Sweet Pork Taquitos with Spanish Rice

OK, after this recipe, I will try not to post any Mexican recipes for awhile. I can't promise that I won't, but I will try. :) I know you want variety and I want to have variety on my blog, but this recipe was just too good not to post. Plus, it's a great recipe to have if you're having a party since taquitos can be served at room temperature after frying. I've also been wanting to put my Spanish Rice recipe on here for awhile. I came up with my Spanish rice recipe in a funny way. A friend of my family's always made the best Spanish rice and we would always ask for the recipe. Finally, she told us. It was from a packet! It was the Knorr brand Spanish rice. We all had a good laugh and we started using that packet. But one day, I thought "How hard could it be to make Spanish rice?" And it really wasn't that hard. I really beefed it up though, by adding....well, you'll see! :) Here's what I did...

For the tacos, I had previously frozen some of my Sweet and Spicy Pork, (under my blog archives click on August and scroll to the bottom to find the recipe) so I just thawed that to use for the filling. But you can use whatever shredded meat you have, shredded beef, chicken or pork.

You will also need:

-corn tortillas
-1/3 cup of cream cheese
-1 TBS diced jalapeno
-1 small cartoon of plain greek yogurt
-1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
-a small handful of cilantro, chopped
-a good pinch of salt

In a small bowl, add the yogurt, smoked paprika, cilantro and salt. Stir to combine. Place in refrigerator until everything else is ready. (This is a great alternative to sour cream. Very tasty! We also made guacamole for our taquitos so go ahead and make that too if you want.) In another small bowl, add the diced jalapeno and cream cheese, whipping with a spoon until smooth and fluffy. To prep that taquitos, take a corn tortilla and smear a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture down the middle. Place the shredded meat on top, but not all the way to the ends. Roll the corn tortilla over the meat tightly. To seal the taquito, take a dab of cream cheese and smear it on the loose flap of tortilla, then finish rolling. Repeat process until you have reached the desired amount of taquitos. Preheat a cast iron skillet over medium high (about 6 if you have numbers on your stove dials) with about 1 inch of vegetable oil. (Or if you have a deep fryer, use that.) Fry taquitos for about 3 minutes per side. Make sure you don't crowd the pan or they won't cook evenly. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Repeat until all taquitos are cooked. To serve, place taquitos on a plate and top with some of the yogurt mixture and guacamole.

For the rice:

-1 cup of long grain white rice (Don't use minute rice.)
-1 1/2 to 2 1/2 cups of water (the amount of water varies per rice package, so just follow the instructions on the back.)
-1 15oz can of diced tomatoes, drained
-1 small can of diced green chilies
-1/2 cup of frozen corn
-a handful of cilantro, chopped
-2 to 3 scallions, chopped
-1 TBS California chili powder (or regular chili powder)
-1 TBS paprika
-2 tsp ground coriander
-1 tsp onion powder
-pinch of salt

Bring water and spices (just eyeball the amounts for the spices) to a boil. Add in rice, reduce heat to low and cover. (This is the typical way to make rice, but if the instructions are different on the package, then just follow those.) Cook for about 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed. (Again, the cooking time may vary, just follow the directions on the package.) When the rice is cooked, add the tomatoes, green chilies and corn and fluff with a fork. Right before serving, stir in the cilantro and scallions.

*Cook's Note: I actually prepped the taquitos first, then got the rice on while the cast iron skillet was heating up. The rice I have only takes 15 minutes to cook and you'll need that much time just to fry the taquitos. Just keep that in mind when you make this.

We don't eat fried food a lot, but there was something very satisfying about crunching into these pork taquitos. They were crunchy, sweet, and spicy. Just an all around great treat! I hope you enjoy them too!