GQ tacos again

I got this recipe from GQ magazine of all places. What makes it good is the homemade taco shells. This is definately one of my all-time favorite recipes.

GQ East LA Hamburger Tacos

1 pound hamburger
½ onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 or 2 serrano chilies, diced
2 pinches mexican oregano
salt and pepper

12 corn tortillas (not the hard shells, the actual tortillas)
shredded Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese
lettuce, shredded
diced tomatoes
salsa

1) Brown hamburger. Add in onion, garlic, serrano, oregano and salt and pepper. Cook until onions soft.
2) Char tortilla on both sides over an open flame on gas stove until almost toasted. Have a frying pan full of vegetable oil sizzling. Quickly dredge both sides of the toasted tortilla in the oil, fold in half and then fry for 30 seconds. Turn it over and fry for a little longer. Drain tortillas on a paper grocery bag or a paper towel. Sprinkle with salt.




We're also making Mexican Red rice.

Real Mexican Red Rice

1 cup short grain or medium grain rice
2 cups water
1 1/2 t onion powder
1 1/2 t garlic powder
1 t salt
1/8 to 1/4 cup tomato sauce, just enough to turn the water pinkish red

Dump everything together into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes or until rice is soft. Remove from heat and let sit 5 to 10 minutes.

Actually I forgot 1 detail about the rice that I remembered when I was making it:
Put a couple tablespoons of olive oil in the bottom of the pan and heat it up. Add the rice and cook it for a little while to 'parboil' it. Some of the kernels will puff up like popcorn. I don't know if it makes a huge difference but I do it that way and it tastes EXACTLY like the rice at Mexican restaurants.