Mexican food for a class of 30?

Question

I'm doing a project on Mexico and I decided that it would be fun to bring some Mexican food for the class. What food could I make/buy that is large in quantity and is not overwhelmingly expensive?

Answer 1

Chili con or non carne with tortillas, tomatoes, salsa, guacamole, refritos, monterrey jack cheese, sour cream, lettuce and jalapenos...Pure heaven. :-)

Answer 2

Get about 10 lbs of meat, all the stuff you want for tacos... like sour cream, shredded cheese etc...

Just keep all the stuff seperate, lay it out as a taco buffet... then people can help themselves.

If you know how to make enchiladas those are always good.

Sounds fun!

Most of the stuff we make here is Americanized mexican food..... but I couldnt tell you how to make Real Mexican food,

Maybe you could look up a recipe for juevos con papas. (eggs with potatoes.) They usualy serve it with rice and beans and you can add some chiuahua cheese.

Answer 3

I would make enchiladas in two 9 x12 baking pans

      1 block cheddar cheese and shred

     or  bag of shredded cheese

      two packs of corn tortillas

      5# chicken tenders

      2 large cans enchilada sauce

      2 large onions

      1 little can tomato paste

      6 cloves of garlic

      2 bell peppers (red or green or yellow)

      1 bunch cilantro (rinse/chop everything)

      1 flat teaspoon cumin

      1 flat teaspoon oregano

       black pepper and salt to taste

      1 flat teaspoon paprika

      1 flat teaspoon chili powder

chop fresh veggies into small dime size

or in the blender and press chop button

put aside in a bowl

Cut chicken tenders into pencil size strips

season them with dry seasonings:

salt, pepper, chili powder,oregano, cumin, paprika,

Get any kind of cooking oil in a frying skillet,

get it hot and pour seasoned chicken into pan, stir fry until chicken is completely cooked.

no, no, don't start eating already, be patient!

Pour enchilada sauce, and tomato paste in large deep pan and stir until paste is dissolved.

Add chopped veggies and get to a boil, once it begins to boil, simmer for about 15 minutes.

Turn oven to 350 degrees

Lay FIRST layer of tortillas inside 9 x 12  pan overlapping, until the whole surface is covered, cover with a layer of chicken, pour sauce evenly over it (start with 1/2 cup), sprinkle cheese to cover surface, lay SECOND layer of tortillas and repeat process until pan is 3/4 full, CHEESE should be the last topping

You don't want he dish to be watery so go slow on the sauce, you want enough to make the dish moist, and juicy, not watery.

Repeat steps on the second pan

Slide into oven for about 45 minutes

uncovered

It is easier to cut when it cools off some.

Cut into squares, and slide spatula underneath to serve unto plate.

It takes less than 1.5 hours to prepare, cook and bake.

Answer 4

nachos! chips with lettuce, tomatoe, beans, jalapenos, and guacamole & salsa. yummmmmmmm.

Answer 5

The easiest thing to do would be to make a stew or soup of some kind. I'm assuming this isn't supposed to be a full course meal, so I'll give you a recipe for a stew that normally feeds 6-8 (you should serve this in small portions so everyone can have a taste).

Chipotle Chile Con Carne

1 tbsp chili powder

1 tbsp ground cumin

3/4 lb. beef for stew, cut into 1-inch thick pieces

Nonstick spray

1 can (14 oz) reduced sodium beef broth

1 tbsp minced canned chipotle chiles in adobo sauce

1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained

1 large green bell pepper *or* 2 poblano chili peppers, cut into pieces

2 cans (16 oz each) pinto or red beans, rinsed and drained

Optional: chopped fresh cilantro

I find that typically the ingredients cost less than $20 total.

WARNING: This can be a very spicy dish. Be careful with those chipotles. They have a lot of heat on them. If you follow the directions closely, you shouldn't have a problem.

Combine the chili powder and cumin in a medium bowl. Add the beef and toss until coated. Spray a large saucepan or Dutch oven with cooking spray; heat over medium heat. Add beef to pan; cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add beef broth and chipotle chilies with sauce; bring to a boil. reduce heat and cover and simmer for 1 hour 15 minutes (use your discretion) or until beef is very tender.

With a slotted spoon (keep a board close! it's very juicy by this point) transfer  beef to a carving board, leaving juices in the pan. Using two forks, shred the beef. NOTE: If you find this part difficult, try keeping one fork stationary on top of the piece of meat while sliding the other over it. Return the beef to the saucepan and add the tomatoes and bell pepper. Bring to a boil; stir in beans. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes or until bell pepper is tender. Garnish with cilantro, if desired

Hope that helps!

