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Tacos dorados are a variation of the Mexican corn tortilla taco, but instead of being soft, the tortilla is fried and becomes crispy.
This type of taco is made with corn tortillas and not with wheat tortillas. We leave that one for soft tacos and burritos.
With the same preparation of the tacos dorados, you can cook the “flautas“, with the difference that, for the latter, the tortilla is rolled like a tube, and the filling is in the center.
To learn how to prepare tacos dorados, the first thing to know is that usually, the fillings used are cheese, potatoes, beans, rice, chicken, or shredded beef.
Easy Recipe for Tacos Dorados
Keep in mind that for this recipe, we are going to use toothpicks.
Another important ingredient is romaine lettuce. It is the most common, light green, and crunchy near the base.
Below you’ll find a step-by-step recipe to make Mexican bean and rice tacos at home. You can fill them with chicken, beef, cheese, beans, or rice.
Ingredients
- 12 corn tortillas.
- 1 chicken breast.
- 1 cup of Mahatma® White Rice.
- 1 cup of beans.
- 1/4 Romaine lettuce.
- 1/2 white onion.
- Milk cream to taste.
- Neutral-flavored vegetable oil, such as corn or canola.
- Grated white cheese.
- Optional chili sauce, spicy or not spicy.
- 1 bay leaf if chopped or a couple of leaves.
Preparation
- Cook the washed and defatted breast in hot water with the bay leaf and a little salt. Make sure that the center is not pink to remove it from the cooking (it usually takes about 20 minutes)
- Boil the rice in a separate container. Cook it for 20 minutes or until the liquid is absorbed.
- Meanwhile, wash the onion and lettuce. Cut the onion in thin circles, in half, and the lettuce in ribbons. Set aside.
- After the chicken is cooked, shred it on a plate with the help of a pair of forks.
- Mix the chicken with the rice and the beans.
- Spread out each tortilla and place the mix in the center. Fold in half and secure near the edge, using wooden toothpicks as pins.
- Pour enough oil into a large skillet to fry the tacos. It is essential.
- To begin with, heat the oil on high heat, and when you put the first tacos to fry, reduce the heat to medium.
- Pay special attention to the moment when the tacos are browned (half immersed in the oil) and turn them over immediately.
- Prepare a large plate covered with absorbent paper, to deposit the tacos after removing them from the oil, and thus remove the excess.
- Just after the second half of each taco is browned, remove it from the pan and place it on the plate from the previous step.
- To serve, place three or four tacos on each person’s plate and remove the toothpicks from the edges of the tortillas. Top with the lettuce ribbons and onion.
- To taste, add chile sauce (preferably a traditional green or red sauce).
- Finish with cream on top of the tacos, and sprinkle with cheese.
- Eat before it gets cold!
Since these are very crispy tacos, even though they already have their sauces, you can always add more and they still look great.
Helpful Tips
- Remember the broth from cooking the chicken with the bay leaf? You can save it to use it for other preparations and replace the chicken broth that comes in cubes.
- For those who are preparing this type of recipe for the first time, it is easy to fall into the temptation of putting a lot of chicken inside each tortilla to make the tacos. The reality is that, instead of obtaining abundant and appetizing tacos, this can cause the filling to overflow or the tacos not to take such a good shape. When arranging the filling, it is best to use moderate amounts.
- Make sure that the shredded breast is not too wet before using it as filling, to prevent the tortilla from becoming watery before frying.
- Olive oil loses its properties when used for frying, and its flavor generally takes over the dish. In this case we do not want the olive to be the protagonist, so no olive oil.
- It is not superfluous to add a few drops of lemon juice once the tacos are served and topped with their respective vegetables, cream and cheese. This gives them even more flavor and goes very well with the lettuce.
- If the paper towel gets too much oil on it, change it as many times as necessary. Browned tacos with too much oil lose their charm, especially if the paper starts to tear and bits stick to the tortilla.
- As with the absorbent paper, replace the oil if necessary. If the tacos are not fried in enough oil, the tortilla will cook with the heat and become hard and not that tasty.
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