cebolla

Name: Chiles toreados
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 20 min
Yield: 2-3 servings
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: Three 1/4 inch slices of white onion, cut in half moons and rings separated; 7 serrano chiles, stems trimmed or cut off as close to the top as possible (I like to leave a little stem because they look nicer); 1/4 cup Kikkoman low sodium soy sauce; Juice of one lime

Chiles toreados

350 · Jul 21, 2014 · 10 Comments

Chiles toreados are a dish that you’ll commonly find in taquerías in Mexico.

They’re usually made with serrano or jalapeño chiles that are sautéed in oil until the chiles are blistered. There are many different ways to make chiles toreados—some people use the chiles alone, but I like to cook onions with them too. There are also a variety of ways to make the sauce, which is part of the beauty of this recipe. There’s no wrong way to make them; it’s just a matter of personal taste.

This post and recipe are part of a compensated campaign in collaboration with Kikkoman and Latina Bloggers Connect.

Rather than cook the chiles in vegetable oil, I’ve opted for a slightly healthier method by using coconut oil spray to cut down on the amount of oil used. No need to worry about your chiles tasting like coconut, though—the taste won’t infuse into the chiles.

This dish can be served as an appetizer or as an accompaniment to tacos of your choice. Chiles toreados are also naturally vegan-friendly!

I’ve eaten this spicy, salty side dish in both hole in the wall and upscale taco joints and the taste varies slightly from place to place. Some cooks like to add oyster sauce for a little umami flavor, but I prefer to keep mine classic with just lime juice and soy sauce. Kikkoman soy sauce is a versatile ingredient that can be used to cook many different types of cuisines. In Mexico, you’ll also often see chiles toreados served in sushi bars and restaurants, as it’s a perfect pairing for dipping rolls, similar to the spicy mixture of soy sauce and wasabi paste that is traditionally used in Japanese cuisine.

This particular dish is most commonly made with regular soy sauce, but if you’re trying to keep your sodium intake down, you can substitute Kikkoman low-sodium soy sauce or even the lime ponzu for a lighter, less salty flavor. I typically use the low-sodium Kikkoman soy sauce in my kitchen. If you want to make the dish spicy, use serrano chiles (and if you like it REALLY spicy, add another chile or two); if you want to make it less spicy, substitute jalapeño chiles for the serrano chiles.

3 votes

Chiles toreados

Prep 5 mins

Cook 15 mins

Total 20 mins

Author Maura Wall Hernandez

Yield 2-3 servings

A classic Mexican taquería dish, chiles toreados are roasted serrano or jalapeño chiles, blister cooked with onion and marinated in a soy sauce and lime juice mixture.

Ingredients

Three 1/4 inch slices of white onion, cut in half moons and rings separated
7 serrano chiles, stems trimmed or cut off as close to the top as possible (I like to leave a little stem because they look nicer)
1/4 cup Kikkoman low sodium soy sauce
Juice of one lime

Instructions

Spray pan with non-stick cooking spray or coconut oil spray and preheat the pan over medium heat for two minutes.
Add chiles and onions to the pan and cover with a lid. Cook for about 5 minutes, remove the lid and stir. Replace the lid and cook for another 5 minutes.
While the onions and chiles are cooking, in a measuring cup, mix 1/4 cup soy sauce and the fresh-squeezed juice of one lime. Stir to incorporate.
At this point your chiles should be blistering and charring nicely in the pan and splitting open slightly. Keep cooking them until they’re as blistered and charred as you like, but remove the onions if necessary so they don’t blacken completely and burn.
When the chiles are blistered and charred to your liking, add the onions back into the pan and pour the soy sauce and lime juice mixture into the pan. Cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring to coat the onion and chiles.
Remove from heat and transfer to a glass or ceramic bowl and allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Notes

Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Cuisine Mexican

Here’s a video I made of this recipe at the Kikkoman test kitchen after I won a contest and was invited to Kikkoman headquarters in San Francisco in September 2014:

Check out more recipes using Kikkoman soy sauce and other products on the Kikkoman Sabor website.

Botana de Chicharrón con Salsa Verde

15 · Feb 27, 2014 · Leave a Comment

Mexico is a very nose-to-tail consumer when it comes to eating animals; like in many other developing countries, and often motivated by economic circumstances in an effort to use the whole animal and not leave much—if any—waste, there are a lot of delicious and unique foods that have come out of this scrappiness. One of these simple delicacies is chicharrón, made of fried pork skins.

