These delish Chalupas are my entry for WCC#26  hosted by awesome Lis over at La Mia Cucina. Lis is one of my all-time favorite blogging type people and one of the Queen Daring Bakers to boot! WCC stands for Weekend Cookbook Challenge and was created by lovely Sara from I Like to Cook.

Her requirement is to share a dish from a cookbook made in a crock-pot, dutch oven or pressure cooker. There are lots of recipes I could share but if you read my earlier post about the Creamy Cotija Cilantro Dressing  you know that my Mom brought us some Chalupas that we used for a scrummy Taco Salad  with the dressing. I asked her if I could make and share the recipe with you and she agreed (this qualifies because it’s in the current edition of our family cookbook “A Pinch of Love and an Ounce of Time” originally published in 1988) She also shared some tips for me to pass along….

Mom’s Chalupa

• 1 pound Pink Beans rinsed and soaked*
• 3 pounds Pork Roast, (a shoulder roast is best but you can use a pork loin roast if desired)
• 7 Cups water
• 1/2 Cup Onion, chopped
• 2 Garlic cloves, minced
• 1 Tablespoon Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Chili Powder (I used Rick’s home made)
• 1 Tablespoon Ground Cumin
• 1 teaspoon Dried Oregano
• 1 small can chopped green chiles (4 ounces)
• Corn chips or Flour Tortillas
• Toppings: shredded Monterey Jack, Cheddar and Colby or Mexican blend cheese, diced avocado, chopped fresh onion, chopped tomato, shredded lettuce, sour cream, salsa, (Gabi’s dressing link above).

*Rinse and sort the beans in a large pot, add 6-8 cups of hot water. Bring to a rapid boil, boil for two minutes. Remove from heat, cover and let stand for one hour. Drain beans and rinse.

OR

*Rinse and sort beans into a large pot, add 6-8 cups of cold water. Let stand overnight or at least 6-8 hours. Drain and rinse beans.

Place the pork roast, beans, onion, garlic, salt, chile powder, cumin, oregano, chiles and water in a Dutch Oven, slow cooker or heavy kettle. Cover and simmer for about 5 hours (high heat if using slow cooker), or until roast falls apart and beans are done. Uncover and cook for about 1/2 hour or longer to desired thickness. Serve with corn chips or wrap inside heated flour tortillas or make a taco salad layering corn chips, chalupa and toppings. Garnish with toppings of choice. Makes 5 quarts.

Mom’s tips:

1. You can use small red beans or pinto beans instead of the pink beans  (though not as good as the pink beans)
2. When  she makes it in the crock-pot she slices sweet onions (Vidalia or Walla Walla) into the bottom of the crock-pot along with the garlic and then puts the meat, which she cuts into 1 to 1-1/2″ cubes, on top of that, then the spices and herbs, adds the beans, chiles and just the amount of water she estimates it will take to finish cooking the beans. You don’t want to have too much water unless you want it to be more of a soup.
3. It’s best not to overcook this or the meat can become stringy and tough.
4. If you have a small crock-pot you can  just cook 1/3 of the recipe. Don’t use as much water and precook the beans in the microwave, by putting them in a microwave safe bowl, adding plenty of water, cover and cook on high for 15 minutes.

My notes:

I added twice as much onion and  garlic, a bit more spices, and I added another 1/2 pound of pre-soaked pinto beans along with the pink beans.  It’s delicious! By the way if you don’t know this tip about mincing garlic-let me share- sprinkle a little salt from your ingredients over the garlic before you start mincing. It will stop the garlic from clumping together and sticking to your knife which will make it easier to mince. Also run your hands on the surface your stainless steel sink (or anything stainless steel) and the garlic smell will go away.- Just in case you didn’t know. 🙂

Thanks Mom!

Thanks to Lis and Sara for letting me play along!

xoxo