Los Charros Breakfast

 Developed by Chris and Cathy Weeks with shameless borrowing from many different sources.

This breakfast was inspired by a wonderful meal our friend Paul H. treated us to many years ago at Taqueria Los Charros, in Mountain View, CA (hence the name of the recipe).  A charro is a Mexican rodeo horseman that wears an elaborate traditional garb (ruffled shirt, silver embroidery).

Ingredients (for entire breakfast)

• 1 15-ounce can of pinto beans

• 1 28-ounce can of crushed or chopped tomatoes (we used 2 10-ounce cans and that worked OK too. I like the fire roasted ones, or the ones with chiles)

• Long-grain rice (we used brown basmati)

• 1 onion, medium, chopped

• 1-2 jalapeños, chopped

• 5 garlic cloves, finely chopped (we omitted as we used garlic broth)

• 2 limes, juiced (or 4 tbsp lime juice)

• 1 lime, wedged for serving/garnishing/squeezing at the plate

• Fresh cilantro, chopped (1/4c for the rice, more for topping at time of serving)

• Broth (original recipe called for chicken broth; we used garlic broth; any flavorful broth/bullion cubes are fine)

• Cooking oil

• Ground cumin

• Ground coriander

• Cayenne powder

• Garlic powder

• Salt

• Eggs for scrambling (1 or 2 per person)

• Queso fresco, crumbled (shredded cheddar or Monterrey Jack may be substituted)

• Avocado slices for serving

• Tortillas (corn, warmed)

Mexican Rice/Arroz Mexicano

• ⅓ c cooking oil

• 2 cups long-grained rice

• 1 onion, medium, chopped

• 1-2 jalapeños, chopped

• 20-28 ounces of canned tomatoes

• ½ tsp ground cumin

• 1.5 c broth of your choice or bullion concentrate

• 1 ½ tsp salt (omit until the end, and add to taste when it’s done - bullion cubes often make it salty enough)

• 4 tbsp lime juice

• ¼ cup chopped cilantro

1. Put ⅓ of a cup of cooking oil (we used peanut) in the bottom of the Instant Pot. Turn to sauté mode and heat oil until it shimmers. 

2. Add 2 cups dry rice to the oil and sauté for 5 minutes.  The goal is to cook the dry rice until it’s golden/toasty looking. It will smell wonderful.  

3. Add the onion and sauté for 3 more minutes, then add the jalapeño and cook for another 2 minutes. Turn off the Instant Pot.

4. Add the canned tomato, broth and cumin.

5. Set the Instant Pot to high pressure. Cook 4-5 minutes for white rice, 15 or so minutes for brown rice, with a 10 minute NPR.  

6. Release pressure and taste rice for doneness. If too firm, reset the IP to pressure and cook it a little longer.

7. When it’s done, adjust the salt levels if needed, then add cilantro and lime juice and fluff it.

Notes: 

• You can use any kind of long-grained rice - we used brown basmati. Be sure to cook/pressure cook the rice long enough for the type of rice you use.  It doesn’t need to cook quite as long as rice normally does, due to toasting the rice at the beginning.

• The original recipe has you blend the tomato to make a puree. We just dumped it from the can as is, preferring to make it chunky

• We adapted this base recipe, to be both vegetarian, and made in the Instant Pot: https://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-mexican-rice-recipes-from-the-kitchn-198867 

• We used this recipe for IP techniques: https://tastesbetterfromscratch.com/instant-pot-mexican-rice/ 

• We used 2 cups of broth as called for in the original recipe but it was a little too wet. The IP recipe used 1.5 cups of broth, and that amount would be better.

Beans/Frijoles:

• 1 can pinto beans undrained

• Ground cumin ½ tsp

• Ground coriander ½ tsp

• Cayenne powder ½ tsp

• Garlic powder ½ tsp

• Salt to taste 

1. Dump the can of beans, liquid and all into a saucepan, and heat through. 

2. Add the spices and salt to taste (the amounts are approximate, we didn’t measure, so adjust to taste).  

3. Mash with a potato masher (we like our frijoles to not be perfectly homogenous, so we leave it a little chunky).

4. Add salt to taste.  

5. If too thick, add a little Corona or Tecate to thin it, or leftover broth from the rice.

Putting it all together

• During downtimes, heat some tortillas - I’ve had best results by wrapping the stack in damp paper towels, putting them into a ceramic tortilla warmer and microwaving for 30 second or so.  Putting them between two plates also works well.

• Slice the remaining lime and an avocado into wedges.

• Scramble the eggs.

• Sprinkle some cheese over the eggs and frijoles to get a little melty.

• Spoon beans, eggs, and rice onto the plates, and place avocado and lime wedges and some cilantro onto the plate as a garnish and serve with warmed tortillas.