Quick & Easy Mexican Cooking: More Than 80 Everyday Recipes
By Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee and Leigh Beisch
4.5/5
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About this ebook
Es verdad! You can cook Mexican food on a weeknight in under one hour. Using readily available ingredients and familiar techniques, this easy-to-use cookbook makes Mexican cuisine doable for cooks at any skill level. Tacos, taquitos, flautas, burritos, and even classic Mexican desserts like Churros and cinnamon-scented Arroz con Leche (rice pudding) are just a taste of the more than eighty straightforward recipes. With dishes for every meal of the day—plus refreshing drinks such as agua frescas and potent margaritas—Quick & Easy Mexican Cooking adds spice to any kitchen.
“The book is filled with her accessible versions of recipes (made with ingredients found in supermarkets or Mexican grocery stores) collected during her youth and travels over the years. They take 30 minutes or less of active/work time with baking or cooking time additional.” —Los Angeles Daily News
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Quick & Easy Mexican Cooking - Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee
Quick & Easy Mexican Cooking
More than 80 Everyday Recipes
By Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee
Photographs By Leigh Beisch
publisher logoTable of Contents
INTRODUCTION
PANTRY NOTES
GLOSSARY OF MEXICAN INGREDIENTS
GUIDE TO MEXICAN CHEESES
USEFUL UTENSILS FOR COOKING MEXICAN FOOD
1 SALSAS, TORTILLAS, AND MORE
Rooster's Beak
Salsa
Smoky Chipotle Salsa
Roasted Tomatillo Salsa
Mango Salsa
Chunky Avocado Dip
Red Enchilada Sauce
Ancho Chile Sauce
Achiote Paste
Herbed Pumpkin Seed Mole
Corn Tortillas
Baked Tortilla Chips
2 SALADS
Carne Asada Salad
Festive Corn Salad
Cactus Salad
Jícama Salad
Avocado Salad
Chilled Bean Salad
Cilantro-Lime Dressing
Avocado Dressing
3 SOUPS
Chilled Avocado-Lime Soup
Lentil Soup
Soup Of The Seven Seas
Tortilla Soup
Yucatan Lime And Chicken Soup
Chicken And Hominy Soup
Meatball Soup
Beef Stew
4 VEGETABLES AND SIDE DISHES
Refried Beans
Black Beans
Roasted Poblano Chiles
Fried Potatoes With Poblano Chiles
Aztec Zucchini
Fried Chayote Squash
Spicy Corn On The Cob
Vegetarian Quesadillas
Mexican Rice
Mexican Fondue
5 POULTRY AND EGGS
Ranch-Style Eggs
Lenten Eggs
Stuffed Peppers
Overstuffed Chicken Sandwiches
Chicken Baked In Creamy Chipotle Sauce
Chicken With Mole Sauce
Chicken Enchiladas With Green Chile Sauce
Crispy Chicken Taquitos
Summer Chicken Tacos
Turkey Chilaquiles
6 BEEF AND PORK
Shredded Beef
Beef Flautas
Beef Enchiladas With Red Sauce
Seasoned Skirt Steak
Steak Fajitas
Grilled Tampico-Style Steak
Breaded Steak
Pork Tostadas
Spicy Pork Rubbed With Achiote Paste
7 FISH AND SHELLFISH
Shrimp Cocktail
Ceviche
Veracruz-Style Fish
Grilled Salmon With Creamy Cilantro Sauce
Tilapia With Chipotle Sauce
Baja-Style Fish Tacos
Crab Enchiladas With Green Mole
Grilled Shrimp Burritos
8 DESSERTS AND SNACKS
Rice Pudding
Mango Pudding
Mangoes With Chile And Lime
Plantains With Vanilla And Cinnamon Cream
Sweet Corn Ice Cream
Mexican Wedding Cookies
Churros
Three Milks Cake
Chile-Spiced Peanuts
9 BEVERAGES
Mango Refresher
Tamarind Punch
Hibiscus Punch
Cinnamon-Rice Drink
Hot Corn Drink
Mexican Hot Chocolate
Margarita On The Rocks
Strawberry Margaritas
Cactus Fruit Cocktails
QUICK AND EASY MEXICAN MENUS
MAIL-ORDER SOURCES
BOOKS ON THE FOODS, COOKING, AND CULTURE OF MEXICO
INDEX
TABLE OF EQUIVALENTS
Copyright
INTRODUCTION
Living in Los Angeles, I was introduced to Mexican cuisine at a young age. I don’t know if the first dish I tried was the beef enchiladas smothered in red sauce and cheese from the school cafeteria or the spicy burritos I got from the taco truck down the street. Growing up, I had my share of fake nachos and imposter tacos in hard shells that came from shrink-wrapped boxes, but I also had my fill of homemade tamales and steaming bowls of menudo.
However, my real education in Mexican cuisine began when my parents bought a Mexican grocery store in the San Fernando Valley.
It was the summer before I started high school, the early ’80s, and the height of Valley Girl culture. After school, our friends would find my siblings and me, still in our Catholic-school uniforms, running the cash register, taking inventory, and stacking boxes and boxes of tomatoes. The banda music would be blaring from the radio while we worked beneath a canopy of colorful piñatas, their tissue-paper fringe flapping in the breeze of the swamp cooler.
I learned how to pick the perfect avocado, how to wrap corn husks to make giant stacks of tamales, and how to clean the spikes off nopalitos without pricking my fingers.
