Flautas de Pollo

Chicken Flautas!
  
     I grew up in a California Mexican restaurant that my step grandfather managed.  Taquitos were my favorite snack as a kid!  Taquitos are thin rolled fried corn tortilla tubes stuffed with meat.  Flautas are similar to taquitos.  Flautas are often made with a wheat flour tortilla.  Flautas are filled with spicy shredded or chopped meat and served with sauces.  Fresh fried crispy flautas are yummy Mexican food!
  
     Flautas de Pollo Recipe:
     Place about 8 to 10 ounces of boneless trimmed chicken breast meat in a sauce pot.
     Cover the chicken with water.
     Add 1/3 cup of coarsely chopped onion.
     Add 1/4 cup of chopped green bell pepper.
     Add 2 chopped garlic cloves.
     Add 2 seeded dried guajillo chiles that are cut in half.
     Add 1 teaspoon of ground chile ancho.
     Add 2 pinches of paprika.
     Add 2 pinches of ground chile arbol.
     Add black pepper and sea salt.
     Add 3 pinches of cumin.
     Add 2 pinches of coriander.
     Bring the liquid to a boil over medium high heat.
     Reduce the temperature to low heat.
     Gently simmer, till the chicken breast meat is tender enough to be shredded.
     Remove the chicken breast from the pot.
     Allow the chicken to cool.
     Shred the meat.  (The poaching broth ingredients can be saved and used for flavoring a rice, meat, guisado or soup recipe.)
     Place the shredded chicken across the middle of a 6" to 7" wide flour tortilla.
     Roll the tortilla into a tight flute tube shape.
     Moisten the edge of the tortilla with water to help seal it shut.
     Make a total of 3 chicken flautas.
     Heat about 4 inches of vegetable frying oil in a high sided pot to 360 degrees.
     Pick up one flauta with metal tongs, holding the tortilla edge shut, so it will not unroll or open up.
     Fry the flauta while holding it with the tongs, till the flauta becomes crisp enough to not open unravel and it remains in a tube shape.
     Repeat these frying steps with each flauta.
     When the flautas are fried to a crispy golden brown color, set them on a dry towel to remove the excess oil.
  
     Flautas de Pollo Presentation:
     Canned Mexican dark dried chile sauce and canned salsa verde are of good quality and they are fine for this recipe.  Home made sauces are better.  I have posted recipes for salsa verde and dried chile hot sauce in this blog, if you wish to make your own 
     Spoon some salsa verde on one half of a plate.
     Spoon some dark dried chile sauce on the other half of the plate.
     Place the chicken flautas on the sauces.
     Place a dollop of sour cream on each flauta.
     Sprinkle thin sliced green onion on the sour cream dollops.
  
     Flautas and taquitos are usually served as an appetizer or a light meal.  The mild chile pepper flavored shredded chicken is moist and delicious!  Each bite of flauta has a crunch to it.  Flautas are fun to share!  Yum!  ...  Shawna