For those of you who know me as a home cook or who follow my Instagram page of cooking and recipes and food interests in general, you probably know I love a good taco.
I think it’s one of the best foods you can make at home and quite honestly, one of the easiest. It’s like having street food at home all the time once you get a good recipe under your belt. The trick is definitely in flavoring the meat just right.
That said, I’m going to explain it all right here– and then how to build the taco once you’ve got the meat flavored properly.
First, in order to do it, you have to season the meat with things that are in the recipe below. My trick or secret is that I roast the meat with these spices, honey, and vinegar. It gives the meat have a deep, dark smoky flavor, in my opinion.
Once that’s done, you’ll move the meat to a Dutch oven and cook for a couple hours or until the meat pulls apart. If you’re not having any luck with the meat pulling apart easily, bring it out of the pot and pull it apart with a fork and a knife or two forks, whichever is easier.
Bring it back to the pot to continue cooking, stir it in and keep it hydrated until it’s ready to serve.
A few tips on taco building, and with all of the possible toppings, a little of everything goes a long way…
Warming tortillas
Warming the tortillas, don’t cook them. Whether made from scratch or bought prepared, they are already cooked prior to warming and should not be eaten straight from the package. I recommend eating only the ones with these ingredients at most: corn, lime (cal), and salt. Warm either over an open flame or on a comal, or thin steel pan, for no more than 20-30 seconds per side, warming two at a time. Once they’re nicely scorched, but not too much, wrap them a medium thick towel or place in a tortilla warmer.
Beans
Once you’ve made your own cooked beans, dollop a tablespoon of bean purée (refried-style) in the center of the tortilla and spread outward in a circular fashion, leaving about an inch of tortilla exposed. The layer of beans just coats and helps to keep the other ingredients in the right places.
On top of the beans is the single most important ingredient. Meat eaters top with meat. Non-meat eaters, top with fish or veggies. Shredded meat or chunks of meat allow the taco to be eaten bite by bite without playing tug of war with your teeth.
Vegetables
Garnish your taco with colorful, crisp vegetables such as shredded lettuce, diced tomatoes, and chopped onion, or simply pico de gallo or some sort of salsa. Pinch each topping with all four fingers and thumb and place by spreading on top of meat, fish or veggies.
Crema
A teaspoon of sour cream adds a little weight on top of the vegetables, contrasts the ingredients above and below, nourishes with dairy and cools the edge of the next topping.It also looks nice.
Salsa & Hot Sauce
Choose from your favorite flavors and styles. Popular ones include chipotle or tomatillo and Green tomatillo based salsas lighten the taco and give it a bit of refreshing flavor, in my opinion. Garnish on the sparse side with a few specks so as not to miss out, but not to overwhelm, either.
Citrus & Cheese
Squeeze a small wedge of lime on top of your masterpiece. If you have it, crumble a bit of Mexican cheese, too.
So, there you have it.
You may have just built one of the most remarkable and versatile three or four bites of your culinary life. Enjoy for breakfast (suhoor), lunch (after Ramadan), dinner (Iftar), late night snack (after Taraweeh night prayers), and of course with friends and family. This may not be your favorite Mexican restaurant’s tacos, but which would you prefer?
One of the only ‘restaurants’ I ever go to is Chipotle. I’ve always loved how fresh their ingredients are, but never eat any of the meat because it’s not dhabiha. I actually don’t eat out very much anymore mainly because I’m always testing recipes for my latest cookbook and this site, but I do crave certain dishes I really like at my favorite eateries or the ones I wish I could have with the meat in it. Such is the Burrito Bowl with Chicken at Chipotle. I always get the veggie bowl, and it is substantial but sometimes I just want the meat, too, so I decided to make my own at home.
Actually, you might be surprised that you probably have most of the ingredients at home: Rice, beans, chicken, lettuce, cheese, tomatoes, salsa or hot sauce, avocados, tortilla chips and fresh cilantro. If not, you can easily get them at any grocery store.
Additionally, fresh or frozen non-GMO corn. Very important.
I use frozen corn – it’s frozen when it’s fresh. If you buy organic, it should not be GMO, so that’s one way to know. Also, any type of lettuce or greens you like. I personally like Romain lettuce chopped finely.
