Maranda of Jolts & Jollies was our January 2012 Daring Cooks hostess with the mostess! Maranda challenged us to make traditional Mexican Tamales as our first challenge of the year!

Firstly I need to apologise to Maranda, I made a massive mess of this challenge.  Hopefully my epic fail  wont set my standard for the rest of the Daring Kitchen, Daring Cooks’ Challenges this year.

When I first read the challenge I was really excited.  I love Mexican food and I have been playing around with it a bit of late.  The other bonus was that I had most of the ingredients, no specialty shopping needed.  This was an added bonus as we had just returned back from holidays.

I actually have never come across a tamale in Sydney.  I am sure you must be able to find them somewhere?  (quick net search says Bodega & Flying Fajita Sisters?)  They don’t grace your typical Mexican restaurant here.

What exactly is a tamale?  Everyone has heard of the expression ‘hot tamale’.  I had heard of them, seen them on cooking travel shows, but never eaten one.  Tamales are a traditional Latin American dish, made with a masa dough.  They can be filled with meats, cheese, fruits, vegetables anything basically.  Wrapped in corn husks, they are then steamed or boiled.

I mentioned earlier that I made a bit of a mess of this challenge.  Where did I go wrong?  I had blue masa mix (blue corn tortilla mix) in the cupboard and decided to use that.  May have not been a clever idea as the recipe used masa harina which is a yellow corn tortilla mix. Read more →

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I really do think that everything Dan Hong touches turns to gold.  You could say he has the Midas touch when it comes to restaurants and food.  I really enjoy Lotus, not yet visited Ms G’s, but it is on my “to do soon” list.

I have been to El Loco now quite a few times.  I like it so much I even became a member.  Well, that was a bit of an accident actually.  I subscribed to their newsletter and when they opened doors I received an invitation to become one.  Nothing special anyone can, and it entitles you to a groovy key ring that you flash to purchase the member’s only Dang Hong special burger and half price margaritas on a Thursday. Read more →

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The 12th and newest restaurant in the Mad Mex franchise opens today.  A great location on George Street opposite Central Station in Sydney.  It should prove to be very popular with the local backpackers, UTS and Sydney TAFE students.

When I received the invitation a few weeks ago to attend the VIP opening party, it was pretty much a no brainer on us going.  Josh was keen and eager, especially after his victory over the 1Kg Mad Mex burrito challenge a few months ago. Read more →

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During May, Mad Mex held a challenge that I just couldn’t ignore, Man Vs Burrito, I am Josh Vs Food after all.  They put the challenge out to any amigo willing to accept the stomach defying attempt to eat a 1Kg burrito.  If you succeeded you claimed yourself a limited edition tee shirt.

Mad Mex compared the challenge with the Battle of Puebla.  This was when the Mexican army won an unlikely victory over the French.  They were outnumbered two to one, just as my challenge burrito was twice the size of the delicious standard ones on their menu.  The challenge was held during May and in line with the Cinco de Mayo celebrations that commemorate the Battle of Puebla.

I discovered two things about myself during this challenge; Read more →

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Our hosts this month, Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food have chosen a delicious Stacked Green Chile & Grilled Chicken Enchilada recipe in celebration of Cinco de Mayo! The recipe, featuring a homemade enchilada sauce was found on www.finecooking.com and written by Robb Walsh.
This was an awesome challenge that I was really looking forward to.  The whole tribe really enjoys enchiladas and I had never made my own sauce before.  Ended up with more than needed so the remains have been frozen for another day, lets see how it does when defrosted.  Did have visions of making my own tortillas but again time was not my friend.

I decided to not use grilled chicken in my enchilada stacks but the chicken that I used to make my stock for the green chilli sauce.

I really didn’t like the idea of just using grilled chicken or to be honest the poached chicken from my stock by itself, I wanted something with flavour to compliment the chilli sauce, tortillas and cheese.
For my chicken mixture I didn’t follow a recipe but went by my taste buds. I shredded the poached chicken from my stock making, added a tin of diced tomatoes, finely diced onion, garlic, chicken stock, salt, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, fresh coriander to taste.  This was simmered until it was a thick consistency that would sit in the tortilla stack without running out. Read more →

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