Huevos rancheros

Name: Huevos rancheros
Cook time: 47 min
Total time: 47 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Mexicana
Ingredients: 8 u Egg; 4 u Tomato; 1 u Onion; 3 cloves Garlic; Salt; 2 u Green Chilli; 5 tablespoons Vegetable Oil; 1 handful Coriander; 1 u Avocado; 80 g Queso Fresco; 400 g Black Beans; 8 u corn tortillas

Easy

Contains allergens

Huevos

Incomplete allergen information: some ingredients have not been reviewed yet. Always check the labels before cooking.

Author: Equipo Cocinoa
Preparation time: 47 min
Servings: 4

Summary

The Mexican ranch breakfast: fried eggs on lightly fried corn tortillas, smothered in a ranchera salsa of charred tomato and chilli, with refried black beans, avocado, fresh cheese and coriander.

Ingredients

4 servings

Add to Bring!

8 u Egg
4 u Tomato (ripe (about 600 g))
1 u Onion (half for the salsa and half for the beans)
3 cloves Garlic (2 for the salsa and 1 for the beans)
Salt (to taste)
2 u Green Chilli (serrano or jalapeño, to taste)
5 tablespoons Vegetable Oil (for the salsa, beans, tortillas and eggs)
1 handful Coriander (fresh, chopped)
1 u Avocado (sliced)
80 g Queso Fresco (crumbled)
400 g Black Beans (cooked and drained (1 jar), keep a little of the liquid)
8 u corn tortillas (about 15 cm across)

Instructions

Heat a cast-iron pan or comal with no oil over medium-high heat and char the whole tomatoes, half the onion in two pieces, 2 unpeeled garlic cloves and the chillies. Keep turning them until they are blackened in patches all over and the tomatoes are soft. Peel the garlic and pull the stalks off the chillies.
12 min
Blend the tomatoes with their skins, the charred onion, the garlic and the chillies (seeded if you want it mild) with a pinch of salt until you have a salsa that still has some texture.
2 min
Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a saucepan, pour in the salsa all at once, taking care as it spits, and cook over medium-low heat, stirring now and then, until it darkens slightly and thickens. Season with salt and keep it warm.
10 min
Meanwhile, chop the other half onion and the remaining garlic and fry them in a frying pan with 1 tablespoon of oil until soft. Add the beans with a splash of their liquid and mash them with a fork or masher as they heat through, until you have a thick, slightly rustic purée. Season and keep covered.
10 min
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan and dip each tortilla in for a few seconds on each side, just until it softens and puffs slightly. Drain on kitchen paper and arrange on the plates, two per person, slightly overlapping.
5 min
In the same pan, with the remaining oil, fry the eggs two at a time over medium heat until the whites are set with crisp edges but the yolks are still runny.
8 min
Put two eggs on each pair of tortillas and spoon over the hot ranchera salsa, leaving the yolks showing. Serve the beans alongside and finish with the avocado, fresh cheese and coriander.

Notes

It began as the hearty mid-morning meal on farms in rural Mexico, made with whatever was to hand: tortillas, eggs from the yard and a salsa ground in the molcajete. You can make the ranchera salsa with raw tomatoes, but charring them first in a dry pan gives a sweet, smoky edge that makes all the difference; it also keeps for 4 days in the fridge, so you can make it the day before. The tortillas only go into the hot oil for a few seconds to soften them so they don't tear when you cut them, not to crisp them like tortilla chips. If you use tinned refried beans, check they aren't made with lard; here they are made in minutes from cooked black beans and oil. Serrano chillies are hotter than jalapeños: start with one, seeded, and add more if you like. For coeliacs, make sure the tortillas are 100% corn. A popular variation is huevos divorciados: two eggs per plate, one with red salsa and one with green, kept apart by the beans.