This botana, or appetizer, of chicharrón served with salsa verde is very typical in Mexico. Generally, these pork skin cracklings are made by boiling the skin, hanging it to dry, then deep frying it in hot oil until the skin puffs up. They’re by no means a healthy snack, so should be eaten in moderation, but they’re a guilty pleasure worth the indulgence.

They’re not quite the same as processed food pork rinds or pork cracklings you might find in a potato chip-like bag in the supermarket. For that reason, it’s best to buy them from your local carnicería or near the butcher’s counter in any Mexican market.

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Calabacitas con elote

10 · May 22, 2013 · 3 Comments

This is a sponsored post in collaboration with Latina Bloggers Connect and the California Milk Advisory Board. The recipe and opinions are my own.

Calabacitas con elote is a traditional Mexican side dish, typically baked in the oven in a casserole dish or olla de barro. But I’m giving it a summer makeover by cooking it in easy-to-make foil packets for the grill.

We’re spending tons of time outside with family and friends now that summer grilling season is here and this is a great dish to take to any parillada! This vegetarian dish is one of my favorites for serving as a quick dinner side dish as well as for taking to parrilladas (barbeques) that are typically full of meats but lacking enough veggies. If I’m making it for just the two of us, I refrigerate half the recipe and grill it later in the week so that it’s fresh off the grill at dinnertime.

Now that we live in California and have such a variety of fresh, local dairy, produce and meats available to us year-round thanks to the climate, I’ve been consciously trying to eat more locally (and by that, I mean seeking out locally grown produce at the farmers markets and other foods made in my new home state). California is the country’s leading producer of Hispanic dairy products, which are sold nationally, and is the nation’s second largest producer of cheese. In fact, California produces more than 25 kinds of Hispanic cheeses and many other dairy products. A Real California Milk seal means your dairy products are made from 100 percent California milk.

This is what the calabacitas should look like inside the foil packet when it’s done or almost done cooking:

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Alambre de la Patrona

17 · Mar 29, 2013 · 4 Comments

This taco de alambre recipe is a Mexico City-style taco made with thinly sliced pork, bacon, chile poblano, onion and cheese.

I haven’t written much here about my favorite taquería in Chicago, La Lagartija, but have always widely recommended the place to anyone who asked me in person, on Facebook or Twitter about where to get an authentic Mexican meal in my hometown. I wasn’t exactly trying to keep it a secret, but it’s definitely a gem and I always appreciated the neighborhood charm and the way that the meseras and owners always remembered us and greeted us like family. I have so many photos of memorable meals we ate there, and it was the only place in Chicago where we’d regularly eat tacos al pastor.

RELATED RECIPE: Slow-cooker carnitas

But one of my favorite standby meals there, the alambre, is both succulent and super easy to recreate at home. This recipe is my own spin on one of their alambres. The owners are from Mexico City, and the dish on their menu is actually a version of a popular dish at one of our favorite taquerías in Mexico City, El Charco de las Ranas. This dish is also sometimes known as alambre de chuleta and is best served with warm tortillas, but you can skip the tortillas if you like and just eat it with a fork.

alambre_de_la_patrona_tacos …

Salsa mexicana for one

3 · Sep 16, 2012 · 6 Comments

I often get asked how to make pico de gallo by my non-Mexican friends and, sometimes, new readers here. If you’re a regular reader or you know me personally, you probably know where this is going. In our house, pico de gallo is not the typical fresh salsa you may be familiar with, made of tomato, onion and cilantro. Instead, pico de gallo is a snack made with jicama, red onion, cucumber, orange, serrano chile, lime juice and sprinkled with Tajín. So, if you come to my house and ask for some pico de gallo, now you know what to expect.

What a lot of people call pico de gallo, though, we call salsa mexicana. And it’s extremely easy to make! To be clear, in most places if you ask for pico de gallo, the recipe below is what you’ll get. Since I’ve been asked several times in the last week how to make this easy, fresh salsa, I decided I might as well share it here for anyone who doesn’t already know how to make it. It’s easy to assemble in a big batch because you can play with the amounts of each ingredient to taste, but it’s a little more difficult to get it right when making a very small batch for only one or two people for a single meal, so I’ve provided directions below for the portions that I use.

A note, first: The chile is optional. I always put it in my salsa mexicana, but you don’t have to if you’re averse to spicy food. Or, if you want to go kind of half-way with it, you can cut a serrano chile open, remove the seeds and veins and chop it very finely. If you do that, you may still want to use half of the suggested portion and add more to taste as you can tolerate. But if you leave it out all together, just increase the amount of cilantro to taste. You’ll still have a nice salsa and no one will know anything is missing.

