Huevos Motuleños

Easter Sunday left us with a huge amount of leftover ham that is going to be in all of our meals for the rest of this week and likely into the weekend.  I scoured the internet for some creative ideas on how to use it.  Here is the first meal I made to use up some of the ham.  It’s either a weekend breakfast or a breakfast-for-dinner meal but really can be eaten for any meal of the day and you can use any meat you have around.

Huevos Motuleños | Hottie Biscotti

This breakfast dish originated in the town of Motul in the Yucatan and in my recent search I’ve seen many different variations.  The things that seem to remain constant are the fried tortillas, black bean mash, salsa, egg, some kind of meat, and the fried plantains.

I prepped the beans and the salsa earlier in the day and reheated them at dinner.  But even if you’re making this and serving it immediately, you may need to heat things up, or at least keep them warm while you’re doing the other parts since this dish does have a few components and it takes some time to get everything together.  I found that getting everything else ready, then frying the tortillas and bananas and cooking the eggs last was a good way to get it all done.

Huevos Motuleños | Hottie Biscotti

My grocery store did not have ripe plantains so I used bananas.  A nice ripe plantain would’ve been better, but the bananas worked out ok.  If the idea of bananas with everything else is just a little too adventurous for you, then leave them out.  This is a great dish with or without them.  I used the smoked gouda cheese called for in the recipe I used, but other cheeses would work well.  I tried my best to make a nice egg over easy, but isn’t wasn’t pretty (as you can see).  Fix your eggs the way you like them.  I think next time I’ll scramble mine because as much as I want to like a runny yolk it’s tough for me to handle.  This recipe also calls for peas, which I found to be weird, but I used them anyway.  You can’t really taste them with all the other flavors going on, and they’re a fun addition to the plate, so use them or don’t.

I can see myself making these again, and I can definitely see myself making the beans and salsa again and using them for a quick dinner on tortillas with some shredded chicken, lettuce and sour cream.  The flavors in both the beans and the salsa are really nice and fresh.

Once you have everything together, assemble them and enjoy!

huevos3 huevos4 huevos8 huevos10 huevos11 huevos13 Huevos Motuleños | Hottie Biscotti

While some of the ingredients sound weird together, try them anyway!  Unless you have an allergy of course or peas make you gag.  When they’re all together this dish is deliciously different.  And it’s good to try new things.

Huevos Motuleños

Adapted slightly from Saveur

Ingredients

Beans

  • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 2 poblano peppers, seeded and roughly chopped (reserve 1 pepper for the salsa)
  • 1 handful of cilantro
  • 1 medium white onion, quartered (reserve 3 quarters for the salsa)
  • 1 tablespoon canola oil
  • kosher salt

Salsa

  • 1 pound tomatoes, cored and roughly chopped
  • Reserved poblano pepper, roughly chopped
  • Reserved onion, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
  • kosher salt

Base and Toppings

  • 8 corn tortillas
  • 1 ripe plantain, sliced into thick, 1/4 to 1/2 inch pieces
  • oil for frying
  • 4 eggs
  • 8-10 ounces cooked ham, chopped (or other meat)
  • 4 slices of smoked gouda cheese, optional
  • crumbled queso fresco
  • green peas
  • fresh cilantro

Directions

Beans

  1. Puree the beans, 1/4 of the onion, the cilantro, 1 poblano pepper and 1/4 cup of water in a blender or food processor until smooth.
  2. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat.  Add in the bean puree, stir and cook until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.  Season with salt.
  3. Transfer to a bowl and keep warm or refrigerate if using later.

Salsa

  1. Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add in the tomatoes, poblano and onion.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender and there is some color on the onion, about 10 minutes.
  2. Let cool slightly, then puree in a blender or food processor until smooth.
  3. Heat another tablespoon of oil in the skillet and return the pureed vegetables to the pan.  Cook, stirring occasionally until mixture thickens slightly, and taste and season with salt.
  4. Transfer to a bowl and keep warm or refrigerate if using later.

Base and Toppings

  1. Heat  an inch or two of oil in a large saucepan or dutch oven to 360°F.
  2. Fry corn tortillas, 1 or 2 at a time depending on the size of your pan, for a minute on each side.  DO NOT undercook them.  They’ll be chewy instead of crispy if you don’t fry them enough or if the oil isn’t hot enough. Remove from the oil to paper towels to drain.  Repeat with the remaining tortillas, making sure oil is at the correct temperature before frying.  This may require turning the heat up and down to regulate the temp and keep it between 360 and 375.
  3. Fry the plantains (or banana) for about 45 seconds to 1 minute.  Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels.
  4. Cook the eggs, fry, over easy, scramble.

Assemble

  1. Heat everything if it hasn’t been kept warm, including the ham and peas.
  2. Place one tortilla on a plate.
  3. Top with 1/4 of the bean mixture, then your egg.
  4. Top with some of the ham pieces and one piece of gouda cheese torn into pieces.  Top with the other fried tortilla.
  5. Spread some of the salsa on top of the tortilla then sprinkle with queso fresco, peas and cilantro.  Place a few of the plantain (or banana) slices on top and serve.