'Mexican Pancakes'

[Emerald Fox]

We were in a (real) Mexican restaurant in New Market, Virginia, about 10 years ago and had some good Mexican food - when I got home I thought blimey! I bet I can do the same or something similar. I was pleased to see my kids have often asked me to do it again and again.

 

It's my own concoction. Here we go:

 

It's basically 3 items on a plate:

Guacamole - you buy this from a food shop in a glass jar, keep it slightly chilled. You just spoon it out of the jar onto your plate.

Rice - "Uncle Ben's" do a 'Mexican Rice' - try this, or something similar, or just Basmati/Jasmine/Thai rice.

Pancakes.

 

Make the "insides" first:

 

Fried minced beef (the best you can get! Least fat). Towards the end of frying sprinkle some chilli powder over the beef. You mix this with a jar of (hot!) salsa, and a can of kidney beans (wash and drain these in a sieve). Mix these 3 up together and leave to rest.

 

Now you get on with the pancakes - and pay attention - no watching TV whilst doing these!!! Yes you will burn them if you watch TV. Pancakes are delicate thingies.

 

-100 grammes plain flour, 25 grammes 'Maizena' maize flour ('cos you know south America is maize country and we want this to be genuine stuff!).

-300ml milk (whole milk - let's face it, if you're gonna eat beef, why mess up the pancakes with skimmed milk?)(you can go for a jog tomorrow if you feel guilty)

- one egg

- bit of salt

 

of course you beat these all together and start frying the pancakes, using butter in between as the frying medium. The pancakes should be lightly tinged both sides, and not burned to crispness - you want them still flexible for rolling. There are few things better in life than standing by the frying pan poking at what's in it whilst you sip some red wine or whisky or beer...

...when you have your pile of about 6 pancakes from the above ingredients, you spoon the meat + salsa + beans mixture into them and roll them up. These then go onto an oven tray or oven rack - use baking paper - and into the oven, say 200 degrees centigrade for 20 minutes. Narrowboat neighbours parked near you will come out and start sniffing the air! But you will be the ones tucking into these 'Mexican pancakes' with rice and guacamole on the side. Yummy! Cold beer - lager type - with these.

 

Probably about 2 hours' work but well worth it.