There are many reasons to seek out the tacos at Tacos Oscar, a roving taqueria run by Oscar Michel and Jake Weiss.
Ingredients
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 scant teaspoon cumin seeds
1/2 teaspoon yellow mustard seeds
3 dried guajillo chiles
2 dried aji amarillo chiles
1 dried pasilla chiles
1 1/2 cups olive oil, plus more for frying chiles
2 dried chiles de arbol
1 clove garlic
Salt
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1 small corn tortilla
1 large egg
Neutral cooking oil
Pickled red onions
Sliced avocado
Sliced radishes
Crumbled cotija or other Mexican cheese
Cilantro
Lime wedges
Instructions
Make the oil: Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350°F.
Toast the coriander, cumin, and mustard seed in a small frying pan over medium heat until fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes; set aside to cool.
Place the guajillo, aji, and pasilla chiles on a baking sheet and roast in the oven until slightly darkened but not burnt, checking every few minutes because these chiles go from toasted to burnt very quickly. Set aside to cool and firm up.
Coat the bottom of a frying pan with a thin film of olive oil and heat over medium heat until shimmering. Add the arbol chiles and toast, tossing occasionally, until fragrant and almost brown. Remove from the pan to cool and reserve the oil.
Finely grind the toasted, cooled spices in a mortar and pestle. Transfer to a small saucepan. Grind all the dried toasted, roasted, and fried chiles in the mortar and pestle together until finely ground. Transfer to the saucepan with the spices.
Place the garlic, a pinch of salt, and some of the residual oil leftover from the arbol chiles in the mortar and pestle and grind into a paste. Transfer this paste to the saucepan. (You can substitute garlic powder for raw garlic to increase the shelf life, since the raw garlic will eventually turn bitter and spoil).
Add the 1 1/2 cups olive oil, a couple pinches of salt, and remaining arbol chile oil to the saucepan. Heat on low heat and stir after 5 minutes. Once it becomes just barely hot and fragrant, turn off the heat and set aside to steep for 30 minutes. Stir in the vinegar, then cool completely.
Make the tacos: Gather the condiments and have them ready for quick assembly.
Toast your tortillas until heated through and just a little charred in places. My favorite method is directly on the burners of my stove. Keep them wrapped in a towel until ready to assemble.
Fry the eggs in the oil to desired doneness. Top each tortilla with a fried egg and serve with the toasted chile oil and condiments.
