Cooking Gorditas in Europe

As promised here is a Gordita recipe, the filling used is chicken , served with a side of refried beans and a spicy red salsa. This recipe uses only my local European ingredients, substituting everything from the gordita dough to the peppers and cheese.

For the filling you need:
2 boiled chicken breast (or 2 leg quarters)

1 large tomato,chopped
1/4 onion, chopped
1 banana pepper (yellow wax/Hungarian pepper) chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 teaspoon (2 ml) salt and ground black pepper,oregano, ground cummin,
1 teaspoon(5ml) of paprika
1 Tablespoon (15 ml ) oil ,any

1. The chicken must be boiled first, let it cool off and reserve some of the stock. Then shred it and put it aside. While the chicken is cooking you can prepare the salsa.

Easy Salsa Roja:

3 tomatoes

1 chile de arbol or any large hot chili

1/4 of an onion

2 garlic cloves

1 handful of fresh cilantro

salt,black pepper, a pinch of paprika

Put all the ingredients in a blender, and process until it's well combined. Pour into serving dish and set aside.

2. Next prepare the vegetables and spices for the chicken filling.
3. Add your oil to a pan once it's warm add all the vegetables then the chicken and last the spices. Stir to combine all of the ingredients. Cook until the vegetables become soft, about 10-15 minutes. (If the meat and veggies are too dry or begin to stick to the pan you can add a big spoon or two of the reserved stock, this way you don't need more oil- adds more flavour -and keeps the calories lower.)
In the mean time you can prepare the toppings and warm up your beans.

Toppings/Garnishes:

Sour cream

grated cheese ( I used grated feta, Edam is also good)

finely sliced iceberg lettuce

chopped radishes

These toppings can be optional, the only one I strongly suggest is the cheese because it adds another flavour to the gorditas.

Once the salsa,toppings and chicken are done you can warm up the gorditas. Do this either on a griddle/skillet or in the microwave.

4. One at a time start to fill the gorditas with the chicken. If using all the garnishes do this next, or you can let everyone add the toppings themselves, as well as the salsa. Ready to serve.

Even being so far from home I can still have a taste of home, makes me happy. Buen Provecho!

*remember to check the archives for both the refried beans and gordita "patties" recipe.*