Bean Tostadas

You read that right--beans. I don't do a whole lot with beans. Its not that I don't want to. They are a great nutritional addition to a meal. But my kids just don't eat them very well. Our family has eaten these bean tostadas several times in the past few weeks, though. Surprisingly, everyone really likes them. They are really fairly easy to throw together and keep the kitchen heat to a minimum, thankfully! Of course, as with most Tex-Mex meals on this side of the world, when you make the tortillas, the salsa, the sour cream or yogurt, the beans.....it becomes more work. But a lot can be done ahead of time, too! Most of the times we've made them, the beans were already done in the freezer, I already had yogurt to use instead of sour cream, and I had made salsa earlier in the week for something else. Then its just the tortillas. But work or not, you should totally give these a try! They're great!

Bean Tostadas
1 batch of tortillas*
Oil for frying
1 can or about 1 1/2 cups homemade refried beans, seasoned (see below)
Shredded cheese
Shredded lettuce
Diced tomato
Salsa
Sour cream or plain yogurt

Seasoning for beans:
2-3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cumin (omit if you used a lot of cumin in your own homemade beans)
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
salt to taste

Add these spices to the refried beans, along with some warm water if needed to obtain a spreadable consistency. This is essentially a packet of taco seasoning, without the flour, but allows you to adjust salt and other spices depending on how your refried beans were cooked.

If you are making your tortillas from scratch, divide your dough into 32 pieces (4 equal parts broken into 4 equal parts broken into 4 equal parts...you get the idea!). Roll out the mini tortillas (3-4 inches or so?) and cook on a dry skillet as usual. If you are using pre-made tortillas, you might just want to cut them into quarters for smaller tostadas.

Place oil in a saucepan or skillet--just an inch or two deep is fine. I throw in a small bit of tortilla to check the heat--if it starts sizzling you're good! Fry each tortilla round until crisp. Remove to paper towels to drain. This can be done up to an hour ahead of time and still stay crisp. (You could also bake your tortillas until crisp if you want to cut the oil and frying.)

When ready to assemble the tostadas, heat the beans in the microwave or on the stovetop just until warmed. Spread on a fried tortilla. Top with shredded cheese, lettuce, and tomato (add some onion or cilantro if you want!) and drizzle with sour cream and salsa! Serve immediately.

*Tortillas made with shortening (or lard if you use that) are my favorite for frying. But oil based tortillas will work okay.