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Written by J. Donavan Stanley
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Saturday, 26 April 2008 |
Wafting out of many restaurants, snack shops and street stalls in central Mexico is the scent of shredded meat with a smoky chipotle chile, tomato and sweet onion sauce. It's know as Tinga and is served in a variety of ways. It can be used in soft tacos, burritos or atop crusty rolls. You can pile it high on crispy tortillas and top with avocado and cheese.
This recipe uses chicken but you can easily substitute pulled pork or even shredded smoked fish or quail. Using both thigh and breast meat gives the tinga more flavor, but use all white meat if you prefer. Ingredients: - 3 pounds chicken breasts, boneless and skinless
- 2 cups chicken stock (reserved after poaching chicken)
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 small onions, thinly sliced
- 6 plum tomatoes
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1 chicken bouillon cube
- 1 can chipotle chile canned in adobo (7 oz. can)
Instructions: - Place chicken in pot, cover with water, add salt.
- Bring to boil and reduce heat to simmer chicken until done.
- Remove chicken when done and cool slightly.
- Reserve 2 cups of stock.
- Add oil to large frying pan and cook onion until translucent.
- While onion is cooking, puree tomatoes, garlic salt, tomato paste, bouillon, chipotle peppers and reserved stock in food processor.
- When the onions are ready, add tomato mixture to pan.
- Process chicken roughly in food processor (small batches) - don't clean processor after doing tomato mixture as chicken will pick up all that good sauce.
- Chicken should look shredded, not minced.
- Add to sauce in skillet.
- Simmer chicken in sauce until liquid has just evaporated. It should be moist, but not soupy.
Now that you've made it, what do you do with it? How about Chicken Tinga Tostadas?
Ingredients: - Chicken Tinga
- Guacamole
- Pico de Gallo Salsa
- refried beans
- shredded iceberg lettuce
- 1/2 cup queso fresco cheese, crumbled
- freshly ground black pepper
- salt
- chopped onion
- sour cream
- vegatable oil for frying
- 6 cor tortillas
Instructions: - Pour approximately ½-inch of oil into a heavy-bottomed skillet and set it over medium-high heat until almost smoking.
- Fry the tortillas one at a time for approximately 45 seconds on each side, or until crisp. Control the heat and carefully add extra oil as required. Set the tortillas on the baking sheet and blot off any excess oil.
- Warm the beans
- Spread each fried tortilla with a layer of beans, then top with guacamole, lettuce, chicken, and onion.
- Sprinkle the salt and pepper over the six tostadas and top with a tablespoon or two of sour cream and pico de gallo salsa.
- Place the tostadas on individual plates and serve.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 26 April 2008 )
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