Flautas de papa – crispy potato tacos

  • Makes 12 flautas (enough to serve 3–4)
  • 60 minutes
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These crispy potato-filled tacos are a wonderfully messy dish originally from Jalisco in western Mexico. Topped with cheese, lettuce, sour cream, herbs and hot sauce, they're a fantastic vegetarian snack or starter for a Mexican feast.

See more recipes inspired by Mexico City and read about what Nud discovered during his time in the Mexican capital here.

First published in 2019

Flautas originate in Jalisco but are widely available in Mexico City. They are essentially corn tortillas that are filled with meat or vegetables, rolled and fried until crispy. They’re best eaten piping hot and with your hands. I've used blue corn tortillas here, which look great if you can get them, but regular corn tortillas are just as good.

Ingredients

Metric

Imperial

To assemble

  • 300ml of rapeseed oil, for deep-frying
  • 12 corn tortillas, around 15cm in diameter
  • 1 romaine lettuce, shredded
  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced into half moons
  • 1/2 bunch of coriander, finely chopped
  • 50ml of sour cream, or crème fraiche
  • hot sauce, to taste
  • 1 lime, cut into wedges
  • 1 avocado, sliced
  • 100g of feta, crumbled
  • 2 radishes, thinly sliced

Method

1
Place the potatoes, chillies, garlic, bay leaf and salt in a saucepan and cover with water. Bring to the boil and cook for 15 minutes or until the potatoes are very tender and slightly mushy. Drain, reserving 100ml of the cooking water
2
Pick out and discard the bay leaf, then transfer the chillies and garlic into a blender. Pour in the 100ml of cooking water and blitz until smooth. Roughly mash the potatoes to create quite a rough texture (you still want a bit of bite in places), then mix with the blended chilli liquid and check for seasoning
3
Heat the rapeseed oil to 180°C in a large pan. Meanwhile, heat the tortillas in a dry frying pan until soft and pliable, then wrap in a tea towel to keep warm
4
Place a spoonful of the potato mixture along the length of each tortilla and roll into a cigar shape, securing it with a toothpick. Repeat with the rest of the tortillas, then carefully lower each one into the oil using tongs (you may need to do this in batches). Cook for 3–4 minutes until crispy – some of the potato mixture will leak out into the oil, but this is normal
5
Once cooked, drain the flautas on kitchen paper, then transfer to plates. Finish with the lettuce, sour cream, coriander, avocado, red onion, hot sauce and feta cheese. Garnish with slices of radish and serve with a lime wedge on the side

Nud’s journey began in a makeshift taco shack in a car park in Hackney, where he set up Breddos Tacos with his business partner Chris Whitney.

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