Huevos Motuleños

I learned that this dish is originated from the state of Yucatan in Mexico. The name Motulenos came from the word Motul, which is the name of a town in Yucatan. It is a typical breakfast for them. The main ingredient consists of eggs. Traditionally, they include ham on this dish. But I put shrimps instead since I do not eat meat. You can cook the eggs runny if you like. But I prefer my eggs medium runny. When I was making this dish, I realized that you needed to have time to prepare everything as there were preparation steps that included on this dish. In my opinion, I think you can have this dish for either lunch or dinner as well, not just for breakfast because it is very fulfilling. This dish became one of my favourites. It’s so delicious!

You can adjust the spiciness of the peppers by reducing the amount or skip if you are not accustomed to it. I added 1 scotch bonnet pepper when cooking the peas, and heating the refried pinto bean just to flavour it. No need to cut it because the scotch bonnet is very spicy. I used the refried pinto beans (vegetarian) in a can and pigeon peas. You can use Monterey Jack Cheese if Cotija cheese isn’t available.

1 banana plantain

6 ripe Roma tomatoes

1 small onion (for boiling)

2 cloves of fresh garlic

1 can of refried pinto bean

1 can of pigeon peas

1 can of pickled jalapeno peppers

scotch bonnet peppers

1 small white onion

eggs

2 corn tortillas

shrimps

¼ teaspoonful of cumin

corn oil or any cooking oil for frying

extra virgin olive oil

ripe avocado

Monterey Jack cheese shredded

fresh cilantro

sliced limes

salt and pepper to taste

little butter

Cut the plantain in a big diagonal slices and fry it with oil. Set aside once it’s cooked. To make your tomato sauce, boil the Roma tomatoes with small onion in a small pot with water. Boil for 4 minutes or until the skin of the tomatoes beginning to peel off. Remove from the pot and take out the skin. Use a blender and combine boiled tomatoes, small onion, 2 cloves of fresh garlic, 1 or 2 pieces of pickled jalapenos (depending on how spicy you want), little bit of olive oil, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.

In a skillet (you can use the same skillet which you fried the plantain), pour a little cooking oil and stir fry 1 whole scotch bonnet pepper, diced white onion, and cumin. Add the pigeon peas and tomato sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Simmer for few minutes. Set aside once it’s cooked.

Wash, remove the shells, and devein the shrimps. Grill or fry the shrimps in a skillet with a little oil. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a small pot, add a little butter and 1 whole scotch bonnet pepper to stir fry. Add the refried pinto bean and water. But not too much water. You do not want to end up looking like a soup. It supposed to have a thick consistency (but not too overly thick). Keep stirring until it’s heated. Use the same water that you boiled the Roma tomatoes and small onion earlier when adding water, at least ¼ cup.

Fry the tortillas in a little oil on a skillet until it turned brown. Flip it and do the same thing on the other side. It takes only a minute to toast the tortillas on the skillet. Once the tortillas are browned and toasted, spread it with heated refried pinto bean on both sides. Stack the tortillas on a plate.

Cook the eggs and once it’s cooked, plate it on top of the tortillas. Add the sliced cooked plantains and put it on the side of the plate. Add the cooked shrimps. Pour the tomato and pigeon peas sauce mixture on top of the eggs.

Garnish the dish with sliced avocado, Monterey Jack cheese shredded, fresh cilantro, sliced pickled jalapeno pepper, and lime.