Swedish Taco Night Fridays: Taquitos (soft rolled Tacos) & Guacamole

These are Taquitos or Soft Rolled Tacos with Guacamole & Cheddar Cheese

Image - Adam Ragusea

Those are a photo of what are called Taquitos or Soft Rolled Tacos and they are always made from Corn Tortillas and beef, chicken or pork meat, but always with Corn Tortillas. Sadly we don't have these in Sweden, with the exception of a Tortilla Factory in Spain where a small private mobile business called  La Taqueria - Flavors of Mexico AB , has to import them for their menu here in Göteborg. They use to set up their mobile trailer at Kungstorget, but have since moved elsewhere since the Saluhallen in Göteborg did a remodel. There was a major remodeling of Saluhallen and I have not seen any of the previous outside food vendors out there. The business was run by a girl from Mexico and her Scandinavian boyfriend, but I think they have since sold it to some Swedish interests based the Truck.

There is a serious lack of anything to do with Taquitos here in Sweden and yet the product would go over with an explosion in a Business $€N$€. Without real Corn Tortillas it's almost impossible to do your own. The other Mexican brand name here is Old El Paso and on their website page they attempt to show people how to create Taquitos using the more common flour tortilla as represented in the photo above left. Seriously, this barely qualifies as a Taquito as any experienced Mexican or Gringo gourmet would tell you. If anything, it's a glorified Asian Spring Roll with a Mexican twist. Flour Tortillas just don't deep fry well or offer the same rustic corn flavour needed for a true Taquito. They no doubt are okay, but not the sort of slender Guacamole Dipping hard crispy corn roll you need for true Taquitos.

Look closely! Shredded Beef is the most common Taquito sold in the United States either frozen in Grocery Stores or Mexican Restaurants and/or the Take-Aways. Of course one could use ground beef (hamburger) but it's not the same. Even if you had to make them from scratch, you would not need that much meat to fill the inside of the Taquito. It's also the Guaco, Cheese and Salsa you pour over the top that adds gusto!!!

One way to make home made Taquitos

Let's say one day either Santa Maria, Old El Paso or ICA Grocery Stores get their act together and find a source for Corn Tortillas if not already manufactured frozen Soft Rolled Tacos (Taquitos), here is what you do to make them on your own. Assuming you can purchase Corn Tortillas, you will need about 25 of them. You'll need to find some shredded beef, usually in stores and you can find imported Argentina Shredded Beef in a can. Most Mexican Restaurants in the USA use this source for their restaurants. It's already cooked but you want to heat it a bit and add some Santa Maria Original Taco spice or that from Old El Paso (your choice or you may not choose to use spice at all). 

Ingredients:

25 Corn Torillas ( basic wheat flour won't work, neither will the flour/mais blend).

2 Cups, 1 pint or 16 ounces = 475 ML  of Shredded Beef

Canola Oil (Rapseed for Euros) for frying

Directions:

1) Find a shallow square dish that fits into your freezer (Very Important)

2) Put a small tablespoon full of the shredded beef on a fresh warm flexible Corn Tortilla. Now shape the shredded beef into a long thin line about 1 cm thick and two inches long. 

3) Now roll this flexible tortilla tightly around this line of shredded beef and place it firmly with the seam side down into the square dish. 

4) Repeat this over and over till all the tortillas and meat are gone and tightly packed into this dish so that none of the Taquitos will be opened or unwrapped. (See Photo below under references)

5) Now place in freezer uncovered for about an hour or so. The freezing process doesn't allow them to unwrap when frying. This is how most commercial Taquitos come to restaurants or Grocery Stores in the USA.

6) Now take a large frying pan and fill it with about two inches of Canola Oil (Rapseed Oil) and put over high heat on stove.

7) When oil is hot, place the frozen Taquitos one at a time in the pan with the seam side down. Hold each one individual down for 20 seconds so that the seam cooks and sets it's permanent Taquito shape and won't open up. Repeat this until all Taquitos are cooked. 

8) Allow Taquitos to drain excess oil on a few layers of papertowels on a large plate.

9) Most people smother the Taquitos with guacamole, cheese and salsa, or you can eat them plain, but I wouldn't. Messy is better. Actually they are the perfect finger food.

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Guacamole Ingredients

1) Four to Six Avocados

2) One packet of Santa Maria guacamole Mix (or Old El Paso) or make your own from scratch. The pre-mixed spice is easy, fast and already great tasting. 

