Mexican Food Recipes
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Authentic Mexican Tacos with Chicken and Yellow Pico de Gallo
Authentic Mexican tacos bear little resemblance to the prefab yellow C-shaped tacos you might have sampled in a fast food restaurant. Authentic Mexican tacos are not made with ground beef, a packet of taco seasoning and shredded cheddar. Instead, they are soft, warmed corn tortillas filled with chicken or steak strips and grilled with lime juice, chilies, onions, cumin, cilantro and pico de gallo. Queso fresco, queso blanco, or Pepper Jack cheese goes well with them also.
Of course, there are many types of traditional Mexican tacos recipes and they do vary a lot. A Mexican taco is, by definition, a rolled up tortilla filled with anything. Mexicans will fill tacos with meat, stew, cheese, beans, scrambled eggs or anything else they fancy. A Mexican will sometimes eat a "salt taco" which is a taco with some salt sprinkled into it. This is used to push food on to their fork. Tacos are enjoyed in Mexico for breakfast, lunch, snacks, or dinner and the taco stand is perhaps the most widespread business in Mexico because tacos are so popular.
The following recipe makes authentic Mexican tacos and you can serve these as they are or with some refried beans on the side. Feel free to use some of, none of, or all of the topping ingredients. You can have each one in a separate dish if people are going to be assembling their own Mexican tacos or you can make up the tacos and serve them.
How to Make Truly Authentic Mexican Tacos
Ingredients -
10 oz finely chopped chicken
8 oz chopped cooked ham
1 cup tomato sauce
1 chopped onion
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
½ cup water
Salt, to taste
1 tablespoon chili powder
2 chopped cloves garlic
2 chopped chipotles in adobo sauce
10 warmed large taco shells
For the Topping:
½ lb shredded Monterey Pepper Jack cheese
6 chopped scallions
½ lb shredded smoked cheddar or regular cheddar
1 jar taco sauce
2 diced plum tomatoes
2 shredded hearts romaine lettuce
½ cup sour cream
2 sliced jalapenos
For the Yellow Pico de Gallo:
1 chopped white onion
4 oz chopped ham
3 seeded, diced yellow tomatoes
Salt, to taste
3 tablespoons chopped cilantro leaves
2 seeded, chopped jalapenos
Preparation:
Brown the chicken in the oil for a couple of minutes.
Stir in the garlic and onions.
Cook the mixture for 4 minutes, and then stir in the tomato sauce, chili powder, and chipotles.
Season with salt and add the water.
Turn the heat down to moderately low and simmer the mixture until you are ready to serve it.
Combine the pico de gallo ingredients.
Divide the chicken mixture between the taco shells.
Add the pico de gallo on top of that, then spoon on the cheese, scallions, taco sauce, tomatoes, jalapenos, sour cream, and lettuce.
Sprinkle the ham on top and serve immediately.
(Serves 10)
Photo Description:
Mexican tacos made the Mexican way are a real treat. You can see from the photo that these Mexican tacos do not resemble anything you would get in a Mexican fast food restaurant. Instead, they are the real thing. It is well worth making your own pico de gallo and following the above recipe to get a feel for what authentic Mexican tacos are like, and how they differ from the substandard tacos you might be more accustomed to. You can adapt the ingredients in this recipe or leave out any of the toppings you do not like. Mexican tacos are great served with refried beans, rice or both.
