Tacos offer many flavour variations, often in buffet style. For example, using the meat mixture as a base; you can add options like shredded lettuce, chopped tomato, salsa, grated cheese, sour cream, guacamole, chopped coriander, refried beans or Mexican style black beans to your taco. These options are often presented in individual bowls.
What makes a taco different to many other Mexican style meat dishes is that the filling is spooned into a crispy folded corn shell before the toppings are added. The crispy shell acts as a holder for your fillings.
As a variation to the wrap fillings that I introduced in last month’s Caravan World, I have added some dried fruit to the meat mixture for this taco. This gives the taco mince a bit of a sweet vibe.
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15- 20 minutes
The following quantities will serve four
Handy Hint 1: You could use whatever mince you have to hand in these tacos.
Handy Hint 2: Substitute any type of dried fruit that you like in the mince mixture. For example, either some dried cranberries with lamb, a couple of finely chopped prunes with beef or dried apricot with chicken.
Handy Hint 3: You could make these tacos into a finger food platter using the mini taco shells that are available in most supermarkets these days.
Handy Hint 4: You could make a Mexican style creamy topping for your tacos by adding about a tablespoon or so of mayonnaise to an equal amount of sour cream and mixing thoroughly. Perhaps add a spritz of lime juice as well if you have limes available.
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic, crushed
- 1/2 tsp Mexican chilli powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of ground cloves (optional)
- 500g minced pork
- 1 cup chicken (or beef) stock
- 1/2 cup finely chopped tinned tomatoes (or 1 tbsp tomato paste)
- A handful of raisin, chopped
- A dash of white wine vinegar
- Taco shells
Method:
Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy based frypan over a medium heat. Add the finely chopped onion to the pan and sauté until the onion has softened.
Now stir the garlic, chilli powder, cinnamon and ground cloves into the onion in the pan and continue to cook until the spices are fragrant. Add the pork mince to the spicy onion mixture in the pan and cook, braking up any mince lumps with a spoon or fork, continue to cook until the pork is no longer pink. This should take about five minutes.
Add the stock, tomatoes, raisins and vinegar to the mince mixture. Stir well to combine. Continue to cook until the mixture has thickened. This should take about five to 10 minutes.
Spoon the fruity pork mixture into some warmed taco shells and add your choice of toppings.
The full feature appeared in Caravan World #563. Subscribe today for the latest caravan reviews and news every month!