3) One Cup of Sour Cream or Crème fraîche 

4) Salsa - ( Fresh Salsa Recipe )

Great Avocados can at times be a challenge here in Sweden, but they are very popular and are continually available. You can buy the more expensive twin pack Haas Avocados (Alligator skin), in group bundles on sale or individually, depending on what the ICA Store has available.  Split in half with knife and remove seed. Scoop the avocado meat out and place into a large bowl and mash it with a large fork as fine as possible. Next take a hand blender if you've got one and blend until creamy. Next put one packet of the Guacamole Spice mix and blend it in. You can add a little bit of Salsa to it, but for Taquitos you really want a smooth creamy texture to your Guaco-Dipping Mix. You can either put into small individual bowls for each person to dip, or pour over top of Taquitos on a plate as they do at the restaurants or take-aways.

There is no reason someone at Santa Maria , Old El Paso or ICA Grocery Stores couldn't invest in a Tortilla Machine and sacks of Mais or Masa Corn flour to create their own version of Corn Tortillas, but you will all have to pester them like crazy about this. Mexican Foods are popular enough now for just such an investment or at least find a supplier to resell them to you, even if you have to convince a local Bakery like Pågens to take on the task. It may even be beneficial to find a hand tortilla maker and supplier of good Masa corn flour to make your own Corn Tortillas at home. Below is what a hand tortilla maker looks like. Even these companies could at least sell Tortilla Makers and Masa flour for their customers to make their own. We'll see what happens!

Very simple and Easy to Use. Doesn't Take a Genius to Use One of These.

To Make Lots of These !!!

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TAQUITO - REFERENCES:

For information on the history of Taquitos, variety and just general recipes, view this site

http://www.taquitos.net/snacks.php?page_code=54

To view my flavourite Mexican Take Away when I'm back in San Diego area, view this site

http://www.sombreromex.com/

Göteborg Mobile Mexican Food

http://www.lataqueria.se/index.html

Frozen Taquitos in square dish

Hurray, it's "Taco Night Fridays"

Taco Night Fridays is a  Mexican  *cough-cough*,  I mean Swedish tradition. Aside from the usual long lines at most SYSTEMBOLAGET Stores across Sweden before the weekend begins where the folk who live along the Vodka Belt of the planet load up on all manner of their favourite drink, the Taco Night has an even more powerful draw. 

A Swedish Traditional Food = Taco Fridays!

Interestingly it all starts at your local Swedish Grocery Store. We like to shop at the local ICA-MAXI Store in Torslanda or the ICA Kvantum Store in Sannegårdenhaven Eriksberg on Hissingen. 

MAXI ICA Stormarknad - Torslanda

Photo: Mine

It all begins here in the Produce Section. Quite often in the produce section there will be a display with products from brand names like Old El Paso & Santa Maria. These companies provide all manner of Mexican Spices, Tortillas, Taco Shells & Tubs (like the ones  introduced by Taco Bell in the 1960s)  jars of Salsas etc etc etc. They will have Avocados and Tomatoes displayed in among these other products on Fridays to induce people into purchasing these for Friday Night Tacos. Funny thing here about that word Taco. To a Swede, everything Mexican is Taco. Doesn't matter if we're talking Enchilada, Burrito, Chile Relleno, Taquitos,   Quesadilla or whatever, it's all Tacos. I think it's a Socialist version of Logam where everything must be equal. 

Photo: Mine

Ah here is my section. I would have photographed the entire thing bit these two feisty ladies wouldn't get out of the way - whatever! Al manner of things Mexican from Tortilla Chips (plain or flavoured) Flour Tortillas and a phony type of corn tortilla which is mixed with wheat flour which basically has the same taste as flour. Anyone who has had corn tortillas knows what I'm talking about. Now this section is dedicated to all Old El Paso & Santa Maria brand name products, but still such a large aisle dedicated to the Mexican palate is something one would not expect to find in northern country like Sweden. For me it's a life saver.

Photo: Mine

This section is important for getting grated  Cheese for Tacos. I purchase a bag labeled  Pizza Ost(cheese) for this. You can also get something called Creme Fraiche(sour cream) from the Dairy section where milk is located.

Photo: Mine

This is the Torslanda Bakery section, but I prefer bread from ICA Kvantum Store at Sannegårds. When they remodeled this store a couple of years ago they gave up a bread brand in favour of another which for me was cheaper and less quality. ICA Kvantum Store in Sannegården picked up the older brand which has the more rustig chewy bread. 

