A Taste of El Salvador : Chilaquilas

The kitchen is my mom's domain. She is the master. What makes her so fabulous is that she cooks from her heart. Rarely uses a recipe. One of my favorite meals she makes is Chilaquilas. Now our chilaquilas are not the same as Mexican chilaquilas. Salvadorian chilaquilas are tortillas stuffed with cheese, dipped in an egg batter, pan fried and then nestled into a delicious tomato sauce. They are amazing!!! The longer they sit in that sauce the better they taste. I love eating them the second day. So when I make them I make enough for leftovers.

Chilaquilas are very traditional and very much comfort food. When I want a piece of home, this is one of the dishes I go to. It's simple, yet the flavors are complex. The tomato sauce is the key. Having the right balance of flavors, texture and seasoning are essential. So the recipe amounts are an estimate of what you'll need. Much of my cooking is by instinct, just like my mom, so I do my best to measure what I can so that you get good results. What you're looking for in the sauce is to be able to taste all the flavors, onions, bell pepper, tomatoes and touch of cilantro. It's a beautiful sauce that soaks the pan fried stuffed tortillas. So, tasting as you go is essential.

The technique for the egg batter is important as well. You separate the yolks and the whites. Make sure your eggs are at room temperature, it will help create good stiff egg whites. I beat my eggs with a hand blender, until I get hard peaks. Basically I can turn over the bowl and the egg whites stay in the bowl, nothing falls out. Once the whites are ready I add the yolks and blend completely, the batter will have a slight yellow tint. Then you add a bit of flour and combine.

It's helpful if you have all the elements ready, the egg batter, sauce and stuffed tortillas before you put them all together. It makes life easier and less messy. As a plus this a fabulous meat free dinner,  vegetarians just switch out chicken stock for vegetable stock and you're all set!  

I hope you give them a try and love them as much as I do!!


Buen Provecho!

Flavor Power! Green bell pepper, half onion, roma tomato & garlic. Dice it up.

Add salt n pepper. Saute in oil for 3-5 minutes

Add cooked veggies into blender.

Quarter remaining tomatoes.

Add tomatoes, cilantro, 1/2 cup chicken stock and salt n pepper to taste.

Blended goodness!

Place sauce in a large pot, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. If too thick add more stock.  Season to taste.

Egg Batter Time!  Separate whites & yolks.

Whip until stiff peaks.

So stiff I can turn the bowl and nothing moves!

Add yolks to whites.

Blend.

 Add  about 1 tbsp flour and blend until it looks like this.  Let rest for 5 minutes.

8 oz mozzarella or Monterrey jack, shredded

Add water and mash

If you grab cheese and squeeze and it pours out of your fingers like this you've got the right consistency.

sticky consistency.

Add mashed cheese to half of the tortilla & fold.

Add folded tortilla into batter.

Let the excess drop off.

pan fry until golden brown. 2- 3 minutes.

flip and brown over side, 2-3 minutes.

drain on a paper towel. Look how golden they are!! Time to put in sauce.

Time to eat! Deliciousness!

Oozing Cheese!

Chilaquilas - 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

10-12 corn tortillas
8 oz mozarella or monterey jack, shredded
5 roma tomatoes, 1 diced, 4 quartered 
1 small green bell pepper, diced
1 half Onion, diced - any color
1 clove of garlc, grated or minced
 handful of cilantro
1/2-1 cup of chicken stock
3 eggs, separated, room temperature
1 tbsp All purpose flour
2-4 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt n Pepper

Side Note:  The prep for the cheese is optional. If you don't want to add water and mash it together that's okay. I do it for the consistency. It helps the cheese stay with the tortilla when I'm putting it in the batter. You can just add a handful of cheese in the tortilla and fold, just be carefully the cheese will fall out, it will be messy. I've done it both ways and the mashed cheese works best.


Roadmap:

1. Make sauce: Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a medium pan. Add diced bell pepper, onion, tomato and garlic into the pan, season with salt and pepper. Saute until vegetable are soft, 3-5 minutes. Place the cooked veggies into a blender, add the quartered tomatoes, cilantro, salt n pepper to taste and a 1/2 cup of stock. Blend. Check for seasoning. Pour into a large heavy bottom pan, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, if the sauce is too thick add more stock. Turn off heat and let in sit covered, while you make the egg batter and tortillas.

