Serves 8-10 for an appetizer or part of a meal
Cooking time: 1 hour
10 thin fresh tortillas
about 32 oz. vegetable or peanut oil for frying + 1 Tbsp
5 beets
1/4 white onion
salt and pepper to taste
5 eggs
large handful green beans, sliced crosswise into 1/4 inch rounds
2 whole chili pepper
2 whole tomato
1/4 onion, finely sliced into half moons
the leaves of a small bunch of parsley, chiffonade
1/2 tsp chicken bouillon
Boil the beets covered in water. In another pot, cover the eggs by 4 inches of water in a pot and add 2 whole tomatoes and 2 whole chili peppers. When the eggs are almost done (at about 10 minutes of boiling), add the diced green beans. After 14 minutes of the eggs boiling, strain the contents of the pot. Peel the hardboiled eggs. Take the skin off the tomatoes and blend in a blender with the boiled chili peppers.
When the beets are soft throughout (when they are tender when pierced with a fork), strain and soak in cold water to help them cool. Peel the skins off with your hands, using a paper towel for some good peeling traction.
Grate beets into a boil with a box grater. Mix in half the onions, and salt and pepper to taste.
In a small pot saute the onion in 1 Tbsp oil. Once the onion is soft, add the pureed tomato and chili pepper and chicken bouillon. Simmer for 10 minutes.
Pour frying oil about 1 inch deep in a deep skillet, wide sauce pan, or large pot, and heat the oil on medium. When the oil is glistening, add one tortilla. It should bubble. If it doesn't, remove tortilla and wait until your oil is a little hotter. Place a platter next to the frying pot and line the platter with a layer of paper towels. Flip the tortilla once it starts getting a little hard. When tortilla is completely crispy, remove it from pot with tongs and place it on paper towel. Fry the rest of the tortillas like this.
Slice the hardboiled eggs into rounds. Assemble the tostadas. On top of each tortilla make a layer of each component: beet salad, chilmol (the chili-tomato sauce), green beens, egg slices. Top each tostada with chiffonade of parsley.
Copyright Lindsay Sterling 2015
