Chilaquiles

Chilaquiles are fried tortilla chips simmered briefly in red or green salsa until softened at the edges but still crisp in the centre, topped with crema, cheese and often a fried egg. It's Mexico's breakfast answer to yesterday's stale tortillas — cut and fried into chips first, then given new life in a hot sauce rather than thrown out.

What it really is

Corn tortillas cut into triangles fry until crisp, then simmer briefly in a hot salsa — red with dried chiles, or green with tomatillo — just long enough for the chips to soften at the edges while the centre holds on to some crunch. A drizzle of crema, a scatter of crumbled cheese, thin-sliced raw onion and a fried or scrambled egg finish the plate, with shredded chicken as a common but optional addition for a heartier breakfast.

The chips are meant to soften only partway, not turn fully soggy. Simmering them too long collapses the whole point of the dish — the contrast between the crisp centre and the sauce-softened edge is what separates chilaquiles from a plain tortilla soup, and a version left in the pan too long reads as an overcooked mistake rather than a properly timed plate.

How it's served

• Hot, straight from the pan, sauce, crema and cheese already worked through.
• With a fried egg or shredded chicken on top, both common additions.
• As breakfast or brunch, rarely any other meal.

How to write it on the menu

• Flag the dairy from the crema and cheese, and the egg if it's included.
• Say whether red or green salsa is used, since the two taste quite different.
• Note if chicken is added as standard or as an extra, since the base dish is otherwise vegetarian.