I love white sharp cheddar cheese, which I get from Trader Joe’s as a raw milk cheese variety. I just use a hand grater and grate it nicely, just like it looks at Chipotle. Chopped tomatoes of any variety. If you have time, remove the seeds so your burrito bowl doesn’t become soggy or watery. If you’re going to eat it right away, then don’t bother. Somewhere in the process, I prepare my chicken. I buy boneless skinless chicken thighs and cook them in this manner, although I don’t put any herbs and instead add ground cumin and a pinch of turmeric. Beans and rice are cooked separately, too. The bowl-making begins by placing the cooked rice at the bottom, then the beans then the meat and fresh veggies. On top are the greens and cheese. And topped with sour cream, freshly diced avocado and some hot sauce. You can add salsa, too. I just didn’t have any already made on hand, but it’s particularly delicious with this tomatillo salsa.
And so, in my opinion, it’s even better at home. You can feed a lot of people this way, and best of all, you know exactly what’s in everything you’ve just put into your very own Chipotle-style Chicken Burrito Bowl.
I’m usually pretty good about not eating too late at night, especially heavy foods. Otherwise I have to get out some sort of vinegar in my pantry and chuck it quickly before the heartburn sets in…
I posted this picture on Instagram and a lot of people were asking me for the recipe so I thought I’d explain how I made it, which is super duper easy (see below).
A photo posted by Yvonne Maffei (@myhalalkitchen) on
First, get some of your favorite tortilla chips- make sure they’re non-GMO. I like the Trader Joe’s brand tortilla chips or Milagro brand.
Next, add some cooked and spiced ground beef. I use a homemade chorizo blend that is now my favorite (you’ll get the recipe in my upcoming cookbook, insha’Allah).
Add some cubes or thin slices of Cabot Cheesehalal-certified varieties on top of the beef. I use their Sharp Cheddar, which is wonderful.
Microwave for 1-2 minutes on medium-high or put in a toaster oven for 5-7 minutes, using an oven safe pan.
When it’s still hot, drizzle some avocado salsa and hot sauce on top. I love the Valentina brand and I think all of the brands I’m using really do make the difference, but you can definitely choose your own. I was actually lamenting that if I had sour cream at home I would dilute it slightly and drizzle on top, but my the more I thought about it, I decided it would only cover up all the nicely spiced meat and other ingredients. The experimentalist in me will certainly want to try that next time..
No time for suhoor, but you need something hot in your tummy? These super-quick quesadillas are so easy to make- you may want to take out the hot sauce and fire-roasted chiles (peppers) if your stomach can’t handle the spice in the wee hours of the morning, though.
*White cheddar cheese is produced by Cabot and certified-halal by IFANCA.
Two-minute quesidallas with white cheddar cheese, roasted green chiles and hot sauce. Use a non-stick pan if you prefer not to cook directly over the flame.
When I went to Irvine, CA last April for Sameer’s EatsHalal Food Tour, Lime Chicken Tacos was one of the recipes on the menu that I demonstrated. I made a quick tomatillo salsa (salsa verde) to go with it.
Sameer got a try and so did a few fortunate halal foodies out there in the audience. It was so much fun- I need to dig out those pictures and share them again soon…
To make the tacos, use only the freshest chicken and get the nice tray packs from Crescent Foods if you can (they’re antibiotic-free, humanely raised and of course dhabiha halal).
It all gets nicely marinated in cilantro, olive oil, lime juice, black pepper, salt and garlic, if desired.
After about 35 minutes marinating in the refrigerator (or a little longer if you have things to do), it comes out and all gets thrown into the saute pan.
On high heat.
For about 6-10 minutes on each side so that it turns out looking like this:
Almost looks grilled- imagine the grill marks if you used a grill pan or outdoor grill instead (which you can certainly). Either way, a lid needs to go on after the second flip to keep the chicken from drying out.
And if I wasn’t so busy drooling over that, then I would be taking time out to make the fixings: beans and rice…
And separate out the queso fresco (it typically comes in a package where the cheese is all condensed and you need to crumble it yourself- kind of like a block of feta).
Then plate everything nicely, of course. Especially if for a party- you’ll thank me later. Guests can serve themselves after the initial investment time you put into plating it all ahead of time.
At the last moment, though, you’ll need to warm the tortillas.
And if you ever saw this contraption at a Mexican store and wanted it because it said “Tortilla Press”, it’s not like a panini press.
It’s actually for making fresh tortillas- like from the masa or corn flour; it’s not meant to press anything cooked or to actually heat something on it.
Just in case you ever wondered about that…
To warm the tortillas just use your gas flame or some sort of cast iron grill top. Flame on high.
We put two together then flip ’em and lay them flat in preparation for taco-making mode.
Unless you’re going to be a while, in which case you need a tortilla warmer (yes, there are is a whole industry of these)–wrap those babies up in a cotton towel and/or put a terra cotta plate or stone at the bottom of the warmer to retain heat.