2. Make the egg batter: Separate whites from yolks into a bowl, set aside yolks. With a hand mixer, beat whites until a stiff peak forms. The whites should be stiff enough to turn the bowl over and the whites stick to the bowl, no movement whatsoever. Carefully to do this if you're testing, unready whites will fall right out and make a mess. Once whites are ready, add yolks and blend until combined and batter is a yellow tint. Then add 1 tbsp of flour, blend until combined.  Let batter rest for 5 minutes.

3. Prep the tortillas. Wrap tortillas in paper towel and put in the microwave for 30- 40 seconds. You want them to fold easily without breaking. Take the cheese and add a 1 tbsp of water and mash until the cheese becomes one big mass. Place about 1 tbsp of mashed cheese on half of the tortilla and fold. Make 10-12 tortillas.

4. Turn the heat to the sauce on a low heat, if still too thick add more stock. You don't want soup so don't add too much.

5. Chilaquila Time: Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a medium heavy bottom pan. Add folded tortilla in egg batter, completely covering the tortilla, letting the excess come off. Place battered tortilla in the pan. Cook until brown, 2-3 minutes, flip and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until completely brown. Drain chilaquilas on a paper towel. Once they are drained add to the tomato sauce and allow them to rest and soak up the sauce. You may need to move them around to make them fit. Let them sit in the sauce for 5 minutes.

5. After 5 minutes, plate with a side of rice. Enjoy!!!

Chicken Katsu

My husband and I love eating from our local L&L Hawaiian Barbecue. If you're not familiar with it, it's a chain restaurant that serves up local Hawaiian dishes. One of my husband's favorite lunch plates is Chicken Katsu. What's not to love?! It's juicy, crispy and served with a delicious sweet & tart sauce. I love their Katsu sauce, you'll learn that I'm a BIG sauce fame. I would be happy with a bowl of practically any sauce and some bread. Returning from that white rabbit hole, Chicken Katsu is simply a Japanese style fried chicken. There is no brine, soaking or deep frying involved, like Southern fried chicken, but the end result is still crispy chicken that's delicious.

Hawaii is known for their lunch plates. The plate consists of a protein, rice and macaroni salad. It's probably not the healthiest in the world, but it's oh so delicious! So to stick with tradition, I'm serving it up Hawaiian style. No need to fix what's not broken.  Aloha!

Cut off excess fat. Salt & Pepper chicken on both sides.

Prepare breading station

Flour, tap off excess.

Dip in egg, tap off excess.

Cover well in panko. We want it crispy!

Add to oil. When putting in oil place away from yourself to avoid oil splattering on you.

It's getting there!

Almost...

Golden brown and delicious!

Come and eat!

Buen Provecho!

Chicken Katsu - yields 4 servings

Ingredients:

4 Thigh, skinless boneless
1/2 cup flour
1 Egg
1 cup Panko
Salt n Pepper
Oil for pan frying

Katsu Sauce:
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/4 cup SoySauce
1/4 cup Sugar
2 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

Road Map:

1. Make sauce. Combine Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, sugar & soy sauce.

2. Heat oil in a pan.

3. Set up breading station. Add flour, whisked egg and panko in separate plates/bowls.

5. Salt & pepper chicken on both sides. Bread chicken in flour, egg then panko.

6. Pan fry chicken, cooking 4-5 minutes on each side or until golden brown, making sure chicken is cook through.

7. Serve with rice, macaroni salad and katsu sauce.

8. Enjoy! 

Deep Fried Spam Musubi

Yes, that's right, your eyes aren't deceiving you!  It not just spam musubi but deep fried spam musubi! Spam Musubi on it's own is completely delicious. The salty spam, vinegary seasoned rice, the sweet teriyaki sauce with that touch of nori is so unbelievably awesome. It makes me drool! So you can imagine how giddy I got when I read on a menu Deep Fried Spam Musubi.

I first have this delicious treat at  Da Kitchen Cafe in Maui. They're known for this special dish. It was such a wonderfully executed dish, that I dream about this musubi!  It had all the attributes of a traditional spam musubi, but now it's crunchy & crispy. It elevates this humble Hawaii favorite into a more special treat.

It's been 2 years since I've had this salty treat. I been quite deprived. Since I can't justify a plane ticket just for deep fried spam musubi, I must make my own. I've never made musubi, so I asked a dear friend to talk me through the basics, she even let me borrow her musubi press. You don't need this press, you can totally used the Spam can as a substitute. She's never deep fried a musubi, so that part I had to play by ear. It turned out to be super simple, don't let the amount of steps fool or scare you.

