Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Huevos Rancheros (Mexican Ranch Style Eggs?)

Don't know a proper english translation but it's basically scrambled eggs with minced tomato, onion, chili pepper, seasoned with salt and pepper, topped with cilantro

My mother say's there are several versions of "Huevos Rancheros" depending where your from in Mexico, your preference, etc. she say's some cooks will sautee the tomato, chile pepper, and cilantro with salt and pepper then set aside on a plate, then fry a tortilla place on top, then cook the eggs however they prefer and place on top like a layer thing, etc.

Ingredients:
-6 eggs (beaten with a small splash of milk)
-1/2 onion minced
-1 green chile pepper minced (we use Serrano or Jalapeño)
-1 small roma tomato minced (or 1/2 a big tomato)
-salt and pepper to taste
-1/2 a bunch more or less to taste of minced cilantro leaves (washed of course)
-oil to cook (whatever you want traditionally lard is used, my mom likes to use olive oil for most things though you can use any neutral flavored oil to)

Directions:
(1)Heat a pan on medium high heat with oil or lard, when oil is hot enough add minced onion and chili pepper, sautee until onions are lightly caramelized and a bit translucent (shouldn't take forever maybe 10 minutes at MOST)

(2)Add roma tomato and continue to cook until tomato releases juices and cooks down a bit (a couple minutes) season with salt and pepper to taste.

(3)Add beaten eggs swoosh around to mix, let it as the egg cooks from edges just slide it with spatula so raw egg can flow and cook, cook until eggs are fully cooked, you can add more salt and pepper to taste if you want but usually my mom heavely adds it prior to adding eggs so the sautee is salty enough to flavor eggs.

(4)Now turn off heat and top with minced cilantro.

(5)Serve however you'd like, there's no rules to how to enjoy it :) traditionally though maybe some corn tortillas, refried beans, hot sauces on the side, and a hot coffee with milk. I wasn't to hungry so I just ate a little with 2 tortillas and a glass of milk.

NOTE:
-My mother told me some people like to add chunks of red bell pepper to this, etc her preference is not to do that.

4 comments:

Marilyn said...

Hi Nathan,
I have heard about Huevos Rancheros lots of times, now I know the recipe, but I must confess I still can’t eat spicy food; no jalapeños for me!.
Have you had Huevos Habaneros? I am planning a post about them soon.
Happy New Year!

Nathan said...

Marilyn,
Is "Huevos Habaneros" like "Huevos en Sofrito"? like it's a sofrito with tomato that's seasoned with typical cuban stuff (oregano, cumin, salt maybe wine) and then you crack eggs into it and cover to steam? (I've had something like that)

Oh yeah well I guess it's okay if you don't like "Chile" maybe you can use it but remove the veins and stems? or replace it with a sweet green bell pepper? i don't know :) well hope you like them.

Anonymous said...

Hey Nathan...I thought the scramble you made was called 'huevos a la mexicana.' When I've had 'huevos rancheros' in Mexico it's been sunny-side fried eggs on top of corn tortillas with a tomato-based sauce on top.

Nathan said...

Mamey,
Yeah some people make it like that to, the sauce is usually the sautee of onion, chili pepper, and tomato until soft then used to top the eggs that are over a lightly fried tortilla, there's different versions, it's probably because my mother hates runny eggs and I love them :)