As a hispanic person in America, I often have to explain to people that I’m not Mexican. People just assume we’re all Mexican and that all our food is the same. It’s not. That’s cool.
Growing up I didn’t really eat Mexican food. Now that I’m marrying a Mexican, I’ve eaten my fair share of Mexican food (and I’m not talking about burritos and carne asada fries). So this brings me to chilaquiles.
Last year, Jesse and I went to Guadalajara to hang out with his family for a few days. That’s where I first tried chilaquiles (you’re probably wondering how I grew up in Southern California and never ate chilaquiles, right? I have no idea).
I had them in a market in Guanajuato for breakfast and roughly 3 hours later, I threw them up at a gas station. All sorts of cute, right?
Needless to say, chilaquiles did not leave a good impression on me. I think those ones were just super greasy and I was sick. It was not a good combination, and I sort of decided I didn’t need to eat chilaquiles again.
But recently, Jesse has been talking about chilaquiles (side note: this is what Jesse does. He gets really excited about making certain dishes until he finally does). He swore to make the most delicious chilaquiles without all the oil (because usually the tortillas are fried). So I said why not?
They were delicious and best of all, I didn’t puke them up. (I’m really selling chilaquiles over here). I liked them so much that he made them again so I could blog about them.
So if you’re looking for a fun, lightened up weekend brunch that is pretty simple (and natural! no canned things!), here’s your go to:
Not Fried Chilaquiles
6-8 corn tortilla
3 Tomatoes
1 Serrano Pepper
3 Chiles de Arbol
2 Cloves of Garlic
Salt to Taste
1 1/2 tablespoons corn/vegetable oil
2 Eggs
Queso Fresco
Diced Onion
Chopped Cilantro
Sour Cream
Preheat oven to 300F. Slice tortillas into strips.
Place on a rack on top of a baking sheet and bake about 20 minutes or until crispy
In the meantime, make your chilaquiles sauce. Boil 3 tomatoes with 1 serrano pepper and 3 chiles de arbol in enough water to cover tomatoes.
Boil until soft (about 15 minutes). Next blend together tomatoes, serrano pepper, chiles and garlic until smooth with 1/2 cup of boiling liquid (discard rest of liquid). In the sauce pan that you used to boil the ingredients, heat one tablespoon of oil. Once hot, carefully pour in the sauce. Let it cook a bit longer until ready to use. At this point, add salt to taste.
Now you can start to assemble. In a pan, heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil. Add crispy tortillas and toss them. Then crack in two eggs and scramble them around the tortillas.
Once the egg is cooked, pour the sauce on top of the tortillas and serve.
Top with fresh chopped onion and cilantro, queso fresco and a dollop of sour cream. Serve with beans if you’d like.
This is enough to feed 2 people a good amount.
A note about spiciness: I like spicy, but not too much. To accommodate my tastes, Jesse only used half the serrano pepper. You can also discard the seeds from the serrano pepper and chile de arbol to make it less spicy. For more heat, add a few more chiles de arbol.
Make chilaquiles! You’ll like them!
What’s your favorite Mexican breakfast dish? I’m a big fan of eggs and beans. This is probably why I had never tried chilaquiles.