I experimented with varieties of peppers, made my way through bowls of salsa, and devoured papayas doused with lime juice and chili powder.
Our customers and friends would bring us culinary wonders from their kitchens—bowls brimming with pork meatballs, moist cakes sprinkled with cinnamon, and handmade tortillas still warm from their stoves. From these abuelas (grandmas) and tías (aunts), I learned secrets of each family’s mole, where to get the best chocolates, and how to turn out rows and rows of enchiladas without even breaking a sweat.
I took these lessons with me to college, perfecting my soups, making my salsas spicier, and learning more of the street Spanish I have yet to master. After graduation,
I lived in Mexico and tasted the real flavors south of the border. Strangers would invite me into their kitchens where we would cook, sing, and laugh together.
The origins of Mexican food go back centuries to the culture of the Aztec, the Maya, the Toltec, and the Olmec. The nomadic Maya began to farm the land. They ate corn tortillas, made bean paste, hunted wild game, fished from the ocean, and enjoyed the tropical fruits of the region. The Aztec added to this already developed pantry the fire of chile peppers and the wonderful flavors from cacao. Then throw in the culinary influence of the Spanish, who brought wheat, domesticated animals, grain mills, and cheesemaking. With more visitors and traders to Mexico, the cuisines of France, Portugal, West Africa, the Caribbean, and South America were added to the mix, and we have the modern Mexican menu that is alive and kicking today.
A wonderful example of the richness of Mexican entrees is mole, which is a term used for a variety of thick sauces that vary in color and flavor depending on the ingredients. Each region has its own variation. Oaxaca, the heart of Mexico in both geography and food, has several different varieties. One of the most popular kinds, mole poblano, is an excellent example of how history and contact with various cultures were necessary to shape the dish. A bowl of mole poblano might contain peanuts, sesame seeds, anise, cinnamon, black pepper, sugar, salt, garlic, onion, cloves, coriander, tomato, raisins, lard, and chocolate. The individual ingredients made their way to Mexico at different times, but all of them together create a complex and delicious dish that could have only originated in Mexico.
Even American food has infiltrated the kitchens south of the border with the invention of Tex-Mex cuisine. Although the marriage of American fare and Mexican delicacies probably happened centuries ago, the term Tex-Mex
started as a reference to the Texas-Mexican railway around 1875. The term wasn’t used to describe food until the latter half of the twentieth century. Items such as chili con carne, fajitas, and tortilla chips all emerged from this culinary marriage and what we know as Mexican food in America has been largely shaped by this history.
Traditional Mexican food was cooked over an open fire on iron skillets (called comals) or in ceramic pots. There was no oven cooking, per se, but food was fried, steamed, or boiled. From this way of cooking emerged long-stewed meats boiled into soups, shredded into fillings flavored with chile pastes and nuts, and wrapped up in a blanket of tortillas. Seafood from the coastal lands added more flavors to the diet.
Today, we get to enjoy centuries of food traditions with minimal effort. Mexican food is so popular that ingredients are readily available almost anywhere. Although there is a time and a place for spending long hours slaving over a hot stove, I believe that we can enjoy the best of the feast without too much labor.
I’ve simplified the recipes that I’ve carried along from my youth, picked up along the way, and researched from my travels. I can still get a weeknight dinner on the table without compromising the delicious flavors and complex aromas that make Mexican food one of my favorite cuisines of all time.
I wrote this book hoping I could inspire home cooks to get out and bury their noses in fragrant bouquets of fresh cilantro, experiment with wonderfully fiery chiles, and explore the regional flavors of Mexico for themselves. So, get out the metate (mortar), cradle the ripe tomatoes in your hands, and get ready to start the culinary journey of a lifetime.
PANTRY NOTES
The Mexican pantry is filled with fragrant herbs, fresh vegetables, and dried chiles. The good news is that you probably have many of the necessary ingredients in your pantry already, but feel free to check the glossary if any of them are unfamiliar to you.
I’ve divided the ingredients list into three sections. The A-list includes those used most often and found in a Mexican kitchen. The B-list has items that you should have around if you want to make Mexican food often.
The C-list ingredients are those used for special dishes and worth having if you’re an adventurous cook and want to expand your Mexican food repertoire.
Luckily, it’s easy these days to find the ingredients you’ll need to make delicious Mexican food at home. Even your non-Latino supermarket will likely have many of the items you need to get started. So, roll up your sleeves and get ready for your Mexican food adventure. Let’s get cooking!
A-LIST
INGREDIENTS
BEANS
CHEESES
(see Guide to Mexican Cheeses,
)
CILANTRO
CINNAMON
CORN
CUMIN
GARLIC
JALAPEÑO PEPPERS
LIMES
ONIONS
RICE
SERRANO CHILES
TOMATOES
TORTILLAS
VANILLA
B-LIST
INGREDIENTS
ANCHO CHILES
CANNED CHIPOTLE PEPPERS
CHILI POWDER
CREMA
MASA
NO PALES
PLANTAINS
POBLANO or PASILLA CHILES
TOMATILLOS
C-LIST
INGREDIENTS
ANNATTO SEEDS
CHAYOTE
EPAZOTE
HOMINY
JAMAICA
JÍCAMA
PILONCILLO
PRICKLY PEARS
TAMARIND PODS
Glossary of Mexican
INGREDIENTS
ANCHO CHILE: The dried version of either poblano or pasilla chiles, this milder chile is often ground and made into powder for