Okay, so here is what I pick up at any of the stores throughout the week fresh for making Salsa. I actually dislike the canned or jar brands. The first thing one needs is an electric food processor. I have used a manual hand crank salsa maker, but I like the electric it's faster. The one pictured here on the right looks exactly like our own on the kitchen counter. They're great and beat the hang crack gadgets on the market

Next I first choose either the Jalapeno or Habanero chiles for adding the flavour and heat that I want. I often have gotten into trouble from my family for purchasing and using the Habanero. As you know, many northern Europeans burn their lips on Ketchup. Actually these Greenhouse grown Jalapenos are bred for Gringo Styled palates.

Next I need to red or yellow onion for the Salsa. Usually I choose yellow onion for this. Good quality onions are hard to come by in Sweden. Of course most everything produce-wise is imported from warmer countries that grow it. I often joke about onions being grown in Israel or Africa and loaded onto an old wooden sailing ship which has been out to sea for months before arriving at Gothenberg Harbour. You have to carefully choose by squeezing for firmness because often times that can be rotten inside, especially in winter.

And what Salsa would not be the same without a good strong fresh garlic for which you will need a good garlic hand operated press tool. I use about three or four cloves from the garlic bunch. When you think about it, all of these ingredients which go into making salsa are a very healthful bunch & sickness preventative.

Next you will need some Cilantro or as the Euro-zone refers to it as Coriander. This is usually one thing that is missing in many of the Salsas made here in Europe I've tried. When generally get the Santa Maria brand nicely packaged Coriander or purchase large bundles from a few of the Immigrant produce stores here in Sweden which often have better and bigger quality and quantity. We go through a lot of it every week and so buy large bundles. The immigrant stores also usually have better prices. Even quality. Well, at least larger sized produce. They have connections.

Now finally there both limes and spices to add to the final flavouring of your Salsa. Seriously , what Mexican Food wouldn't be without some good limes ? Not only have we used a half of one in the Salsa for freshness and preserving, but what is left over can be used for your Corona Beer or for making your own Margarita mix. Margarita Mix here is outrageously expensive, almost $10+. We make half the mix with fresh squeezed lime juice and the other half with a sugary lime juice syrup concentrate from the store. 

Of course the spices, I almost forgot- We purchase the already made Santa Maria or Old El Paso Taco Spice mix blends in the small packets. Mostly though it is Santa Maria. Original Taco Spice mix and/or some of the Habanero Salsa mix. They actually have a huge variety of mixes. We get the Chile Con Carne mix for bean and ground beef chile making and also the lime and coriander or smoked chile flavoured. All of them very good and fun to experiment with. 

Now is the time to put it all together. Main ingredient first though are the Tomatoes. We buy over here the Dutch Green House grown in what are called Kvist Tomatoes which look like the photo above to the left. These are always identified by the green stems still connected to the bunch. In that food processor and cut up into four quarters the tomato and I figure about two thirds of the blender should be tomato. Next I use one large yellow onion which I cut in half and then half again to get four chucks which I put in the blender. Next four or five garlic clove peeled and pressed into the mix. As far as chiles, I use two Jalapenos or just one Habanero depending on what type of salsa I want. I finely slice length-wise several chile thin strips after cutting off the stem and then finely chop these thin slices to make little bits and add them to the mix. Next I take about 8 or 10 long stems of Cilantro (Coriander) and chop them finely on a cutting board before adding them to the mix. I then add generous portions of the Santa Maria Taco spice mix to the mix leaving about a quarter of the mix in the package, but you can add as much or less to your own taste. I have created mixes from scratch, but this store brand is fast and easy and tastes perfect. Then I add the half wedge of whole lime squeezed into the mix, put the lid on and blend. Depending on how long you blend, you will get a Pico de Gallo mix which is chunky in texture or liquefied to a hot sauce blend. 

Pico de Gallo is a chunky type of blend as seen here for which you may use the blending food processor to accomplish or do it by hand.

Real Salsa on the other hand is more of a blended liquefied texture for which many prefer to dip their corn chips into. Well, this should get your Taco Night Fridays off to a good start. Next week I'll do a Part Two with the actual taco making and my own Guacamole mix. Oh and don't forget the Coronas or Margaritas !!! BTW, Corona 3.2 Beer can be purchased at ICA MAXI & Kvantum Stores.

Corona with Lime - Don't Be Greedy!

References and websites for recipes:

http://www.santamariaworld.com/choose-country/index.html?nocache=1

http://www.oldelpaso.co.uk/

http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Mexican-Salsa

http://www.mexgrocer.com/mexican-recipes-salsas.html

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And for people in the United States here is a website to a southwest Mexican Grocery Chain store that I absolutely love when I'm there. I could love working at this place.Cardenas Market

http://www.cardenasmarkets.com/home/home_en.html

Cardenas Market - El Centro California