After writing my Life on the Mountain post yesterday, I got inspired to document my passion of testing the limits of my camping stove, and combine my What to Eat in Mexico series with my Mazunte one (the list of both are at the bottom of this post). Though in all honesty, the name for the latter series is poorly chosen, as Mazunte is about as far from here as any other place in the world.
Making Chilaquiles on an Alcohol-Stove
Since I still had a good number of hand-made tortillas left from the kilo I bought in town, and since Stef dropped off a bunch of tomatoes, jalapeños, and cilantro, I thought today was the right day to make my favorite Mexican food: Chilaquiles. I already have a recipe posted, but given the circumstances, I wanted to show how to make them with the limited kitchen I have at my disposal here, camping on the mountain.
Preparation
First I needed to make the salsa. I simply cut up three tomatoes, two jalapeños, a small onion and some cilantro, and put them in a pot to cook in its own juices. No need for a blender! Then I tore up the tortillas. They were starting to get stale, so frying them up is the best way to save them. Check out how huge they are: full-on corn tortillas, bigger than industrial flour ones! Sure thing, we're in Oaxaca. And these aren't even called Tlayudas. Those are even bigger...
Cooking and Frying
When the salsa was cooking well I removed the lid and let it boil down to a proper salsa. I added more cilantro, then replaced the pot with the pan (or lid, either way you turn it). In it I heated up some oil, added the torn tortilla pieces, and let them fry up to the crispiness of my preference: medium-well.
A Tasty Little Mishap
Then I added the salsa from the pot. A bit of sizzling, and I had the most amazing chilaquiles anyone has ever made! Now just add some cheese... Oh no! This is not the crumbly Mexican cheese I was hoping for! This is more of a creamy... delicious... oh such wonderful cheese made my chilaquiles truly tasty, though a bit untypical.
Never mind, I still had half a pot of salsa and just as many tortillas left. So for the sake of truly authentic chilaquiles, I ate the cream-cheese-chilaquile-delight, then cooked up the rest without the cheese. To round up the treat, I even fried up an egg, as that's how I usually like to enjoy my chilaquiles. Sure, in the chalice it doesn't look any different from my other dishes I made here. But eating from it certainly makes up for it!
For more on Mexican food, check out my series What to Eat in Mexico:
- Tlayudas, the Oaxaca-size Tortilla
- Tamales, the Best Way to Eat Corn
- Chapulines, Escamoles, and Maguey Worms
- Carnitas of Michoacan
- Huitlacoche, a Mold That Just Tastes so Good
- Nopales, A Vegetraian Delicacy
- Pozole, Not Just for Indipendence Day!
- Chilaquiles, for Stale Tortillas and a Hangover
- Making Salsa
- Tortillas and Other Incarnations of Maize
- Tacos, As Basic As You Can Get
- Guacamole, With and Without Spirulina
Other Posts from the Mazunte Series:
- Terraces on the Oaxacan Coast – Preparing for the Adventure
- The Bus Came By and I Got On
- Working on Getting Work Started
- A Theater on the Beach - Revisited
- Progress in Bahía de la Luna
- Itínera, the People Building the Mazunte Theater
- The Beginning of a Retaining Wall
- Tire-Pounding for Beginners
- Life on the Mountain