Mexicans take this stuff seriously.
Which leads me to the next issue:
Proper taco creation.
According to most Mexicans, there is a right and wrong way to build a taco.
I live with one who insists there is definitely a wrong way and we are not going to show you that.
Rule #1- Know the best brand of tortillas (or the ones your family has liked most for the past 20 or 30 years. If starting from scratch, just follow the brand below)
Rule #2- do not overstuff (yourself and the taco)
That means (to one certain member in my house), that you begin with beans, then add rice, then meat.
I never seem to follow that protocol, but then again I always overstuff the taco…
Then add the greens, to which the salsa is added on top.
Then add radish and cheese…
Add slices of avocado last.
Do I agree? Not completely, but whatever works. And that means it has to look good and taste even better.
For now, I think this is a great summer time meal, Mexican-inspired and perfect for a summer Ramadan Iftar. At our house, we might even serve it for Suhoor (leftovers, of course)…
Extra virgin olive oil to cover (about 1/2 cup) plus 2 tablespoons for cooking
Directions
Place chicken in a pie plate, square baking dish or anything that isn’t too shallow. Pour the lime juice over the chicken, add the cilantro and sprinkle the chopped garlic, salt and pepper on top. Pour the oil over it all and flip the chicken a few times to ensure that it’s nicely covered in the oil and other ingredients.
Cover and refrigerate so that it can marinate for about 35 minutes.
Remove the chicken from the refrigerator and let it stand for about five minutes before cooking, just to take the chill out of the meat (it actually helps prevent the cold meat from tearing when it is thrown onto a hot pan or grill).
Use a fork to remove the chicken from the pan and shake off any excess juice/oil.
Use fresh oil to heat gently in a saute pan. Once warmed, add the chicken tenders and cook on one side for about 6-10 minutes on high heat, or until nicely browned.
Once one side has browned, flip the pieces over. Cook again until the other side is browned, too. In this way, they’ll seem almost grilled. Once both sides are browned, lower the heat and cover the pan with a lid to keep in the moisture.
Once the chicken is done, remove from heat and pull apart with two forks if you like shredded chicken tacos or simply serve whole or cut up pieces of the tenders.
I don’t know about you, but my time in the kitchen just keeps on getting shorter and shorter and my patience level for long, drawn out dishes and cooking is sort of unmentionable these days.
I want fast, but delicious and healthy- unprocessed, non-GMO, organic, etc. etc. Not easy to do but once I find the right ingredients, it’s like “yay”- but then what to do with them?
Well, that’s how I developed this recipe. I had a craving for corn with lime and chili just like they serve in Mexico on a stick (or the countless neighborhoods in and around Chicago) where they slap heavy mayonnaise all over the corn and you see chili powder all over the streets from people’s falling chili.
No time for that, which is why I put single-serving sizes into cute little see-through cups for our dinner table and it’s also great for guests, few or many.
And when summer decides to actually arrive in Chicago, maybe we’ll feel like heading out to the neighborhoods for the original version…
Enjoy!
Corn, Mango and Chile Salad Cups
The flavors of summer really come out in this salad, blending sweet corn with a kick of chili powder and the fruitiness of mango for a dish that goes well with just about any summertime dish, especially the grilled ones. Just be sure to get non-GMO corn (i.e. organic).
If using fresh corn, boil in salted water for about 20 minutes. Drain and remove corn from stalk when cool. If using frozen corn, cook according to package directions.
In a medium bowl, mix together the corn and mango. Add the chili powder, mayonnaise, salt, and pepper. Drizzle the olive oil and mix gently.
Just before serving, add the freshly chopped cilantro. Serve in small cups when entertaining a large crowd.
I think it’s one of the best foods you can make at home and quite honestly, one of the easiest. It’s like having street food at home all the time once you get a good recipe under your belt. The trick is definitely in flavoring the meat just right. 
You may have just built one of the most remarkable and versatile three or four bites of your culinary life. Enjoy for breakfast (suhoor), lunch (after Ramadan), dinner (Iftar), late night snack (after Taraweeh night prayers), and of course with friends and family. This may not be your favorite Mexican restaurant’s tacos, but which would you prefer?
Chopped tomatoes of any variety. If you have time, remove the seeds so your burrito bowl doesn’t become soggy or watery. If you’re going to eat it right away, then don’t bother.
Somewhere in the process, I prepare my 
The bowl-making begins by placing the cooked 
On top are the greens and cheese.
And topped with sour cream, 
