Use 8 small store-bought corn tortillas, or prepare the homemade corn tortilla option. Mix the masa harina, salt, and warm water until a soft, hydrated dough forms. Rest covered for 20 minutes. Divide into 8 equal balls of about 22g each. Press each tortilla to about 11.4cm / 4.5 inches diameter and cook on a dry hot skillet or comal until lightly charred, flexible, and cooked through. Stack under a towel so they steam and stay pliable. Keeping the tortillas covered under a towel from the moment they're cooked is what carries them, still soft and pliable, all the way through to assembly — exposed tortillas begin stiffening within minutes as they cool.

Heat the neutral oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the diced onion and jalapeño and cook for 4–5 minutes until softened. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Stir in the tomato paste, cumin, oregano, smoked paprika, chipotle pepper, and adobo sauce. Cook for 1 minute until the tomato paste darkens slightly and the spices smell warm. Add the chopped tomatoes, salt, black pepper, and water or stock. Simmer uncovered for 15–20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the sauce becomes deep red, glossy, and chunky. The tomatoes should break down, but the sauce should not become completely smooth. Finish with lime juice. Taste and adjust salt. The sauce should be vivid, thick enough to spoon over the eggs, but still loose enough to pool around the tortillas. Briefly frying the tomato paste and spices together before the tomatoes go in is what builds the sauce's roasted depth — added straight into raw, simmering tomatoes instead, the same spices would taste flatter and more dusty rather than fully bloomed.

Heat the oil or lard in a small skillet over medium heat. Add the diced onion and cook for 3–4 minutes until soft. Add the garlic and cumin and cook for 30 seconds. Add the drained beans, salt, and 100ml water or stock. Mash with a potato masher or fork until creamy but still slightly textured. Cook for 4–5 minutes, stirring often, until thick and spoonable. Add more water if needed. Stir in butter if using. The beans should hold in a soft mound on the plate, not run like sauce. Mashing with a masher rather than a blender leaves some bean skins and small chunks intact, giving the finished beans a bit of body rather than a perfectly uniform purée — that slight texture is what lets them hold their shape as a mound on the plate instead of spreading flat.

Just before frying the eggs, warm the tortillas on a dry skillet for 10–15 seconds per side until flexible. For slightly richer tortillas, brush lightly with oil and warm until the edges barely crisp. Keep covered in a towel. This final warm-through, timed right before the eggs go into the pan, is what ensures the tortillas are at their most pliable exactly when they're needed for assembly, rather than cooling and stiffening while other components finish.

Heat butter or oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Crack in the eggs, working in batches if needed. Fry for 2–3 minutes, until the whites are just set and the yolks are still bright and runny. Season with salt and black pepper. Do not overcook the eggs. The yolks are part of the sauce and colour story. Medium heat rather than high heat is what lets the whites finish setting at roughly the same rate the yolks reach the ideal soft, runny consistency — high heat sets the whites' edges too fast while the centre yolk is still cold, and by the time the yolk catches up the whites have overcooked and toughened.

Place 2 warm corn tortillas on each plate, slightly overlapping. Set one fried egg on each tortilla. Spoon ranchero sauce generously over and around the eggs, leaving the yolks mostly visible. Add a section of refried beans on the side of each plate. Fan sliced avocado beside the eggs. Scatter queso fresco generously over the sauce and beans. Finish with fresh cilantro and lime wedges. Spooning the sauce around rather than directly over the yolks is a deliberate plating choice — the bright orange-yellow yolk against the deep red sauce is one of the dish's defining visual details, and fully covering it would lose that contrast entirely.

Serve immediately while the eggs are hot, the yolks are soft, the sauce is glossy, and the tortillas are still warm. Every element on this plate is at its best only briefly — the yolks firm up as they cool, the tortillas stiffen, and the sauce loses its glossy sheen — so this is a dish built to be eaten right away rather than held or plated ahead.