No Guilt Chilaquiles
What’s not to love about a good plate of warm chilaquiles in the morning or for brunch, nothing more satisfying than crispy “totopos” or tortilla chips that are covered in warm spicy salsa, coating every bit of those totopos, then served with slices of avocado, a drizzle of crema and maybe a fried egg or two , don’t forget fresh coriander and tuck in while they are still warm.
I think Chilaquiles is the ultimate Mexican breakfast, you can have them traditionally with a red or a green salsa, with shredded chicken, steak , eggs, plain or all of the above! thats why I think chilaquiles make everyone happy they manage to cover everybody’s needs and cravings.
To me the perfect chilaquiles have to still be crisp but covered in warm sauce, the secret is in pouring the salsa while it’s still hot on the tortilla chips and when you are ready to serve, then you may add the remaining salsa, desired garnishes and serve immediately, without letting the sauce to soak in for a long time before serving as this only makes soggy chilaquiles, and without cooking for a second time.
And I’m not going to lie I like to have a big portion of chilaquiles because they are just so glorious that my sense of balance doesn’t apply here, this is how I came up with this recipe where I promise you that you get all the flavour and satisfaction of some good chilaquiles with less of the guilt :)
So for that I make little changes to the classic recipe, and I like to bake my tortilla chips only coated with a bit of olive oil and maldon salt rather than frying, I add puy lentils or black beans as this makes them more satisfying and nourishing, my salsa is made only with a bit of oil but all the concentrated flavours of the roasted tomatoes and last but not least my crema is made with creamy greek yoghurt, olive oil and lemon, the delicious tangy taste of the yoghurt not only pairs perfectly with these but it provides a less fatty alternative to full fat cream.
Serves 2-3
Ingredients.
Totopos, Tortilla Chips:
18 -20 corn tortillas.
2 tbsp olive oil.
1-2 tsp maldon salt.
For the salsa:
1 ancho chilli.
5-6 arbol chillies.
1/2 white onion.
1 fat garlic clove.
3 vine tomatoes.
200 grams of cherry tomatoes.
1 tbsp olive oil.
1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock.
Sea salt and black pepper for seasoning.
Garnish for the chilaquiles:
1 cup of cooked puy lentils or black beans, (they can be homemade or from a tin I just recommend to buy organic ones).
1 avocado.
1-3 eggs, (fried or poached).
1 cup of freshly chopped coriander.
Greek yoghurt crema:
1 cup of greek yoghurt.
1/2 lemon juice and zest.
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil.
Maldon salt and black coarse pepper to taste.
Method.
Preheat your oven at 180C
Start by making your totopos, for this you need to stack all your tortillas evenly and then cut into small triangles as showed on the images below. Place all of your tortilla triangles into a bowl, drizzle the oil on top and gently integrate it with your hands so that they all coated fairly evenly.
Arrange on a large flat baking tray and spread them around, bake for 8 minutes or so depending on your oven, once they are crisp and golden remove them from the oven and sprinkle them with a pinch of maldon salt, set aside and allow them to cool down.
In the meantime prepare your salsa, for the weekend I like a quick no fuss recipe and for this all the salsa ingredients go into one baking dish. Just make sure to place the dried chillies without the stems underneath the tomatoes so that in this way they will hydrate and soften up with the roasted veg juices.
Bake for about 25-30 min, remove from the oven and place directly into a blender with juices and all. Blend really smooth and transfer your salsa into a small sauce pan, add 1 cup of chicken or veggie stock to enrich the flavour , season with salt and black pepper according to your taste, cover with a lid and simmer on low.
At the same time reheat your puy lentils or black beans in a small pan with a bit of water, you want them to be hot when you are ready to serve.
For the crema simply mix all of the ingredients into a small bowl and whisk until is all integrated, you may add a bit of water for a more runny consistency, season to your taste and reserve.
To keep your Chilaquiles from going soggy follow the next steps as you are ready to serve:
Pour half of the hot salsa over them and mix them.
Place the coated tortillas chips and salsa on a serving plate.
Add the lentils and remaining hot salsa on top.
Then you can dress them with two fried eggs, scoops of avocado, a good drizzle the greek yoghurt crema on top and freshly chopped coriander, serve and enjoy.
