I was watching online an old TacoBell commercial for their chalupas and I thought to myself: “What the heck is that?” The word chalupa has two meanings in Mexico. The first one refers to a boat. I believe the word is a combination of Nahuatl and old Spanish. Chalupas were the boats that were used to bring produce, flowers and other goods into the Great Tenochtitlan through the canals that connected it to the outside world. Up until today they are still in use in the canals of Xochimilco, a tourist destination in Mexico City. I found this amazing photo on flickr where you can appreciate perfectly the use of the chalupas.
In food, at least the way I remember, chalupas are oval fried tortillas stuffed with refried beans and served with cheese, salsa, sour cream, tomatoes, avocado slices, lettuce and meat. The ones I remember were oval because they represent the little boats that navigated Mexico’s old canals. I tried to make mine as oval as possible, but they didn’t come close to the ones I remember from my childhood.
If you are looking at that picture you might be wondering why my chalupas are red. Remember the spinach tortillas I made last week? Well, I really wanted to make chalupas and when I was looking for the ingredients I saw two beets that I had forgotten about it. I took them out and thought to myself, why not? In Mexico blue corn chalupas are very popular. I love blue corn, but since I haven’t seen it up here I wanted to give mine so color.
So I blended one beet with 1 cup of water and used that liquid with corn flour to make my tortilla masa. It was red and messy, but it is always messy when you made anything with beets. Besides, I love their intese red color so it wasn’t a bad thing for me.
Once the masa was ready I made my chalupas. First I took a little bit of masa and put a spoonful of refried beans in the middle:
After that I shaped it into something that looked like a football (the fake one that is played with the hands) making sure that the refried beans stayed in the center:
I pressed it between 2 sheets of plastic:
And cooked them in a cast-iron skillet:
Since I am still on a diet (yeah, right!) I didn’t fry them. I just sauteed them in a TBSP of grapeseed oil to give them some oily flavor. I served them with homemade queso fresco, sour cream, Romaine lettuce, salsa, chopped onions and avocado slices. Looks delicious, doesnt it? And they are nothing like TacoBell’s version…
Remember that this month our Homemade Challenge is tortillas. They are not hard to make and eating fresh tortillas without all those preservatives is something everybody should experience at least once. Please join us in this amazing trip to Mexican cuisine.
¡Buen provecho!
27 Replies
Hello, lunch! (I wish, hehe) they look fabulously fantastic, Ben! Man, I’m starving.
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Beautiful. Absolutely beautiful.
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 11:56 am
Que ricoooooo!
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 12:59 pm
They look a million times better than anything you get at Taco Hell
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 2:44 pm
So pretty Ben! They look delicious!
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
LOVE the color of the tortillas. I’ll have an order of that!
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
that is a fantastic idea of using beets! the color is so amazing. Deliciousness!
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Taco Bell has nothing on you! This is the real deal with your own twist. Great photos!
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
YUM – I love chalupas and this looks like a lovely version. The color is WILD!
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Oooh! Great experiment! The beets really give these a nice colour! I especially love the last shot…and let’s forget that “tacky bell” even exists!
Posted on May 14th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Had to do a double take since I thought it was a typo. I thought it was beef. Looks really good, though.
Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 12:55 am
Simply awesome colors and the taste must have been sublime!!!WOW!!
Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 2:12 am
These look awesome! What a great idea to make the tortillas with beets! Very creative!
Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 6:19 am
This is similar to what I’m planning for my tortilla submission to your event…you know I love color! I was surprised to learn that beans were worked into the dough and not used as a filling. Very interesting.
Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 7:04 am
Oh, what a great idea & I even have some masa flour on hand!
Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 8:27 am
Ben, what a great idea to use beets for coloring. I’m going to try that next time I make homemade corn tortillas. For tostadas I’ve used small amounts of corn oil when pan frying them, then fill up a large cookie sheet and finish them in the oven at low heat. It makes for crunchy tostadas, nice even golden color and not much oil. Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos and recipes! The avocado looks gorgeous next to that beet color.
Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 10:42 am
A great idea to put beet! Such beautiful colours.
Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Gorgeous!
Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 3:45 pm
I *love* foods that are pretty to look at and taste good (in this case, it’s also fun to say the name). Good job with the beet tortillas, Ben. I think you may have set a new trend.
Posted on May 15th, 2009 at 4:08 pm
Hey Ben, these look great. Guess what, I have prepared the dough for my tortillas just a while ago and mine are red as well but not with beets. I am still afraid if they will succeed or not because I do not have a cast iron skillet, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. Will have them ready for lunch.
Posted on May 16th, 2009 at 4:39 am
Thanks for the visits and linking to my photo page in flickr!
Posted on May 17th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Thanks for demystifying chalupas.. had no idea it meant boat! Working with beets was real innovative Ben! Esp. filling these up! Looks lovely.
Posted on May 18th, 2009 at 7:06 am
Ben – WOW thats all I can say is wow….and tortilla challenge – this is first I have heard of this….
Posted on May 20th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Hi Ben, I’m new to your blog and I’m loving it!!!
Yo tambien soy latina expatriada y adoro ver recetas tipicas con un twist original!
Te seguire leyendo fielmente!
Gracias!
M
Posted on May 22nd, 2009 at 3:01 pm
ben, these are awesome! i made plain homemade tortillas and i was already ecstatc..LOL…then i see these amazing colors! awesome. ..i will try your beet and spinach flavored tortillas! thanks!!!
Posted on May 29th, 2009 at 10:21 am
Ben,I tried and loved these low fat chalupas,thanks for the creative recipe
Posted on July 8th, 2009 at 9:38 am
[...] inspiration for this eyeful delicacy was the Beet Chalupas at WhatsCooking.Pleasing to the eyes and the soul,these are no match with the greasy fried Chalupas [...]
Posted on July 10th, 2009 at 8:57 am
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