Mexican Dinner

[TanyaK]

Thursday is my dinner to make a surprise dinner for date night. I'm making a Mexican dinner which is DH's favourite cuisine. On the menu is :
- Fried stuffed chillies in egg batter with cream cheese&cumin.
- Homemade Wholewheat Tortillas - I have bought ready made back up tortillas for in case this doesn't come out right as I do not have a lot of faith in anything I make with flour in it.
- Taco De Matamoros - which I've already made as the cooked ground beef will keep in the fridge for 2 days.
- Tacos Al Pastor - Marinated pork fried with pineapple - not going to put it in a rotesserie - will just fry it.
- Chicken Mole
-Refried Beans
Serving with:
- Salsa
-Guacamole
-Sour Cream
-Cheddar Cheese(don't get the white Mexican cheese here)

Questions:
How long homemade tortillas will last in the fridge?
Do they usually serve Chicken Mole with tortillas (and with what then as I can't imagine it going well with guacamole) or with rice?
Any other suggestions ? I'm a limited in what I can make as we don't get tomatillas and all the different types of chilli peppers in South Africa

[*amy*]

Hi Tanya. I buy the packaged tortillas, so can't help you there... But, I was just looking at this chicken flautas menu with black beans, salsa, guac, sour cream, cheese, & white sangria punch. Thought I'd pass it along for some inspiration:

Our Best Mexican Dishes: Chicken Flautas with Black Beans

Have a great dinner.

[bookworm]

Hi- your menu sounds amazing! In Texas we usually see chicken mole served over rice. Have a great date night.

[*amy*]

I was going to say rice, & bookworm beat me to the punch. How about corn as another side?

[vyapti]

As with any bread, tortillas are best fresh. I would make them as close to meal time as possible. Personally, this would be a pretty high priority.

[MexicoKaren]

vyapti is right about tortillas - people here seem to buy them the day they plan to eat them. Flour tortillas, however, freeze well, so if you make them up a day or so ahead, stick them in the freezer (very well-wrapped). Otherwise, they will dry out before Thursday. And yes, EVERYTHING with tortillas. The people I know use a tortilla just like we use bread....they eat them with everything, usually putting the entree (including the rice) inside the tortilla, wrapping it up and eating it out of hand. I think your best bet (sorry) with chicken mole would be corn tortillas, though....One more note - while whole wheat tortillas may be a regular feature of Tex-Mex food, I have never seen them here in Mexico. Just regular white flour tortillas - made with LARD. Oh gosh, they are good.

[TanyaK]

Thanks all - I made the tortillas just before serving and it was really quick and easy. I served the chicken mole with rice in the end and it was great. Will try with corn tortillas next time - if I can find corn flour. The only thing that I wasn't impressed with was the refried beans but I made it from canned beans - will make them from scratch next time. Thanks for the tip on the tortillas Karen - will have to look for lard-can't remember ever seeing it over here (and then go to gym for 3 hours to work off the guilt - and lard)

[gogoguy]

I know store bought tortillas last a long time if they are refridgerated

[jennyhill]

Hi Tanya,

What a co-incidence. The cuisine we had chosen for our dinner for date night was also Mexican. But we had been to a fine Mexican restaurant inFort Collins.

Have a great time.

[TanyaK]

Thanks Jenny - it turned out great ! There's no good mexican restaurants around here so we have to make it ourselves. Hope you had a good time as well !