Mexican Palapa Snacks Recipes

MEXICAN PALAPA SNACKS

Steps:

• Arrange jicama and cucumbers on serving dish.
• Squeeze limes over dish.
• Sprinkle with sea salt.
• Garnish with lime slices and cilantro.

MEXICAN BOTANA PLATTER

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Rub beef and chicken with fajita seasoning and 2 teaspoons garlic powder. Cut beef and chicken into 1-inch strips, and set aside.
• In a saucepan, warm refried beans over medium-low heat.
• Stir salt, lemon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder into mashed avocados. Set aside.
• Heat corn oil in a deep skillet over medium-high heat. Cut tortillas in half, then cut in half again to make 4 triangular pieces per tortilla. Place into the skillet as many tortilla pieces as will fit without overlapping, and fry until crisp; repeat this process until all the tortilla pieces have been fried. Remove crisp tortillas to paper towels. Discard oil, and wipe out skillet.
• Return skillet to medium heat, and stir in beef, chicken, bell pepper, and onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, about 7 minutes; then stir in cilantro.
• Layer the tortilla pieces along the bottom of a large baking dish. Spread refried beans evenly over tortilla pieces. Sprinkle cheese over beans, then spread meat mixture evenly on top.
• Bake in preheated oven until cheese and beans are bubbly, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven, and drop sour cream and guacamole by tablespoonfuls in various places across the top. Sprinkle tomatoes and jalapenos on top.

MEXICAN SNACK

Steps:

• Overlap ham on tortilla. Melt butter in a small skillet. Place tortilla with meat in skillet; top with egg, cheese, and onion. Cover skillet with lid and cook over medium low heat 5 minutes or until egg is set. Sprinkle with chili powder and fold in half to eat.

POLLO A LA PARILLA (GRILLED CHICKEN)

Steps:

• For steak tacos I have the steak run through a machine so it is flat. I haven't tried pounding the chicken flat when making this but I think it may work better. Consider this an optional step, as every time I've made it without pounding it, it still comes out fantastic but it takes a while to cook. Maybe split breasts would be good.
• Season meat by sprinkling with Adobo, Cumin, and Pico de Gallo seasoning. I like to use the adobo that has cumin in it and if you choose to go this route, you don't need to use any extra cumin. If you like spicy food use more pico seasoning, if you like mild use a smaller amount.
• Rub seasoning into meat thoroughly.
• Layer meat, onions, and garlic in a deep pan or bowl. I have also begun layering lime slices along with it.
• Pour mango nectar and lime juice over meat so that the liquid just covers the top of the meat. I use about a 3 part mango nectar, 1 part lime juice mix.
• Let sit for several hours or over night.
• Cook on hot grill.
• Serve with warm tortillas and desired taco toppings.
• An alternate cooking method:.
• I had the guy at the meat counter cut up the chicken into taco meat, if you shop at a hispanic grocery store they'll know exactly what you mean if you ask them to cut it for tacos but basically its just cutting it into small chunks. I still marinaded everything the same way, rubbing the seasonings into the meat is more difficult but still doable. Instead of grilling the meat however, after everything marinaded I put the whole mixture, marinade and all in a slow cooker. I wouldn't use lime slices in the marinade for this though so you won't have to pick them out.