Answer 6

quesidellas

tortillas chicken or beef and cheese

Answer 7

I believe this is an easy one , you can make Pico De Gallo , and chips

Which is salsa , ingredients (remember this is for 30)

25  tomatoes ,  15 serrano peppers , 2 onions , 1/2 bunch of cilantro , 5 lemons .

Chop all the ingredients up into little peaces, add the lemon juice at the end  and add a spoon of salt to finish the touch .This will be a awesome  Mexican traditional appetizer. We do this alot in my heritage in family gatherings and cook outs( taste great with any food). Then buy  5 bags of corn  tortilla chips. Also you can  do many things such as chalupas

ingredients are , re-fried beans , lettuce , tomatoes , cheese( of your liking . You can buy the store bought shells of tortilla  to make the chalupas( some are already hard and prepared).

Well good luck.

Answer 8

don't do tacos.. everyone eats tacos. if you live in a city where there are a lot of mexican people you should buy some tamales. yum!! you can probably buy 30 for about $25.. but they have to be authentic and made by somebody who's mexican or they won't taste good.

Answer 9

Fajitas, make your own from scratch, fun for the kids to roll up

Answer 10

Just cook a lot of rice and beans.

Answer 11

Quesadillas or enchiladas..Not sure I spelled those right. I make a dish of enchiladas..and that can feed like 5 people. That is if they eat 2 enchaladas. There are some really good recipes...just look them up on the internet.

Answer 12

Mexican rice? Or maybe tortillas.

Answer 13

Tacos

Answer 14

Get tortillas, ground beef, taco seasoning, cheese & salsa for burritos or replace the tortillas with tortilla chips for nachos.

Answer 15

Fixings for tacos - the shells, ground beef seasoned, shredded lettuce, tomato and cheese. That's pretty cheap, especially if you prepare most of it yourself. Oh, go to a Mexican bakery and get some cookies!!!

Answer 16

tacos. are the cheapest. make sure you go to a mexican supermarket that has the cheap but good option. dont go to kmart or walmart. they will give you a bad and expensive choice

Answer 17

its good

Answer 18

make your own taco buffet...

buy a bag or two of shredded cheese

a quart of sour cream

a pound of cooked and seasoned Mexican-style beef

small taco shells

shredded lettuce

cut-up tomatoes

Have everyone use the small taco shells and stuf it...

there should be enough for everybody

I hoped i helped...

if not. try getting a hold of 35 pupusas...

those are the best

the class will love them

Answer 19

SALSA

Answer 20

make carne asada (steak tacos) with lots of hot sauce

Answer 21

beans,rice,carne asada, or chicken and corn tortillias, salsa.

folks can make tacos.

Answer 22

Salsa and chips.

Answer 23

Well depends on how much work you want to do...

I would recommend either;

Salsa and tortilla chips (possibly with Guacomole)

Nachos wit the works, but the chips would probably get soggy if you didn't put it together just before you serve.

or make a flan, not real expensive to make, but probably more work. (And everybody loves dessert!!!)

Of course if it wasn't for a class but for a more adult group I would simply recommend Margaritas !!

Answer 24

my daughter had to do this for her Mexican class at school, she is 17 and cant do any type of baking or cooking AT ALL, and if someone was dumb enough to eat it........well never mind. so i made a Mexican fruit salsa with Cinnamon chips, it was easy, buy 2 green apples, 1 container raspberry's, 2 kiwi, 1 pint strawberry's. cut into small pieces and mix with about a cup of sugar, the raspberry's will get mushy, add some fruit preservative to prevent browning of the apples, put in fridge till you serve.  buy one package of round flour burritos. cut into triangles and spray with butter flavor cooking spray, coat with Cinnamon and sugar mixture, bake for about 5 ,mins or until hard ended. you will have enough chips for 30 and the fruit dip too.

Answer 25

I assume that you don't have a refrigerator to leave the food in, and lugging a cooler around can be a pain. Therefore, you should avoid stuff that has meat in it for safety reasons.

Salsa and chips or chips and guacamole are cheap and good, and don't need to be refrigerated. Keep the guacamole tightly closed until you serve it, because the surface can turn brown.

If you know how to fry or if somebody can help you fry, you can make sopapillas.They  are cheap,and  you get a ton of them out of a batch.

ETA: I just found out that sopapillas are Chilean and Argentinian, and not Mexican. They are still very delicious,but I guess they wouldn't be authentic.

You can try empanadas instead-you don't have to fry at all.