Category: Mexican recipes

Posted in Mexican recipes

Chicken Quesadillas

Posted on by Myra Ortiz

Quesadillas is as delightful as a Burrito but less filling in the tummy, which means you can eat more than one serving! It involves uncomplicated cooking procedure and requires basic kitchen ingredients. All you need to do is just get up and make em’! 🙂

Ingredients:

  • 4 chicken breast fillet (cut into strips)
  • 12 small flour tortillas
  • 2 cups grated cheese (best to use Monterey Jack)
  • 1 pack taco seasoning
  • 1 large white onion cut to thin slices
  • 2 red peppers sliced to strips (green or yellow pepper is also good – you can mix for more color)
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1/3 cup olive oil
  • slice of butter (for toasting the tortilla)
  • cilantro for garnish

good for 6 persons

15 mins prep time

25 mins cook time

Easy Steps:

  • pat dry chicken fillet strips and season with salt, pepper and taco seasoning. (save about a teaspoon of taco seasoning for later). Leave it for about 5-10 minutes to let the chicken absorb all the flavor.
  • Heat 2-3 tbsp of olive oil in a pan over medium to high heat. Fry flavored chicken strips making sure both sides are well cooked. Make sure not to overcook as chicken meat will harden and dry out. When done cooking all the chicken, cut into bite sizes or cubes. Set aside.
  • Using the same pan, add a tbsp of olive oil and throw in all the sliced onion and red pepper. Add the remaining 1 tsp taco seasoning. Saute for just enough time to retain a bit of crunchiness. Take out from the pan and set aside.

Time to put it all together 🙂

Spread a little butter on a clean non-stick pan over low-medium heat. Place tortilla on the pan and start making your Quesadilla

  1. spread grated cheese
  2. Next layer it with onions and peppers
  3. add in your yummy chicken bites
  4. top it off with more cheese
  5. gather the other side of the tortilla to fold (tip: just put enough amount of each ingredient so it’s easy to fold or better, put the ingredients on one side of the tortilla for a more convenient way of folding)
  6. turn tortilla on the other side making sure both sides are brown and toasted to perfection! (optional: garnish with cilantro as you like)
  7. Serve with your favorite dip – sour cream, pico de gallo or eat as it is! 🙂

Posted in Mexican recipes

Tasty Burritos

Posted on by Myra Ortiz

It is a fact that most of my hangry (hungry + angry) episodes in life have been resolved by a Burrito — this Tex-Mex dish in a wrapped tortilla (on the go food), with rice filling (surely fills a Pinoy belly!), involves stretchy, gooey cheese (who doesn’t love cheese? who?!) and has flavorful meat, beans and eaten best with sour cream, salsa or guacamole is definitely a bundle of love.

Burrito filling can have various ingredients, in fact it can be anything you want it to be! but for my recipe, I’m sticking to the basics. Now let me warn you that it may seem basic but the flavor is nothing near your ordinary Burrito. My mum who has 100% Filipino palate and ONLY gets food satisfaction from traditional Filipino food dishes, is in fact in love with this recipe. So with that, I rest my case 🙂

makes 6 wraps

prep time 10 mins

cook time 30 mins

Ingredients:

  • 6 pcs Tortilla wrap (12 inches)
  • 1 pound ground lean beef
  • 2 cups cooked rice (best to use rice from day before)
  • 1 pack Taco seasoning mix
  • 1 can refried beans
  • 1 cup shredded colby monterey jack cheese
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1 whole onion (thinly sliced)
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp olive oil
  • salt & pepper to taste
  • half cup Jalapeños (optional)
  • for the sides: get ready-made: salsa or guacamole or sour cream

Let’s get cookin’!

  1. Heat pan/skillet to medium, add a tbsp of olive oil and start frying the sliced onions. Once it becomes soft and a bit translucent you can now set aside for later.
  2. In the same pan (with all that onion flavor), add 2 tbsp olive oil and the lean ground beef, break them up whilst cooking and when it starts to brown, add in the taco seasoning (leave just about 1 tsp for the rice later) and then add the brown sugar. Season generously with salt and pepper then mix everything well. I recommend to thoroughly cook the meat until super well done. Then set aside.
  3. In a pan, cook refried beans for about 3-5 minutes, mixing it well while heating through. Set aside.
  4. In that same pan (with all the beans left to add flavor), cook rice and make sure to break it down to pieces, add in the taco seasoning leftover about 1 tsp, add your cooked onions. Season with a little salt. Mix and set aside.
Get your tortilla wraps ready coz’ it’s Time to assemble! 🙂

Spread refried beans onto one side of the tortilla > add just enough amount of spiced rice > throw in some ground beef > go crazy with the cheese > add in jalapeños for some heat (optional) > wrap your burrito making sure the sides are folded then roll up!

Heat your pan to medium and toast burritos to perfection. Cut burritos in half, prepare your salsa and sour cream on the side and ENJOY!

Posted in Mexican recipes

Crazy yummy Nachos

Posted on by Myra Ortiz

quick back story of why I made this dish

My brother and sister-in-law came to visit one Sunday and we had Kare-Kare (Filipino dish made with peanut sauce) prepared by my mum for family lunch. I thought wait, why not make an after lunch snack while we all sit and talk about random life stuff? And so I did just that! Bonding with family becomes extra special with food shared on the table. This literally took me less than 30 minutes to make! So easy to make (because the ingredients are mostly ready made), great for picka picka and extremely delicious! (because who doesn’t love nachos?)

This Nachos recipe is simple and ingredients are not overly complicated. You know when you see pictures of nacho recipes with 85 ingredients on top! Yes it’s yummy but THIS recipe has just the fundamentals of a delicious nachos recipe without breaking the budget and overwhelming your taste buds.

What you need for this yummy goodness:

for the ground beef:

  • half kilo lean ground beef (I used Australian ground beef)
  • salt and pepper (to taste)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 Taco ready mix seasoning (Chili con carne ready mix is also a good alternative, it already has spice to it)
  • 1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 white onion (finely minced)

For the rest of the ingredients:

  • 1 bag Nacho chips (or as much as you waaaant! yes!)
  • 1 cup pitted black olives
  • 2-3 large tomatoes (diced)
  • 1 cup pickled hot & sweet jalapeños (add more if you like your nachos spicy)
  • 2-3 cups shredded monterey jack or cheddar cheese (but really we want a bag of cheese, right?)
  • cilantro leaves (optional but really good if you add this)
  • sour cream (to slather all over…yum!)

Time to put them all together!

  1. Heat oil in a pan and add ground beef. While its starting to cook and sizzle, add in a dash of salt and pepper to taste.
  2. add 1 pack taco seasoning and mix well. Add the brown sugar and finely chopped white onions. Cook well and set aside.
  3. Arrange nacho chips at bottom of a large (microwaveable) glass serving dish, top with cheddar cheese, olives all over, jalapeños and diced tomatoes. Repeat for another 2-3 rounds until serving dish is full.
  4. Preheat oven to 400°F and bake for 12-15 minutes or until you see the cheese has melted (omg!)
  5. Carefully take it out of the oven and top it off with some sour cream and sprinkle with cilantro. Everyone dig in! 🙂