Crispy Mexican Tacos

Mexican food is famous for its crunchy taste, beans, gaucamole, sour cream and spice! So as we continue to get scattered showers here in CA, hot and crunchy Tacos are something that one enjoys eating. And though you'd find a Taco Bell at almost every nook and corner of the universe, making these tacos at home is not only easy, but the vegetarians can be sure there's no meat sauce in them as you make them in the safety of your own home. Kids would love this delicious food, and with beans, lettuce and avocado, it is also healthy upto a certian extent! And they are not at all time consuming as one stop at the supermarket can get you most of the ingredients. Its pretty much the assembling that you do at home, so you can serve dinner in a jiffy!

Ingredients
8-12 Taco shells (for the more adventurous, I have the shell recipe below)
2 cans of refried beans (same as kidney beans, and they don't have any beef in it)
1 small packet of sour cream
1/2 cup gaucamole sauce
6-7 large tomatoes - boiled
1/2 onion - chopped
1 tsp cayenne pepper (or 2 tsp red chilli powder)
salt - to taste
1 tsp garlic paste
2 cups shredded lettuce
1/2 cup tomato ketchup
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese (or mexican 4 cheese blend)
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp Taco Seasoning Mix (available at supermarket)
chopped cilantro - for garnish

Ingredients for Taco Shell:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow corn meal
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1 1/2 cup cold water
Oil for frying

Method

Making the Shell
Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Beat until smooth. The batter will be thin. Spoon a very small ladle of batter (about 3-4 tbsp) on a moderately hot ungreased griddle to make a very thin 6 inch pancake. Turn when edges begin to look dry, but not brown. Cook on the other side for half a minute and remove from the griddle. make all your shell pancakes like these and keep. On the other stove, put oil to heat in a skillet or pan. Now using 2 tongs drop each pancake in the hot oil and hold both sides up with the tongs to form a taco-shell shape. Cook on both sides for just a few seconds. Take out and drain on brown paper and allow to cool and harden

Preparing the Taco
Now take another pan, put some oil in it, then saute the onions, garlic paste and the boiled tomatoes. Add in the salt and 1 tbsp taco seasoning and also the tomato ketchup. When everything is cooked, blend it well in a grinder to form a semi-solid tomato sauce or paste.

In another skillet, put some oil and add the refried beans to it. Add 3-4 tbsp water if needed and the remaining taco seasoning mix and cook so that the beans become soft and a thick gravy is formed.

Take each taco shell. Layer it with the home-made tomato sauce at the bottom, followed by the refried beans mixture, then the shredded lettuce, gaucamole, sour cream and shredded cheese. Add more ketchup at the top if you like. Garnish with some chopped cilantro for a touch of Indian flavor. Indulge into the flavor of Mexican food!!