huevos rancheros: quick, easy and comforting

This is a very quick and easy recipe for the traditional Mexican breakast of fried eggs smothered in cooked salsa, and wrapped in a warm flour tortilla.

We cant get chipotle chillies in South Africa, so I have added chopped pickled jalepenos and smoked chilli to the sauce to give it that extra depth of flavour. If you are in a hurry you could use a good store bought salsa and add chopped tomatoes like I did for  my crunchy Mexican nacho salad.

This is what you need to make a basic Mexican warm salsa:

• olive oil
• 1 red onion finely chopped
• 1 x 450gm tin of tomaotoes
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 2 Tbs chopped pickled jalepenos
• a grind or two of smoked chilli or ordinary chilli flakes (add according to taste and heat preference)
• salt (I used smoked salt)

1. heat the olive oil in a pan or small pot and fry the onion until it starts to soften
2. addd the tin of tomatoes, chilli, jalepenos, cumin and salt and simmer for a few minutes (about 5)

When the sauce is made and simmering, fry the eggs, one or two per person.  You could also use scrambled eggs which is easier if you are making this for a lot of people.

Heat the tortillas either by microwaving for about 20 seconds, or by dry frying them on each side in a large non stick pan until they are heated through.

Assemble the wraps by spreading some warm salsa over the tortilla (I used multi grain flour tortillas from Mexicorn) and then topping with an egg or two. 

I added fresh coriander, a few chopped cherry tomatoes and slices of spring onion to bring in the freshness that I like.  They are perfect served just like this and as is the tradition.

However if you wanted to pimp things up, you could also add a sprinkle of grated cheddar, crispy bacon, beans, sliced fresh avocado or salad leaves.

Roll up and eat, letting the sauce drip down your chin.

The leftover salsa is great to use as a dip for corn chips or to make nachos.