For whatever reason I’m often craving Mexican food. You’d think after my Mexican feast in Stratford with Pilar Cabrera Arroyo that my desire for Mexican food would be squashed. So not the case! Since I was still craving the goodness I pulled out my Rick Bayless cookbooks and started perusing for some ideas. Since I’m kind of obsessed with making corn tortillas I wanted to make tacos. In Bayless has a recipe for pork tinga which can be adjusted to use chicken. I love me some pork but had recently eaten my way through a pork shoulder so I decided to go chicken.
Tinga is a pretty traditional Mexican street food. It can be made with chicken, pork or beef. The meat is cooked with onions in a tomato/chipotle sauce. The meat is shredded and usually served on top of tortillas with avocado, cheese and probably some other stuff. The Bayless recipe features potatoes as well which I thought was neat addition and would make the dish more filling.
This is a great dish because you basically throw everything into the pot and let it cook with minimal supervision. It makes a lot of food and makes great leftovers. It will also make your apartment/house smell fabulous while it’s cooking. Everyone wins! For dinner I turned the chicken into tacos and made some rice pilaf and black beans to go along with it. I didn’t take a photo of the rice and beans but I have to say, black beans made with lard are the truth.
My favourite application for the chicken were the sandwiches I made for lunch. I got a really great crusty bun, spread on a layer of black beans and piled on the chicken, avocados, and onions. SO GOOD. I would say the tinga is worth making for that sandwich alone. Next time I would definitely try this with pork instead of chicken.
Chicken Tinga with Potatoes, Avocado and Fresh Cheese
Serves 4 to 6
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs
4 to 5 medium (about 3/4 pound total) red-skinned potatoes, quartered
1 large white onion, sliced 1/4–inch thick
1 garlic clove, minced
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes, in juice (preferably fire-roasted)
2 to 3 canned chipotle chiles, en adobo, finely chopped
4 teaspoons chipotle canning sauce
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano, preferably Mexican
Salt
About 1/2 cup crumbled Mexican queso fresco or other fresh cheese like salted pressed farmers cheese
1 ripe avocado, pitted, flesh scooped from the skin and diced
Warm corn tortillas
Preheat the oven to 300F.
Layer the potatoes in the bottom of a dutch oven and top with chicken thighs.
In a large bowl, combine the onions, garlic, tomatoes, chipotles, adobo sauce, Worcestershire, oregano and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Over the chicken and potatoes.
Heat the dutch oven and its contents on the stove until the mixture comes to a simmer. Cover and place in the oven.
Cook for about 1.5 to 2 hours until the chicken begins to fall apart. Season with salt and shred the chicken using two forks. If the sauce seems too thick, stir in a little water. Serve with tortillas, cheese and avocados.
Note: you can totally use a slow cooker if you have one (I don’t and kind of don’t see the appeal).
Adapted from this Rick Bayless recipe)
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Absolutely gorgeous Tonya! Now you have ME craving this!
Wonderful. Thanks this made for very intresting reading. It is providing some very useful information on the topic.
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Thanks for the recipe! I will definitely be making those!!
Wow! This looks fantastic! I love avocado cubes on the top. Drooling!
It really was good! And makes a lot!