Growing up as a child, our parents would always reminded us to be proud of our Mexican culture and cherish our traditions, food was no exception. In our household, holiday gatherings were never small and preparing the family meal was an all team effort. Food was always the main attraction at our family events and it was an all day celebration. There were no shortcuts to our meals, everything was made from scratch. Over time the family grew and time became limited, and introducing easy to make quick bites that still had that authentic flavor became a thing.
Today, thanks to our family upbringing, those traditions continue with a slight adjustment. We teach our kids to be proud of their culture, speak the language and enjoy our rich colorful food. We always gather for the holidays, no excuses! And now with our family being so mixed with half of them being American, German, Irish, Filipino and the other half Mexican, we want to continue the tradition of being together and celebrating our family. That includes sharing traditions we experienced as children.
Celebrating New Family Traditions
So why is all this talk about tradition so important and why am I rambling on and on about it, I’ll tell you why. Every year the family gathers for Thanksgiving and Christmas and let me share, food is still the main attraction. But after experiencing Dia de los Muertos with my cousin last year in Mexico City and learning the true meaning behind this holiday, it inspired us to organize a family dinner for Day of the Dead. We realized with the new Pixar/Disney movie, Coco, coming out (which I am totally excited to watch with the family) and with everyone else commercializing the holiday, our kids don’t really understand the true meaning of it. There’s more to painting faces, Catrina skulls and tamales. Yes, food does play a big role on this holiday, but the bottom line, it’s all about being reunited with family, alive and deceased.
This year our family will be gathering on this holiday to understand the meaning behind Day of the Dead, its traditions and of course, the food will be the main attraction. Ill get into the whole meaning and tradition in the next post. I really want to share what I experienced during my travels during the holiday. But what I can tell you is that there were many delicious foods prepared throughout Mexico, like quesadillas, moles, tamales, hot chocolate and pan de muerto. But there was a special quick bite that was pretty popular in Puebla’s street stands when we visited for a day, and that was Chalupas.
Chalupas is a famous snack in Mexico, especially in Puebla, where you can find them everywhere from street stands to restaurants. They’re really easy to make and it’s a perfect way to use leftover meat. So I looked into it and prepared an easy to make Green Chicken Chalupas at home that I plan to serve at our Day of the Dead family dinner. What I like about this recipe is that it doesn’t require you to make everything from scratch, you can use Herdez Salsa and still keep its authentic flavor. Of course, if you like your salsa spicier, you can always blend the salsa with an extra serrano or jalapeno to give it that extra kick. This may be a tradition that we look forward to celebrating every year with the family. The recipe is not only easy to make, but it only requires five ingredients and it’s perfect as an appetizer or snack. Hope you enjoy it!
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Green Chicken Chalupas with Herdez Salsa Verde
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup corn oil
- 24 3" corn tortillas (mini tortillas)
- 2 cups of Herdez Salsa Verde
- 1 1/2 cups cooked shredded chicken
- 1 1/2 cups of queso fresco
- 1 medium white onion finely chopped
Instructions
- In a large, deep frying pan, heat the oil until hot.
- Place tortillas into the pan and soft-fry them, about 4 seconds on each side. They should be soft and not crispy. Drain them well on paper towels as they are removed from the pan. Remove as much of the oil as you can with paper towels.
- Heat Herdez Salsa. Spoon salsa verde, about 2TBSP per chalupa.
- Top each with shredded chicken, crumble cheese and onion.