The Day of the Dead is a festival of remembrance, celebrated in Mexico and in other places around the world. The Mexican holiday is celebrated from 31 October to 2 November, where friends and family gather together to pray for and remember friends and family members who have died. We thought you might like some Mexican inspired recipes this week, all very quick and simple to prepare.
Following our trip to the restaurant, Wahaca in London, we had La Costena UK, a company selling authentic Mexican food stuffs via Mextrade, start following us on Twitter. A conversation got going between us around some ingredients we find difficult to source up here in the North East of Scotland. La Costena/Mextrade very kindly gifted us a box containing a large number of goodies which we’ve used to make these recipes here. We now have a reliable supplier for Mexican food stuffs.
Our box contained 5 bags of various dried chillies which we used to make our own chilli pastes, including the chipotle paste used here in the refried beans recipe. [Instructions on how to make your own chilli paste is contained within the recipe notes for refried beans]. We served the beans with corn tortillas, guacamole, pickled red onion and a cactus salad, the recipe for which came from a card sent with the parcel.
corn tortillas
Print recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup masa harina flour
- 2/3 cups water
- pinch of salt
Directions
| Add the flour to a bowl with the salt. Stir in the water and mix together until it forms a smooth dough. If it feels too dry and crumbly then you can add a bit more water. You will start to get a feel for the texture the more you make them. | |
| Cover and leave to rest for about half an hour. When ready to make, put a grill or fry pan on and heat up to med high heat. | |
| Divide the mixture into 8 equal amounts. One at a time roll each piece into a ball and place between 2 sheets of cling film or baking parchment. Roll very thinly using a rolling pin. Once rolled peel back the paper or film and place on griddle or pan. Allow to puff up (1-2 min) then turn over for another minute. Keep warm in a tortilla warmer if you have one or under a tea towel. | |
| Continue with the remaining balls of dough ( I tend to work by having one in the pan and one ready rolled to get a little production line going!). | |
| Allow the tortillas to rest and soften keeping them warm until ready to serve. | |
Note
We like to serve these corn tortillas topped with our recipe for refried beans
refried beans
| Serves | 2-4 |
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp sunflower oil
- 1 red onion (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
- 1 fresh jalapeno chilli (finely diced)
- 2 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 2 tsp chipotle chilli paste
- 1 tbsp tomato puree
- 400g tin black beans (drained and rinsed)
- 400g tin pinto or kidney beans (drained and rinsed)
- 1 large bunch coriander leaves (chopped)
- 200 ml vegetable stock
- salt and pepper
- wensleydale or cheshire cheese (crumbled)
Directions
| Heat the sunflower oil in a heavy based saucepan over a medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno chilli and chipotle chilli paste and saute for 5 minutes until soft but taking care not to colour. | |
| Add the cumin and paprika to the pan and continue to fry gently for a further minute then add the tomato puree and mix well. | |
| Add the beans to the pan, along with the vegetable stock and coriander leaves and cook until the beans soften. Depending on the beans you use this will take 5-10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and using a potato masher, mash down the mixture to the consistency you like to eat. | |
| Serve immediately with some warm corn tortillas, sprinkle over some cheese and pickled red onion. | |
Note
This recipe will serve 2 as a main course with tortillas as we have done, or 4 as a side dish.
We made our own chipotle chilli paste by soaking dried chipotle morita chillis in warm water and allowing them to soften for a couple of hours. We then placed them in a food processor with some of the soaking water and blitzed down into a paste. This paste freezes really well and can be added to other dishes as and when needed, eg added to some homemade mayonnaise to make a tasty chipotle mayonnaise.
We used a potato masher to break down the beans as we wanted a rough texture to the mixture. If serving this with tortilla chips as a dip you may prefer to place the bean mixture into a food precessor and blitz to a smooth consistency. It is entirely your preference.
guacamole
| Serves | 4 |
Ingredients
- 2 ripe avacado pears
- 2 spring onions (white part only and finely chopped)
- 1 red chilli (deseeded and finely chopped)
- juice of 1 lime
- small bunch coriander leaves
- salt and pepper
Directions
| Place the avacado flesh in a bowl and mash down with a fork to the preferred consistency. | |
| Add the remaining ingredients, mix well to combine and place into your serving bowl. Cover with clingfilm and refridgerate until you are ready to serve. Guacamole is best served freshly made as the guacamole will discolour. | |
Note
If you are making this guacamole to serve to children, you may prefer to omit the red chilli. In this instance, place a bottle of Tabasco next to the guacamole and those requiring some heat can spice up their own.
pickled red onions
Ingredients
- 1 small red onion (diced)
- 1/2 tsp golden caster sugar (or any type of sugar you have to hand)
- 2-3 tbsp red wine vinegar
Directions
| Add all ingredients in a small bowl and allow to sit for a few hours or even overnight. These can then be served as a garnish to other dishes. | |
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