Recipe: Chilaquiles Rojos

Chilaquiles is probably the most popular Mexican vegetarian breakfast/brunch recipe that is practically unknown outside of its country of origin. A plate of Chilaquiles is composed of nachos (or totopos as we would call them in Mexico) which are topped with a delicious salsa (in this case we’re making a red Guajillo salsa) and complemented with several different garnishes. Originally nachos are made from corn tortillas that are cut into four pieces and deep fried, but since not many people have access to real corn tortillas, here we have an easier version with normal store bought nachos that is super tasty as well! (Version en español disponible.)

Ingredients (Serves 4):

For the chilaquiles

• 800g of tomato puree
• 3 medium-sized tomatoes
• 1/3 of an onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 Guajillo chiles (optional, these are not spicy)
• 5 dried “chiles de arbol” or serrano/jalapeno (optional, these are spicy)
• 1 cube of vegetable stock
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 cup of water
• 300 g of corn nachos (it can be any type, the less salt the better)

Toppings

• 100 g feta cheese
• 1/2 of a red onion (sliced or chopped)
• Some cilantro leaves
• 100 ml of sour cream
• 4 eggs (we fried ours lightly with some sunflower oil)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Start by making the salsa. Roast the tomatoes and onion on a pan or a grill over medium-high heat for around 6 minutes.

2. After 6 minutes have passed add the garlic and roast for 3 to 4 minutes and then reduce heat to medium, make sure that the garlic doesn’t burn.

3. Then proceed to remove the seeds from the guajillo chiles by removing the stem and cutting them open, once you have completed that step, roast your guajillo chiles, these have to be roasted only for 30 to 45 seconds since they burn easily. The chiles start curling up when they heat up so once that happens be sure to flip them.

4. At this point remove everything from the pan and set it aside on a plate, then roast the “chile de arbol” for around 45 seconds, these can be roasted whole with seeds if you want a spicy salsa. If you want a non spicy salsa then no need to add “chile de arbol” or if you are a bit curious about the flavour you can add one or two chiles without the seeds. If you roast fresh chiles such as serrano/jalapeno, these can be roasted for 5 minutes.

5. Now its time to blend the roasted ingredients along with 1 cup of water, 1 cube of vegetable broth and a pinch of salt for 5 minutes.

6. Once the blend is ready it’s time to boil it along with 800g of tomato puree to obtain a thick salsa, pour into a pot and bring to boil, after it boils let it simmer for 15 minutes over medium heat while stirring every once in a while to make sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.

7. When the salsa has finished thickening, fry the eggs. Once they’re ready put some nachos on the plate, cover with salsa, add the fried egg, sprinkle some feta cheese, then add red onion, sour cream and cilantro leaves to taste.
The chilaquiles are ready. Hope you enjoy them!

 

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