Pico de Gallo - Chunky Salsa

With every taco truck meal I get, it's always the same internal monologue: "Which one of these salsas do I pile onto a pair of tacos?"

I like all types of salsas, from traditional soupy tomato sauce to a roasted green tomatillo Salsa Verde; and a dried chile, smokey Roja, to this one -- a chunky Pico de Gallo, which I think is one of the best.

Some salsas go through a cooking stage, but not this one. But it does take more chopping than the others. That all the ingredients are fresh is a big plus. Pico de Gallo is made from tomato, onion, garlic, cilantro, jalapeno and lime juice.

You control the spiciness -- a little jalapeno or a lot, it's up to you. Do you like extra cool cilantro or the sweet heat of extra chopped onion? I do. This is the type of dish where there is no wrong way to do it. It's a perfect party appetizer that goes with tortilla chips or your favorite crackers -- make one bowl mild and the other extra spicy. It's also a fresh condiment for almost any entree.

Last summer I did a month of hot dog videos that included footage of a L.A. Street Dog (click here,) which is a grilled wiener wrapped in bacon. And the kicker is how it's served on the street -- yep, topped with Pico de Gallo!

If you have a Latin grocery in the neighborhood then all the ingredients will be way below 99 cents per pound. I've noticed most ethnic grocery stores have tomatoes and chiles cheaper than typical chain markets.

Just in time for sweltering summer days and nights, The 99 Cent Chef's cool Pico de Gallo salsa recipe is just a few chops away.

Ingredients (2 - 3 servings)

• 2 cups diced tomato - I used about 5 roma tomatoes. Okay to use even more.
• 1/2 cup chopped onion - about 1/2 regular onion
• Handful of cilantro leaves - about 1/4 cup chopped. Okay to use more or less to taste.
• 1/4 chopped jalapeno - to taste. Discard stem and seeds. You may want more or less depending on your heat tolerance.
• 1 teaspoon chopped garlic - fresh or from jar
• Juice of 1 lime - or about 2 tablespoons of juice . Okay to substitute with lemon juice.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

*A great lush addition is one chopped avocado, optional.

Directions
Chop all ingredients except lime. You could let a food processor roughly chop ingredients, but do each ingredient separately. I like to finely chop the onion, garlic, jalapeno and cilantro.

I hand chop the tomatoes, seeds and all, to a small size, but larger than the onion pieces. Add all the chopped veggies into a large enough bowl.

Squeeze in juice of one lime and mix well. Finally season with salt and pepper to taste. Optional to add chopped avocado - lastly, so you don't overmix it to mushiness.

Serve cold or at room temperature. Pico de Gallo served the same day is the best -- but even over a few days the flavors meld well and intensify deliciously.

This is a great topping for burgers (Mexi-Burger recipe,) hot dogs (LA Street dog recipe,) fish (Coconut Crusted Fish recipe,) your favorite salad (2 Minute Salad recipe,) or as a fresh tasting side dish. And of course it's a dip for all occasions and types of chips (not just tortilla chips.) I especially like Pico de Gallo sprinkled over my decadent Billionaires Crab Omelet (recipe here.)

Fried Fish Tacos (Baja, Mexico style)

Originating along coastal Baja, Mexico and spreading into San Diego's, California surf culture, Fish Tacos are ready to go mainstream.

If you like deep fried British Fish & Chips (my video recipe is here,) or Japanese Tempura (my recipe is here, too) -- Fish Tacos are a handheld sidewalk version.

Locally (here in L.A.) you find them at Mexican seafood Taco Trucks; made by street vendors with a portable deep fryer (Ricky's Tacos are a fine example;) and many mom and pop taquerias. Some have no batter and are grilled to suit the local skinny-jeans wearing types, but I prefer mine coated and deep fried. (I don't eat them that often so I go for this belt-loosening version.)

And if you were here last week then you saw my Cheap$kate Dining video of Tacos Baja 99c Wednesday Fish Taco special. They do them perfectly. Just scroll down to the next blogpost to read all about it. (Even The Wall Street Journal has weighed in on fish tacos, read it here.)

