For the Love of Mexican Food

Mmm...Mexican food. I love it, and I’m afraid I took it very much for granted in America. It may come as a surprise to you, but mexican food is not a universal cuisine. South Africa does a lot of things, but it cannot do mexican food. 

A few weeks ago, while we were still living with a very generous Afrikaans family and taking turns cooking, we decided to do a taco salad night. It was on my and Todd’s night to cook, so we were in charge of shopping for supplies. Easier said than done. We scoured three very crowded grocery stores to get the handful of ingredients we needed to put together an authentic mexican meal, and even then it wasn’t perfect. Taco seasoning is really hard to come by. We settled for fajita seasoning, and that isn’t abundant either; we just happened to stumble upon it. 

One doesn’t find cilantro here either; it’s called coriander. I’d heard of coriander before, but had no idea what it tasted like. Now I know :) 

Salsa is another anomaly. We’ve heard you can find it, but actually finding it is another story. 

And tortilla chips...just don’t hold your breath when you go looking for those. Some stores have a bag or two to choose from, but it’s never a guarantee. The ZA natives go for Doritos. Doritos! Just keep swimming...

So, it goes without saying that when we get a craving for a taco (and let’s be real, that’s often) we know it’s time to roll up our sleeves. For your viewing enjoyment, here’s a pictorial documentary of our time in the kitchen this evening :) 

Todd is the chopper in this house. Here he's prepping the tomatoes for pico!

I think I can trace my wish to own a food processor to my Rachael Ray days. We bought this one (and a ton of other stuff!) off a couple who was returning to the States.

Combining tomatoes, onion, coriander, lemon juice, taco seasoning and a pinch of salt. Delicious!

While Todd made the pico, I was on tortilla duty. You can find tortillas here but I have no idea what they would cost, and I don't think you can get them just anywhere. So, I tried making them myself. 

The directions said to roll them into seven-inch circles...I just rolled them until they were really thin in whatever shape they chose.

Mexican from scratch. Brace yourself. 

A feast fit for a king! Ok, so it doesn't look like feast fare, exactly, but it was delicious, Doritos and all :) I ate entirely too much, but what else is new?