Puffy Tacos

I've been craving puffy tacos for a few weeks, but I've always been to nervous to try it for myself. It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever made! I totally screwed up the first few, but by the end, the last few actually resembled taco shells! They turned out pretty good!

I found my recipes from The Tex-Mex Cookbook by Robb Walsh

Puffy Taco Shells (Puffy, Crispy and Crazy)

2 cups Masa Harina

1 teaspoon salt

Peanut oil for frying

1 1/4 cup warm water (I think I ended up using 2 cups)

Combine Masa, salt and warm water and mix until smooth dough forms. Knead until flexible. Pull off pieces of dough abd roll into golf ball size pieces.

Place ball betewwn 2 pieces of plastic and flatten with a tortilla press. The ball should be around 4 1/2-5 inches in diameter and 1/8 inch thick.

Fill a skillet with 1 inch of oil and heat to 375 degrees.

Slip a tortilla into the hot oil and, with a spatula, baste hot oil over the top until the tortilla puffs up. After 1 minute, flip it over and use the spatula to crimp the tortilla in the middle to form a u-shape or boat shape (I found the boat shape MUCH easier) and continue frying for 1 minute. After a few minutes it should hold it's shape. Drain on paper towels. Serve immediately!

Taco Filling

The recipe says this is spicy, but I'll definitly double up on the chiles and seasonings next time!

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1/2 onion chopped

1 pound ground beef

1 garlic clove, minced (I used 2 and it still wasn't enough)

1 serrano chile, stemmed and chopped

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

Heat the oil in a skillet over medium-high heat and cook the onion until it begins to wilt. Add the meat, sear and break it up until all the pink is gone. Add garlic and chili and cook until the garlic is soft, around 2 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and a tablespoon of water, mix well and cook for 2-3 minutes until well blended.

Serve over taco shells and top with desired ingredients. Our choice was lots of shredded cheese and some sour cream for DH. We also had some Spanish rice on the side. Wonderful!!!!