Fish Tacos are a perfect combination of contrasting flavors, usually consisting of: crisp shredded cabbage, cool crema, crunchy coated deep fried fish filets and a dash of spicy chile, all on a soft warm corn tortilla.

You can use any cheap firm fish, like rockfish, tilapia and cod. I get my frozen fish filets at local Latin markets and 99c only stores. The veggie topping is inexpensive, just cabbage (sometimes a pico de gallo of tomato, onion, cilantro and lime juice is added.) Of course, corn tortillas are always a bargain.

And a Fish Taco is topped with a Mexican Crema sauce, which is Mexican sour cream with a little milk and mayo. But you can substitute with any type of sour cream - it's close enough.

You don't have to tote a surfboard to enjoy The 99 Cent Chef's savory Fried Fish Tacos, but bring a hearty appetite -- along with an ice cold cerveza or two.

Ingredients (about 8 fish tacos)

• 1 pound fish - use a firm flaky fish like: halibut, cod, tilapia or sea bass. Cut into  2-4 inch pieces. Okay to use smaller prepackaged frozen fillets, just cut ingredients by half.
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup water - or beer. Add a little chicken bouillon (a teaspoon amount) to water for extra flavor.
• 1 teaspoon baking powder.
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano - or 1/2 teaspoon dried.
• 1 teaspoon garlic - fresh crushed, finely chopped, or dried (granulated.)
• Enough oil for frying fish - at least a couple inches deep in a pan or pot.
• Package of small corn tortillas.
• Salt and pepper to taste.

Veggie Toppings

• 2 cups shredded cabbage - okay to use packaged pre-shredded coleslaw.
• Salsa - from jar or fresh (for my Pico de Gallo recipe click here.)

Crema Topping

• 1/2 cup Mexican Crema or regular sour cream.
• 1/4 cup mayo - optional
• 1/4 cup milk

Directions for Toppings
You can make cabbage and Crema Topping first or while the fish fries.

For the cabbage, just shred it or fine chop it. Set aside on a plate or bowl.

In another bowl make the Crema Topping by adding sour cream or Mexican crema, mayo and milk. Mix well. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve.

My Pico de Gallo salsa recipe (here) is a good addition, or just use your favorite jar of salsa and hot sauce.

Fried Fish Directions
Start the oil heating in a pan or pot over a medium heat.

For the fried fish, first make a dipping batter. Mix in a bowl: flour, baking powder, garlic, oregano, and water (or beer.) Season with salt and pepper.

Mix batter well. It should be the consistency of pancake batter.

Cut fish into 2 to 4 inch pieces (so they will fit snugly into a corn tortilla.) When oil is hot enough, coat each fish piece in batter and add one at a time to the hot oil (350 degrees.)

Be careful as oil may splatter some at first. Oil should bubble around fish pieces right away. Allow each fish piece a few seconds of cooking before adding another one to the oil.

Watch the edges of the fish to check when the coating turns brown. Turn each fish fillet to brown on each side. Should only take around 5 minutes total, depending on oil heat. As each piece is done set aside on a paper towel or metal rack to drain. Okay to store in low heated oven while you cook all the fish. Or hand them out as they are done.

You can microwave the corn tortillas, heat them up in the oven or on a frying pan. They just need a minute of heating to soften them.

Layer on fish, cabbage and crema. Extra toppings include salsa,  avocado and hot sauce. You could also mix salsa or pico de gallo (recipe here) into the shredded cabbage.

Carne Asada (Steak) Taco

Taco Month is extended into April! That means another Cheap$kate Dining Taqueria video review and a taco truck recipe favorite, Carne Asada Tacos.

Probably the most popular of tacos, Carne Asada has been adapted by American fast food conglomerates into cheaper ground beef tacos. But the American taco pails by comparison.

 Taqueria and Taco Truck version

The Mexican version uses more expensive steak for their tacos and the price is usually a dollar to a buck twenty-five at most taco trucks -- a great cheapskate deal. And now the Border Crossing Chef will guide you through the simple steps of making your own. I also include a tasty marinade recipe for the steak.

Steak tacos from the Chintzy Chef? Well it can only happen because I find one dollar three ounce rib-eye steaks at my local market and sometimes in 99c Only Stores. This small, but tasty steak, makes enough for a couple of Carne Asada Tacos.

