Mulitas are the most overlooked item at a taqueria. They aren’t as crushable as a bunch of tacos, and they’re not as flashy as quesadillas, but skipping these delectable morsels is absolutely a mistake. They're basically a corn quesadilla with meat and beans, but the beauty is in the way the top tortilla gets crunchy, and the bottom tortilla gets juicy. It's perfect contrast.
Prep Time | Cook Time | Serves |
45 Minutes (plus marinade) | 45 Minutes | 5-6 |
Homemade Chorizo
1 pound (450g) of ground pork
6 cloves garlic
6 guajillos
1 ancho
2 Arbols
3g cumin seed
1g dried oregano
3g smoked paprika
1g ground cinnamon
.75g coriander
.75g nutmeg
.75g ginger
.75g clove
.5g sugar
7.5g salt
50g apple cider vinegar
Tomatillo and Morita Salsa
Beans
Additional Ingredients
Step 1: Make Chorizo
Start by removing the seeds from 6 guajillo chiles, 1 ancho chile, and 2 arbol chiles. Soak the chiles in boiling water for 20 minutes, or until softened. Once the chilies have softened blend together all of the ingredients except the ground pork. This is the adobo that transforms pork into chorizo. Use a little bit of clean water to help create a smooth paste if you need it. If your blender isn’t great at making things smooth, you can strain it, but it’s better with the sauce broken down in the blender, you do get more flavor having the solids in the mix.
Mix the adobo into your pork with your hands or a spoon until completely combined and you start to see the fat creating strands. This is creating a cohesive sausage texture, rather than a simple ground beef texture. Set this in the fridge to chill for a few hours, or overnight if you’ve got the time.
Step 2: Make Salsa and Beans
The salsa starts with 12 tomatillos that are gonna get little charred flavor from the broiler. Remove the papery cover on the tomatillos and then wash them to get rid of that sticky layer. Place these on a sheet tray that can ride under the broiler until they’ve achieved some nice color. Keep an eye on them, you want these to blacken but not burn. They’ll begin to split so remove them before they lose too much moisture. While doing this, remove the seeds from 3 morita chilies, which are dried red jalapenos. They’re decently spicy, so 3 is enough to give the salsa a good flavor. Toast these in a dry hot pan for around 30 seconds or so and then cover them with boiling water. Let these steep for 20 minutes so they can soften up nicely. After the 20 minutes is up, process these with 1/2 a white onion and 3 cloves of garlic. To make sure these incorporate into the tomatillos, get this pretty smooth now. This gives you the option to blend the tomatillos as much or as little as you want. Salsa has a lot of vegetable mass, so for it to taste good it needs enough salt. Leave it chunky or go smooth, the choice is up to you. Chill this in the fridge till you’re ready to eat.
To get really good pinto beans, start with some fresh aromatics though. Dice a small yellow onion along with a jalapeno. I’ll let you pick your poison on if you want the seeds or not. Mince a clove of garlic as well. In a pot with a lid, heat a little olive oil over medium and then add the onion, garlic and jalapeno. Season this with salt now and let these veggies sauté until nicely softened. At this point, add cumin, coriander, black pepper and a little chili powder for good measure. Let these cook in the hot oil until nice and fragrant. Add in one can of drained pinto beans and then refill the empty can with water to add back in. Add a bunch of chicken powder here for salt and msg. Bring this to a simmer and cover so the beans can sort of have a hot tub party in that broth. You’ll need to check and adjust the liquid levels before serving, but these can basically sit on low covered until you need to serve them.
Step 3: Fry Chorizo and Make Mulitas
This pork has quite a bit of water that needs to cook off before it can brown, so get a wide skillet heating over medium high. Add a touch of olive oil and then plop on that chorizo. Spread this into a layer and let the water cook out. You’re going to see a lot of bubbling, that’s the water boiling, and then the pan will begin to dry out, then the fat will start to come out and then the browning can occur. This takes some time (around 15-20 minutes), so move the meat around when it needs it, and then you’ll be rewarded with the most tasty chorizo. Set this over a low burner to stay warm.
The tortillas will need to be cooked in two stages; the first is to cook them until they’re pliable, and the second stage will be to bring in the slight crunch. In a skillet over medium heat, cook the corn tortillas 30 seconds a side for 90 seconds in total. Remove them from the pan and cover them in a clean kitchen towel. Let these steam while you work through the rest in batches. The steaming is key to a well cooked tortilla, so don’t skip it. Once the initial cook is done on the tortillas, remove the lid from your beans and check if the beans are still covered in broth. If so, turn the heat up and cook the moisture out until they're just peaking out of the liquid. Taste them and adjust as needed.
Using the same tortilla pan from earlier, add a little oil and heat it over medium. Drop in your cooked tortillas one to two at a time (depending on the size of your pan), and cook them until slightly crisp, but still floppy. This dry/ damp crisp texture will soak up that chorizo fat super beautifully.
Line a sheet tray with foil so these don't stick in the oven. To build these, lay down one tortilla as the base and top it with chorizo, some beans with their juice, shredded jack cheese and then the top tortilla. Place these in the oven and turn on the broiler until the cheese has melted and the top tortillas has taken on a little color. No need to go too far, you don’t want these to be tough to cut through. After that, take them out, top them with some crema, the salsa, a little guacamole if you’ve got it laying around and a few cilantro leaves. These hit so hard, that chorizo is way too insane. It’s warm, spicy, tangy, and so so juicy. The top tortilla has a little crunch but the bottom one has soaked up all the juices. I hope you make this soon.
Cheers!
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