07 May 2019
Mexican food to make at home
The tastiest Mexican dishes from the Big Green Egg
If you fancy making authentic Mexican dishes on your Big Green Egg, tortilla wraps are an excellent choice. These simple savoury pancakes are the stars of the Mexican cuisine. They lend themselves to great variation and can be used to make appetisers as well as main meals. Let’s go on a voyage of discovery.
Mexican ingredients and recipes
When you think of Mexican cuisine, certain ingredients and recipes immediately spring to mind. For instance, beans, corn, peppers, tomatoes and avocados are all indispensable ingredients that are found in many traditional dishes. Or how about chilli con carne (very easy to make in the Dutch Oven on the Big Green Egg, by the way), guacamole, pico de gallo, or a scrumptious tomato salsa with jalapeños, onion, garlic, lime and coriander? Incidentally, coriander is an important flavour ingredient in many Mexican dishes. Another national treasure is the tortilla wrap.
Mexican wraps
Traditional Mexican tortilla wraps are usually made from corn. However, in Western kitchens we often prefer to make tortillas from wheat flour. Contrary to wheat, corn does not contain gluten, so the dough is more brittle and making a good corn tortilla requires a lot of practice. If you want to make your own tortilla wraps and bake them on your Big Green Egg, the wheat flour variety is much easier and just as tasty. In Mexico this savoury pancake is very popular and is used in many different ways. On their own they taste good served with a dip such as guacamole or salsa. They also form the basis for many Mexican dishes.
Enchilada
Enchiladas are wraps that are filled and rolled up and then cooked in the oven with a splash of cream and grated cheese. The basic ingredient is often chicken, although you could opt for something different and add ingredients of your choice such as beans, sweetcorn or other tasty fillers. The cheese gives the enchiladas a nice crispy topping.
Quesadilla
A quesadilla is a delicious tortilla tart with cheese. Quesadillas are often filled with a mixture of cheese and meat, but vegetarian quesadillas are also very appealing. They are easy to make. Just spread the filling over the wrap and cover with a second wrap. After baking the quesadilla in a skillet, the lid of the Dutch oven or the Cast Iron Plancha, cut this tasty tart into wedges and serve, for example, as a snack.
Tlayuda
The tlayuda may be less familiar to us than some of the other Mexican dishes, but it is just as delicious. It is a bit like a pizza, since the tortilla wrap is used as a base that is topped with a selection of other ingredients. In Mexico popular toppings are refried beans, tomato, cheese and avocado. The tlayuda is traditionally cooked in a stone oven, but it can also be made on the Big Green Egg with the aid of the convEGGtor and the Baking Stone.
Burrito
When we refer to a tortilla we usually mean a burrito, which is a wrap that is filled with various ingredients, rolled up and served with side dishes such as guacamole, tomato salsa and/or chilli sauce.
Fajita
Fajita is the word for a kind of fill-your-own Mexican wrap that is put together at the table. Next to a stack of large or small warm tortilla wraps, dishes with prepared ingredients are placed on the table, such as grilled meat, cooked chicken, fried pepper and onion, corn, beans, boiled rice, potatoes, cheese and of course a selection of Mexican sauces and salsas. This allows all guests to create their own personal burrito on their plate using their favourite ingredients.
Taco
The taco is a small filled tortilla using a mini wrap, which is folded double and filled with ingredients. The genuine tacos are made using soft tortillas. The hard taco shells are the American version of the traditional Mexican recipe.
If you want to eat Mexican food at home and want to know how to make tortilla dishes on your Big Green Egg, these recipes will get you started.
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