In  Latin markets they sell "flap" meat, which is thin sliced and ready to marinate. (In Latin Market meat deli cases they also have steak in the marinade, that's ready for the grill.) At regular markets you can use skirt or flank steak.

A marinade of oil, lime juice, onion, garlic, cumin and cilantro is used to flavor the steak. As for the grilling, I've seen it done a couple of ways. Mainly it's done on a flat top grill (typical stove top) or the best way, over an open flame. 

For the taco preparation it's really simple, just chop up the steak when done, add to a warm tortilla and top with chopped onion and cilantro, your favorite salsa, or my Pico de Gallo (recipe here.)

Unlike my previous taco recipes from last month, slow cooking Carnitas and fatty Chiccarones (fried pork skin), my version of Carne Asada Tacos are quick to make and easier on the palate.

Ingredients (2 tacos)

• 3 - 5 ounces of steak - I used a $1 thin sliced rib-eye steak. In Latin markets you can use flap meat. At regular markets Carne Asada is made with thin sliced flank or skirt steak.
• 1 green onion - roughly chopped. Okay to use a tablespoon of chopped white or yellow onion.
• A few sprigs of cilantro - roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon garlic - chopped fresh or from jar.
• Juice of 1/2 lime - or use 1 teaspoon from plastic bottle. Okay to substitute with lemon juice or white vinegar. Some recipes call for orange juice for a sweeter marinade, okay to add some or just substitute, instead of lime juice.
• 1 teaspoon olive oil - or a favorite tasty oil.
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
• Salt and pepper to taste. 

Directions
Chop cilantro, garlic and green onion. Add to a wide shallow bowl. Squeeze in lime juice and pour in olive oil. Season with cumin, salt and pepper. Mix well.

Add steak and coat both sides. Allow to marinate at least half an hour in the refrigerator. But don't marinate for more than a hour as the acidic citrus juice will start to cook the steak.

Before you cook the Carne Asada have all your taco toppings ready to serve. While the meat is cooking you can heat up the corn tortillas for tacos, or flour tortilla for a burrito. Go hear for my homemade Pico de Gallo salsa. Of course, you can use your favorite jarred salsa. A simple combination of chopped onion, cilantro and a slice of avocado is a great taco topping.

You can grill the Carne Asada several ways. I fired up the BBQ grill and cooked one side until charred, then flipped it over and finished cooking it for 30 seconds or so until done. (If you cook each side for the same amount of time then the steak will not char well, so better to have one side cooked perfectly.)

Most street taqueras just grill the marinated beef on a flat top grill. So you could just fry up the steak in a hot frying pan.

Finally a nice method is to use the oven broiler. You get a good char and it's convenient. Again I would broil one side until well charred then flip the steak and finish cooking it through for a few seconds more.

However you cook the Carne Asada, chop it up just before serving.

Hindsight
If you want to feed the family Carne Asada Tacos then you will need to get a large piece of steak, like thin sliced flank or skirt. You could use sirloin or tri-tip but will need to slice the large steaks thinner. An easy way is to semi-freeze the pieces for an hour or so in the freezer to firm up the meat to make slicing easier.

If you are just frying up the steak on your stove top you could chop up the meat into bite-sized pieces first -- that's the way they do it at most taco trucks and taquerias.

This Carne Asada marinade works well for cheaper chicken and pork.

As for the marinade ingredients just increase the amounts: juice of 2-4 limes, 1/2 bunch of cilantro, about 4 whole green onions (or 1/2 white or yellow onion), 1/4 cup of olive oil, 2 tablespoons of garlic, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, and salt and pepper to taste.

I like to heat my tortillas in another frying pan over a medium heat for a minute on each side until soft and pliable. You could also microwave tortillas for 30 seconds or so.

You can make a burrito instead of a taco. Just heat up a can of pinto beans and make my  Mom's Mexican Rice (recipe here.)

Breakfast Tacos - Leftovers Series

I threw a taco party for the Football's Superbowl and what do I have to show for it? A bunch of leftovers including Pinto Beans, Mexican Rice and some Homemade Salsas.

