Chilaquiles (tchee/lah/KEE/lehs) is a traditional Mexican dish that you may have never had...or even ever heard of. At least I had never heard of this dish until moving to California, at which point my tastebuds REJOICED over the amazing explosion of flavors in my mouth while eating (inhaling) this dish. Essentially, chilaquiles are breakfast nachos - but really, so much more than that.
My favorite part of eating nachos is finding those chips that are semi-buried in the pile. You know the ones I'm talking about, they are still crispy yet somewhat soggy from being baked with all that amazingness on top, and always have the perfect balance of toppings on it. Well basically chilaquiles is a plate full of the PERFECT nachos. For breakfast. I mean, what more could a girl want out of life?
I've tried my best to lighten this dish up as much as I could without losing the critical flavors and components of the dish except for one aspect - the light fried (gasp!) tortilla chips which make the base of this dish. These lightly fried tortillas are then smothered and simmers in chile verde salsa.
After the base is complete, all that is left is to top these are topped with eggs, chorizo, black beans, red onion, queso fresco, guacamole and cilantro! Like I said previously, I tried to make this dish lighter than the traditional. I am using turkey chorizo instead of full fat pork chorizo, as well as substituting egg whites in place of full eggs.
Breakfast (er..more like brunch) is served!
Chilaquiles
Servings: 4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients:
- 8 corn tortillas, cut into 6 triangles each
- 2 cups salsa verde, I use HERDEZ
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil (for frying, not all will be used)
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg whites
- 1 tbsp butter
- 8 oz turkey chorizo
- 1 cup black beans, canned
- 4 oz queso fresco, crumbled
- 1/2 cup guacamole, recipe previously posted!
For garnish:
- Red onion, chopped
- Cilantro, chopped
- Jalapeños
Directions:
- Start by preparing the tortillas. Cut the tortillas into 6 equal pieces. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium high heat. Layer paper towels on cookie sheets or a large cutting board. Lightly fry the tortillas in batches - make sure you do not let the chips get too brown. This should take more more than a minute or so each side. We want the chips to be crispy, but not completely browned. Remove from oil and arrange in a single layer on paper towels so that excess oil can be drained. Continue frying remaining tortillas in batches. Once all chips are lightly fried, set the skillet and oil aside to cool.
- In a nonstick skillet cook the turkey chorizo. Transfer from pan to a small bowl, set aside and cover to keep warm.
- In a separate bowl scramble the eggs and egg whites together. Melt butter over medium high heat in same pan as used for the chorizo, pour in eggs. Scramble, set aside and cover to keep warm.
- Next, prepare the guacamole by following my recipe here.
- All that remains is to warm the beans in a small saucepan over medium heat, crumble the queso fresco and chop the onion, cilantro and jalapeños.
- Drain oil used for frying chips from skillet and pour salsa verde into skillet and bring to a low boil over medium high heat. Add tortillas and toss in salsa. Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes so that chips are completely smothered in salsa.
- For plating: divide tortillas evenly among 4 plates (12 tortilla chips per plate) and top with any remaining salsa verde. Next, top the tortillas with the chorizo, eggs and black beans evenly among plates. Sprinkle queso fresco, red onions, cilantro and jalapeños and finish each plate off with a dollop of guacamole. Serve immediately while its hot!