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Wordless Wednesday: Guaca-tacos

0 · Mar 21, 2012 · 2 Comments

I posted this photo on Instagram last week as I was eating leftover guacamole in the form of tacos, also known in my household as guaca-tacos.

You can find my guacamole recipe here. Sometimes I like to substitute red onion for white onion (like I did here, though it’s difficult to tell from the photo). It’s a substitution I picked up from my mom since she normally makes her guacamole with red onions.

Do you ever eat guacamole tacos?

Vegetarian tacos de hongo, chile poblano y cebolla

12 · Mar 13, 2012 · 2 Comments

I’ve really been wanting to reduce the amount of meat we eat on a daily basis in order to be a bit healthier. I love veggies and don’t mind vegetarian meals, but when you live with a serious carnivore, it’s sometimes really difficult to convince them that a vegetarian meal is a) good and b) filling enough to be a meal and not just an appetizer. Enter the idea of vegetarian tacos.

Enter the idea of vegetarian tacos.

Sometimes the mere mention of serving a vegetarian meal summons an apocalyptic response in my household. If you can’t get your family to eat a full vegetarian meal, this dish makes a great appetizer to ease them into enjoying it; just double or triple the recipe depending on how many people you’re feeding. They may soon see that an all-veggie meal isn’t so bad after all.

And if you’re truly desperate to get them to eat veggies, you can always add a little crumbled chorizo to this dish. It’s not meatless, but hey, at least they’re eating veggies, right? (You could also attempt to substitute soyrizo for chorizo if you’re brave, but I can’t be held responsible if they figure you out and throw their chanclas at you.)

Regardless, whether you’re vegetarian, trying to get your family to eat less meat or just trying to observe meatless meals during Lent, this is a quick and easy recipe you’re bound to enjoy.

I like to use baby portabellas for this recipe, but you can use just about any kind of regular medium-sized mushroom you like so long as you slice them somewhat thickly so that when they saute with the onions and butter, they don’t shrink too much, or get too thin when they’re fully cooked.

RELATED: How to roast poblano chiles

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Homemade chorizo

90 · Dec 20, 2011 ·

Homemade chorizo is a lot easier to make than you think!

I always used to buy chorizo prepackaged or from the butcher because I thought it would be too hard to make at home. After months of wondering, I finally decided to delve in and give it a shot. The results were fantastic! Now that I know how incredibly easy it is to do on my own, I’ll think twice next time I reach for a package of chorizo in the grocery store.

A lot of people think of Spanish chorizo when they read chorizo in an ingredient list, and though Mexican chorizo is different, it’s equally delicious. Spanish chorizo is a hard, cured meat (think similar to a cured hard salami), and Mexican chorizo is a soft sausage-like meat, almost like a breakfast sausage patty if you broke it up into little bite-size pieces.

I love to use chorizo in a variety of ways: anything from breakfast dishes such as huevo con chorizo, to snacks such as queso fundido, to spicing up vegetables in dishes such as calabacitas rellenas. It’s also great as a topper to tostadas or sopes, and can be used to make fun little party appetizers like these chorizo and avocado cups with chipotle crema.

I used a blend of three chiles to make my homemade chorizo slightly spicy and also some chopped onion and garlic to give it the right texture. The vinegar helps with giving the meat the signature crumble of Mexican chorizo.

This chorizo needs to be cured in the refrigerator for 4-6 days to allow the chiles and garlic to mellow, and for the vinegar to do its work on the texture.

Chorizo Casero | Homemade Chorizo

My chorizo recipe was recommended by the New York Times Diner's Journal in December 2011.

Ingredients

1 pound ground pork
2 cups of water (for soaking the chiles)
4 chile guajillo
3 chile de arbol
1 chile ancho
1/2 teaspoon Mexican oregano
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 quarter-inch thick slice of white onion (one slice will go in food processor; other will be finely chopped)
7 large garlic cloves (reserve 2 for later)
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons Nakano rice vinegar

