Tostada Stacks

This was a yummy recipe I found on Macheesmo. It is a great cooking website. I did things quite a bit different. Some things I liked, some things I didn't. I do wish I had a spice grinder and could try this with the whole spices like he did. That looks good.



Ingredients

Rice and Beans:
- 1 1/2 Cups long grain rice (not instant)
- 2 (15 ounce) cans black beans (or any bean that you want)
- 2 (15 ounce) cans diced tomatoes
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 Tablespoon cumin
- 1 Tablespoon coriander
- 1/2 teaspoon crushed red peppers
- 2 Teaspoons paprika
- 3 Tablespoons olive oil or butter
- Salt and pepper

- 12 corn tortillas (or as many as you want to stack I guess)
- Canola oil
- 8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
- Sour Cream (optional)
- guacamole (optional)
- Hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

Heat butter over medium-high heat in a large pan with a lid. Add onions and garlic and cook for just a few minutes until they are translucent. Then add all your spices and stir well to combine.

Next stir in you rice. You want the rice to absorb some of the spices and get hot before you add your liquids. Just stir everything together for about 30 seconds.

Next add your canned tomatoes and about 3 Cups water. Bring this mixture to a simmer and cook it covered over low heat for about 20 minutes.
(I have read that rice doesn't cook as well with tomatoes. This seemed to be the case with my rice. I know on other recipes, they have called for converted rice when using tomatoes. I used regular long grain, but it took another 10 minutes and extra liquid. After 20 minutes is when I added the second can of tomatoes, but I liked it that way.)

When the rice is almost done, add in the black beans, and a good pinch of salt and some pepper to taste.

Tostadas

The Macheesmo guy fried his tortillas. I brushed mine with oil and cooked them at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes. They seemed crispy enough, but were super tough to cut through. Next time I make this I will either just fry them, buy pre-fried tortillas, or leave them longer in the oven. The finished product was still super tasty, just exceedingly hard to cut through.

Making the stack. Start with a layer of rice and beans so that your stack doesn’t slide around on the plate. The basic layer is tostado, cheese, rice and beans, hot sauce (optional), and another tostado. Top the whole thing with sour cream and guacamole.

The macheesmo recipes has great pictures of all the steps.