Now if you don't want to deep fried every piece of musubi,  you can wrap the musubi with nori in different ways. You can wrapped in a whole sheet of nori. You can cut the nori in strips and use 1 strip per musubi or if you're my husband you opt for no nori. He's just not a seaweed eater so I also omit the furikake seasoning, so I adjust tradition for him. Even without the seaweed it still was yummy, but for me the nori gives a delicious sea flavor that is part of the magic of spam musubi. Now if you are deep frying you need to wrap the musubi in the whole sheet and let it set in the fridge. These steps are important to help keep it's shape and to prevent the rice from coming apart. 

I hope you take this trip down memory lane with me and enjoy a taste of Hawaii. Aloha!

Buen Provecho!

Combine equal parts soy sauce & sugar. Reserve a 1/4 cup of sauce.

Cut into 8-10 pieces

Marinade spam with sauce for at least 5-10 minutes.

If you don't have a musubi press you can make one out of the can. It's a little tricky and takes a bit of time. I used a can opener and scissors. I add the foil on the bottom to protect from some sharp edges. BE VERY CAREFUL!

Cut nori strip and place can on top of nori.

Season rice with seasoned rice wine vinegar.

Pan fry spam.

Press rice until compact.

Sprinkle a little furikake & drizzle a bit of the reserved sauce.

Add a slice of spam.

Add rice, press, wrap with nori. Seal with a bit of water.

If using press, place press on top of nori.

Add rice, press, sprinkle furikake, drizzle sauce, spam, rice, press. I put a piece of plastic wrap between the rice and press, it makes it keeps from the rice to sticking to the press.

Nicely press! Look at that beauty!

Seal and wrap in plastic wrap. Place in fridge for 30 minutes to 1 hour.  Allow it to set.

Prepare breading station.

Dip in egg then cover in panko.

Fry until golden brown.

Perfection! Look at the golden brown goodness!

Salty, sweet and amazingly crunchy!! Enjoy! Aloha!

Deep Fried Masubi - yields 8-10 musubi

Ingredients:

1 can Spam, sliced into 8 to 10 pieces
3 cups Cooked Rice, warm - 1 cup uncooked rice & 2 cups water
1-2 Tbsp Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar, to taste
1/2 cup Soy Sauce
1/2 cup Sugar
Furikake, japanese rice seasoning
4-5 Nori sheets (roasted seaweed), if wrapping in whole sheet, 3 sheets are enough if cutting 2 inch strips
1 Tbsp oil

For deep frying:
1 egg
1 cup panko crumbs
Oil for frying

Side Note: Furikake & Nori sheets can be found readily in Asian markets or in the Asian aisle in big supermarkets.

Road Map:

1. Cook the rice.

Take 1 cup of uncooked rice and rinse several time until water is clear and no longer cloudy. In a medium, heavy-bottomed pot add the cup of rice and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Once it comes to a boil and add salt to taste. Stir to combine the rice, lower the heat to low and cover. Let the rice cook for about 15- 20 minutes, until all the water has been absorbed. Remove form heat and let it rest for a few minutes. Take a fork and fluff the rice.  Mix in rice wine vinegar to rice, to taste. You want more sweet than sour.

2. Slice Spam into 8 to 10 pieces. 

3. Combine soy sauce & sugar into a bowl. Reserve 1/4 cup of sauce.  Place spam in remaining marinade for about 5 minutes.

4. Put a sauce pan on medium heat, add 1 tbsp of oil and pan fry the spam. Add some of the marinade to coat spam and thicken sauce. Cook until spam is caramelized.

5. Place a whole sheet of nori down. Place musubi press on top, or your Spam can. If using spam can or a small musubi press you can cut the nori in half to make it easier to make the musubi.

6. Add rice and press down until you have 1/4 inch of rice, or however tall you like.

7.Sprinkle furikake on rice.

8. Add a drizzle of the reserved sauce, this step is optional. I like the extra sweetness.

9. Place a slice of Spam on top and add another mound of rice. Press down to compact the rice. Remove press/can. Wrap the spam, using a bit of water to seal the edges. Ready to eat and enjoy!

If deep frying keep going:

10. Wrap ready made musubi in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour, enough time for the rice to set up.

11. Prepare oil. Heat oil in a heavy bottom pot.

12. Prepare breading station. Place whisked egg and panko in separate dishes/bowls.

13. Place musubi in egg and then in panko. Make sure it is completely covered in panko for a crispy exterior.

14. Fry until golden brown. Drain on a paper towel. When cool to touch, using a serrated knife cut diagonally. Enjoy!