Instructions

Bring two cups of water to a boil and remove from heat. Tear off the chile stems and soak the chiles for at least an hour or until completely soft. When the chiles are soft, remove them from the water, drain, and discard all the water. Do not remove the seeds from the chiles.
Place the chiles, oregano, salt, pepper, one quarter-inch thick slice of onion and five cloves of garlic into the food processor or blender. Run for 5-10 seconds. Add the apple cider vinegar and rice vinegar. Reseal top of food processor or blender and pulse until the mixture is a smooth paste.
In a glass mixing bowl, add the ground pork and make a well in the middle of the meat. Add half of the chile mixture and gently work it into the meat. Add the second half and repeat.
In the food processor add the two remaining garlic cloves and pulse a few times so that it's roughly chopped. Add to the meat and chile mixture.
Finely chop the second quarter-inch thick slice of onion. Add to meat and mix well to incorporate.
Transfer the chorizo to an airtight container or a plastic zippered bag and store in the refrigerator for four to six days. It needs that time to cure and for the seasoning to mellow out. If you eat it before curing it, it may taste too spicy or too salty, the garlic will be very potent and the vinegar will be strong. If you can bear to leave it alone for six days to cure, it's worth the wait.
After a few days, some liquid will run off the meat, which is completely normal. You can dump it out when you notice it or you can leave it up until you're ready to cook the chorizo. Be sure to discard the liquid either way.
When it's ready to be eaten, just heat a frying man over medium heat, add the chorizo and fry it up until it's crumbly and well-done. Drain over paper towels and use in your favorite dish.

Notes

You can refrigerate cooked or uncooked leftovers for a few days or freeze raw meat in an airtight container or plastic zippered bag for a few weeks.

https://theothersideofthetortilla.com/2011/12/chorizo-casera/

This post is part of a sponsored series to promote Mizkan cooking wines, vinegars and marinades. We also received samples of Mizkan’s Holland House, Nakano and World Harbor brand products and promotional material from Mizkan to assist in preparing the posts. All opinions and recipes in this series are our own.

Sopa de frijol negro con chipotle

5 · Oct 7, 2011 · 3 Comments

Check out this fantastic and hearty black bean and chipotle chile soup I made this week. There are three reasons I love this recipe: First, you can make it in the blender—so it’s very easy to clean up afterward. Second, the whole recipe from prep to bowl can be made in 15 minutes or less! And last but not least, this recipe is very healthy—it’s low-fat and high in fiber. It makes a great first course if you divide into smaller portions, or with a little bolillo roll and butter, it can make an excellent and filling lunch or dinner.

black bean chipotle soup …

Chile chicken tacos in the slow-cooker

11 · Jul 30, 2011 · 2 Comments

I’ve been working late into the evening recently so I decided to break out my slow cooker and put it to work for me! On top of the late nights, the brutal heat wave we’ve been having over the last few weeks has made me less than happy about spending time in the kitchen after a long day, especially if it involves heating up the oven or even the stove top for more than a few minutes because I don’t want to be any hotter.

This recipe for chicken tacos is great for a few reasons: it’s super easy to make, it takes very little effort to prepare and it can be used as a filling for three different dishes so if you make a little extra you can turn it into more than one meal.

It can be used just as a regular old taco filling, rolled and fried in a tortilla to make taquitos or even rolled and bathed in salsa and topped with cheese as enchiladas. The biggest bonus of all: It won’t heat up the kitchen….

Cebollitas asadas

245 · Jun 20, 2011 · 22 Comments

At any parrillada, cebollitas asadas are the one side dish you can count on one s being the same, no matter what kind of meats are chosen for the main dish. These grilled onions are marinated in Maggi and lime juice before being served.

Grilled knob onions with lime and salsa Maggi

I love grilling. The smell of the charcoal, the crackling sound of the fire roasting the food and the anticipation of what’s about to land on my plate. And whenever we grill in Mexico, my suegro (father-in-law) is the king of the barbecue.

Cebollitas asadas are so simple and easy to make (and almost totally impossible to mess up even if you’re not a grilling pro), it’s the single dish that most reminds me of a Sunday parrillada in Mexico.

RELATED RECIPE: Calabacitas con elote

You can add as much or as little lime juice and salsa Maggi, a Worcestershire-style seasoning sauce, or soy sauce as you like – it all depends on your taste buds. The Maggi sold in the U.S. doesn’t taste the same as salsa Maggi sold in Mexico, so I sometimes substitute low sodium soy sauce because we always keep some in the cabinet or the refrigerator.

Not only is this dish often served at barbecues and family gatherings, you can also often find them at little street food stands around Mexico. I especially love to pair this side dish with tacos de rib eye and my Mexican chimichurri-marinated flank steak.

RELATED RECIPE: Calabacitas rellenas

A note for my gluten-free friends: Salsa Maggi contains wheat gluten, wheat and wheat bran among its ingredients. A suitable alternative for you to be able to enjoy this dish is Kikkoman’s gluten-free soy sauce.

Cebollitas

Author: Maura Wall Hernandez
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes
Yield: 2 servings 1x
Category: Side dishes
Method: Grilling
Cuisine: Mexican

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