In my game day menu was: Carnitas with Frijoles and Mexican Rice. If you are looking for your own party food make sure to click on any highlighted recipe name to see all the yummy photos, Gifs, videos and tasty recipe text.

Mexican-style Carnitas - slow cooked pork marinated in Mexican Coke & citrus

My friends and neighbors were glued to their seats during the game, but managed to get up for munchie breaks, so much so that by the 4th inning my Carnitas were wiped out. The only thing left was some salsa, beans and rice.

The food was a hit. Setting up a taco bar is the way to go if you want to mingle with your party guests. What's great is they do all the work, once you set out the goodies.

It is easy to keep the Mexican-style Pinto Beans at a low temperature on the stove top. During the game I would add a little water from time to time as the bean broth thickened.

Once the Mexican Rice was ready I just left it covered. Room temp is fine for the rice, since the beans were kept hot on the stove, so my guest could make their own steaming bowls of Beans and Rice to go with tacos and homemade salsas.


I kept my Carnitas in a covered pan and would heat it up in the stove every once in a while. I kept the stove on at 250 degrees so it would only take a few minutes to heat the Carnitas through. (I could have microwaved the meat as well.) I always keep some meat broth to moisten the meat, spooning on some each time I before heating.

There was plenty of time before kickoff to make some Homemade Salsa. In terms of food preparation, I had made the Carnitas the day before and the pinto beans soaked overnight, so all I had to do was make Mexican Rice and Salsas on game day.

Pico de Gallo and Mango Salsa takes some chopping, but it's not too bad. I made sure to do them first thing, as they are tastiest with a couple of hours chilling in the refrigerator, so all the flavors blend well.

The Salsa Verde is made with roasted  tomtillo and some onion - easy enough, just throw it in the oven about half an hour or so while the Carnitas are heating up. When the tomatillos were soft and onions slightly charred, I let them cool off, then simply blend together.

 My Red Chile Salsa is made with dried chiles (remove seeds)  that are soaked in hot water for half an hour. You just blend them with some of the chile water, and add some onion and tomato for a Salsa Roja, and that's it.

Well this blog post is really about the leftovers. All I had the next day was some beans, rice, tortillas, and salsa. So I started the next couple of days with Breakfast Tacos.

I microwaved some Pinto Beans and Mexcian Rice, while I scrambled one egg and heated up 2 or 3 corn tortillas.

Once the main ingredients were heated through I assembled the Breakfast Tacos, topping them with some shredded cheese and salsa. Boy is this a great way to get the day going.

After your own Taco Party take advantage of my Leftover Breakfast Tacos recipe - table scraps were never so deliciously put to use.

Ingredients (2 tacos)

• 1 egg - scrambled your favorite way. One medium egg is enough for a couple of small tacos.
• 2 to 3 corn tortillas - amount depends on egg size. Okay to make a Breakfast Burrito with flour or wheat tortilla.
• 1 tablespoon Mexican rice - add as much Mexican Rice as you like. 
• 1 tablespoon pinto beans - add as much pinto beans as you like. Okay to use canned pinto beans.
• 1 tablespoon cheese - optional. Any type of cheese, I used shredded cheddar and Jack. Again add as much as you like.
• 1 tablespoon salsa - fresh made or from jar. I made my breakfast tacos with Mango, Pico de Gallo, Salsa Verde (tomatillo) and Red Chile.
• 1 teaspoon oil or butter - for scrambling an egg.

Directions
First take out the salsa and cheese  from the refrigerator, to reach room temperature.

I microwaved the beans and rice together in a bowl.

I started heating the corn tortillas while scrambling an egg. I used a pat of butter for my eggs but you can make your scrambled eggs with oil, or any way you like.

Once the eggs are done and other ingredients heated up, or reach room temperature, assemble the Breakfast Tacos.

Make the tacos as stuffed as you like - just pile on the tasty ingredients. And get out the hot sauce, too!

It's up to you how to make Breakfast Tacos. Don't like pinto beans? - then leave them out. If cheesy tacos are for you then add extra cheese. It's okay to use your favorite grocery  jar of salsa or canned pinto beans. Make this recipe your own.