Chicano Eats

Mango con Limón Peeps with Tajín

When I was younger, my family and I would head to Merced for Easter and sometimes for Memorial Day Weekend. I know, it’s Merced, but one of my aunts had a dairy farm out there with land filled with fruit trees, and grape vines so we’d run off to the lake, we’d dye eggs, and we’d get to pick apricots and eat allll of the grapes we could get our hands on. It was all good and fun until my aunt took us inside one year to show us how the cows were milked and basically scared the baby jesus out of me.

One of my favorite things about Easter has always been the candy. The hollow chocolate bunnies are so good, but my all time favorite candy were those chocolate covered marshmallow eggs that came in an egg carton. Personally, I’m not a big fan of peeps. They don’t taste like anything, and they’re covered in so much sugar!

Mango con Limón Peeps with Tajín

I wanted to take a stab at making peeps more palatable, and these definitely exceeded my expectations. I took these to work with me, and no joke, they were gone in a few minutes. They were so good!

I made them with mango con tajín in mind, since it was one of my favorite childhood snacks.

My siblings and I would get home from school and mi mamá would cut up some jicama, papaya, pepino, or mango for us. She’d spritz a little lime juice, sprinkle tajín over it and we’d sit in front of the tv and watch Luz Clarita or whatever novela was popular at the time.

I really wanted to make sure the nostalgia hit with all these flavors–and I really felt like I was sitting there in front of the tv biting into a juicy tart slice of mango covered in Tajín.

If you happen to have the time to make these, please do so! They’re 100x more delicious than store bought.

Billy also made some crazy good Strawberry Ginger Peeps, check them out here.

Anyways.. have a great Monday. Y como siempre, stay chingonx!

Mango con Limón Peeps with Tajín

How To Make The Best Pozole Rojo de Pollo (RED CHICKEN POZOLE)

I’ve been sitting on this recipe for about a month now.

I tested it, then tested it again, tested it some more, and of course, because I like for things to be perfect, I tested it once more after that. I had already shared a recipe for pozole rojo when I initially launched the blog, and although it was a good recipe, it was a pretty basic recipe.

I used to think of pozole rojo as a treat because we weren’t really used to having it in our household. Because we are from Colima, we had pozole blanco instead, and then of course el famoso pozole seco de Colima for the recalentado. As much as I enjoyed pozole blanco, pozole rojo was just a baby bit more flavorful due to the spices and chiles involved.

Pozole rojo always takes me back to growing up in Southern California and going to birthday parties because there were always a few things I could always count on when we went to a “Mexican” birthday party: a ton of beer, a brincolín, Pozole Rojo or Bírria, and a few chingadazos if you didn’t greet every.single.person at the party.

TRUST.

It’s my birthday today, so I figured today would be the perfect day to share this recipe with you as a little throwback. It’s perfect for this wishy washy weather we’ve been experiencing in Southern California lately, and even more perfect for days when you just need something comforting to soothe your soul. If you’re not familiar with pozole rojo, or red pozole, it is essentially a hominy stew with chicken or pork and guajillo chile broth.

PS. I know what you’re thinking, Esteban, why did you include Doritos in your pictures? Well, last time I posted the vegan pozole, I asked on Instagram what you like to eat your pozole with, and a good handful of people told me to try it with doritos…so guess what Mimi, I DID, and it was delicious!

If you happen to make the recipe, share your results with me on Instagram! ¡Nos vemos pronto!

Pair it with Pistachio Horchata

Tacos Tuxpeños

I’ve been wanting to revisit some of my older posts for a while now and I figured a good place to start would be with the very first recipes that I launched the blog with. The recipe I’m sharing today has minor tweaks (and Instant Pot directions) but the photography is definitely the most improved!

I’m leaving the original narrative below, and if you want to make some of my recipes but don’t know which one to start with, definitely start with this one, its one of my all time favorites.

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A few weeks ago, I got to vacation in Colima MX for a few days where I spent time with family, and let’s be real, ate everything I could get my hands on.

Colima is a very small state along the Pacific bordered by the state of Jalisco and Michoacán. I love how authentic it still is, it’s a hidden gem that’s been left untouched by tourists and it is one of the things I appreciate the most. If you didn’t know, Colima is one of the worlds biggest producer of limes! There’s no shortage of tropical fruits either, you’ll find anything from mangos, tamarind, guamuchiles, durian, plums, pasiflora and coconuts growing everywhere, coffee is even grown at the foot of the Volcán de Colima. If you’re ever curious about visiting, I suggest staying in the port city of Manzanillo!

Chicano Eats

Tacos Tuxpeños When I was younger, I used to visit every February for the Fiestas Charrotaurinas, and then again during summer break. I even lived there during a few of my toddler years.

While we were visiting the Pueblo Mágico of Comala where my maternal grandparents live, we stopped by Los Portales de Comala. This is a really cool restaurant because you order drinks and you’re automatically served botanas (tapas) as long as you keep having drinks! One of the standout dishes we were served were the tacos Tuxpeños.

Tacos Tuxpeños originated in Tuxpan, Jalisco and my mom used to make these for us growing up. They consist of a pulled pork that has been cooked in a guajillo-ancho sauce and then served on a tortilla that is dipped in a little bit of the smoky chile sauce and then is lightly fried and steamed. I personally like to leave my tortillas lightly fried though.

These are typically filled with either refried beans, potatoes, or pork, and make for a really good appetizer, so I highly suggest using the baby street taco tortillas if you’re able to find them.

If you get the chance to make these, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. And if you don’t have an Instant Pot in your life, I highly recommend one! I use it every time I make pulled pork, and it is done in about 45 minutes.

If you get the chance to make these, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do– Nos vemos!

Tacos Tuxpeños

Vegan Jackfruit and Poblano Flautas with a Vegan Cashew Crema Mexicana

I have some exciting news, I’ll be one of the Keynote Speakers at the 30th Annual Student Conference on Latinx Affairs at Texas A&M University this April!

If you live in the area, and are interested in attending, click here.

I’ll be visiting Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio while I’m there. If you have any favorite food spots, please feel free to share your recommendations with me!

Vegan Jackfruit and Poblano Flautas with a Vegan Cashew Crema Mexicana

I was procrastinating over the weekend, trying to live my best life binging on the new season of “One Day at a Time”, until I convinced myself I needed to get up and be productive. I remembered I had a couple of cans of jackfruit from Trader Joe’s sitting in my pantry from a post that never came to fruition, so I started to think about what I could MacGyver with them and with what I had around, and flautas started to sound really good.

Some people use flour tortillas for their flautas, but I personally like to use corn because I prefer its crunch. When it comes to the filling, you can pretty much get away with stuffing them with just about anything. I didn’t have any portobellos hanging in the fridge, but those would also be a good substitute for jackfruit and would give the filling even more fajita vibes.

I was a bit skeptical about how the vegan crema would taste, but it actually turned out pretty delicious, there’s a whole lot of flavor in there and it tastes even better after it has chilled in the fridge for one or two hours.

If you need something to binge this weekend, One Day at a Time is worth the watch, and the new Queer Eye on Netflix is also pretty great. It’s nice to see the guys take the time to unpack stigmas like what it means to be femme and queer, or even talk about what it is like to be Black in today’s America, and of course if you need something to eat while you’re binging away, give these flautas a try.

Have a great Valentine’s Day!

Vegan Jackfruit and Poblano Flautas with a Vegan Cashew Crema Mexicana

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