simply awesome!

Chicken Taquitos with Rice and Refried beans

Ingredients: Shredded Chicken

1 1/2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken breast

2 teas. seasoned salt

1 teas. pepper

3/4 teas. garlic powder

2 teas. onion powder

2 teas. chili powder

3/4 teas. cumin powder

1/2 teas. oregano

2 dry bay leaves

enough water to cover chicken ( about 2-3 cups )

Ingredients: Taquitos

shredded chicken

15 to 20 6in. corn tortillas

toothpicks

3 to 4 cups vegetable or canola oil for frying

Method: Shredded Chicken Taquitos

Wash chicken thoroughly and place in a medium sized skillet and add just enough water to cover the chicken. Add all ingredients and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 30 to 40 minutes or until the chicken can be shredded using a wood spatula. If there is any liquid left simply turn up the heat and allow the liquid to evaporate. Let the shredded chicken cool enough to work with.

While the chicken is cooking, add the oil to another medium sized skillet. Only use enough oil to go half way up the side of the pan so when you start frying the oil won’t spill over. Heat oil to 350 degrees and lightly fry the tortillas, on both sides, using a pair of tongs, for about 5 to 10 seconds total. All you are doing here is making them pliable enough to roll, you don’t want them crispy yet, that will come later. Stack the cooked tortillas on a plate and when all of the tortillas are done, flip the whole stack over. this will allow the oil on the tortillas to drip evenly over all of them. Turn off the heat on the oil while you are rolling the taquitos. Take about 2 spoonfuls ( about 2 ounces ) of the chicken and place it in a line across the center of a tortilla and roll it up. Use a toothpick to keep it closed by inserting it at the edge of the tortilla and running it through the center. Continue this process until all of the chicken has been used, you should get somewhere between 15 and 20 taquitos. I like to place them on a piece of foil after rolling them because I don’t have to wash it later but a plate will work fine. After they are all rolled up you can start to fry them in the 350 degree oil ( turn the heat back on when there are only a few taquitos left to roll ). Fry a few at a time on both sides until golden brown, they will take about 2 minutes a side. Remove to a plate and remove the toothpick. Top with quacamole, shredded lettuce, shredded cheese and tomatoes and a little bit of hot sauce. Toppings are always optional, you can really put anything on them you want, this is just what I put on them. Here is a pretty picture for you.

Ingredients: Refried Beans

1 lb. dry pinto beans ( about 2 cups )

water ( 8 cups for soaking and 7 cups for cooking )

1 tbsp. salt

3/4 teas. fresh cracked pepper

3/4 tbsp. chili powder

3/4 teas. cumin powder

1 tbsp. onion powder

1 1/4 teas. garlic powder

4 slices thick cut bacon

Method: Refried Beans

Sort through the dry beans and remove any stones or rocks and soak the beans for 24 hours or overnight by putting the dry beans in a 3 to 5 qt. sauce pan or stock pot, adding 8 cups of water and cover. Refrigerate for at least 8 hours, 24 hours is better. Of course you will want to do this the day before. After the beans have soaked, drain the soak water and rinse off the beans in a strainer. Rinse out the pan and fill it with 7 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add beans, bacon strips and seasoning to the water and reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours, stirring occasionally. Keep the lid ajar to allow for evaporation of the liquid. After 3 hours most of the liquid should have evaporated to the point that the beans should be seen through the liquid. You don’t want all of the liquid to evaporate or your beans will be dry. Remove the bacon strips and mash the beans with a potato masher until you get your desired consistency. For a creamier texture you can whisk the beans after mashing them.

The traditional way of making refried beans would be to follow all the steps above but without using the bacon during the cooking process. You would then add bacon grease or manteca ( lard ) to a skillet ( medium low heat ) and mash the beans into the fat. This is where the name ” refried beans ” comes from but adding the bacon at the beginning just saves you an extra step. For vegetarian style refried beans simply eliminate the fat ( bacon or lard ).

Ingredients: Mexican Rice

2 cups rice ( uncooked )

4 cups water

2-3 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 onion ( small dice )

3 cloves garlic ( minced )

2 tbsp. powdered chicken bullion

1/2 teas. salt

1 teas. pepper

1 teas. dark chili powder

1 teas. light chili powder

6oz. red enchilada sauce ( mild )

Method: Mexican Rice

Preheat a 3-5 quart sauce pan on medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the rice and saute for 8 to 10 minutes to slightly brown the rice, stir often or it will burn. Carefully add the water as it will steam when it hits the pan and can burn you. Add all other ingredients and give it a good stir to blend. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low and simmer covered for about 20 minutes, until all of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is tender. Remove from heat and fluff it up with a fork. It’s ready to serve.

You are now ready to assemble your plates and enjoy the fruits of all your hard work so dig in and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope this has helped you and as always, HAPPY COOKING!

David

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