You can fill tacos with just about anything! Here, I’ve done them with a warm filling of chicken or blackbeans, pico de gallo, and an avocado sauce.
Ingredients:
- Tortillas – flour or corn (but they should be the small ones) – 2 or 3 per person
- Option 1: Chicken thighs – 1 per person
- Option 2: Black beans – 1 large tin will be enough for about 3 people
- Red pepper – 1 is enough for around 3 people
- Sweetcorn – use a small tin for 2 people, large tin for 4 people
- Cumin – seeds or ground, both fine
- Smoked paprika
- Vegetable oil
- Tomatoes – as ripe as possible, approx 1 per person
- Red onion – 1 is enough for 2 people
- Chillies (optional)
- Coriander – 2 handfuls
- Limes – 2
- Avocado – 1 avocado is enough for for 3 people
- Salt and pepper
Instructions:
For the tortillas:
1) Heat the oven to 80 degrees C.
2) Wrap the flour tortillas in foil (2-3 per person) and leave them in the oven while you do everything else.
For the avocado sauce:
1) In a small blender, blend up the flesh of one ripe avocado, a small bunch of coriander, the juice of half a lime, salt and pepper.
2) Check the taste and consistency: does it need to be sharper? Add more lime. Does it need to be runnier? Add a bit of water. Is it too sharp? Add a pinch of sugar and salt.
3) Once you’re happy with the sauce, transfer it to a small bowl for later.
For the pico de gallo:
1) Finely chop 2 tomatoes (try to leave out as many of the seeds as possible), half a red onion, 1 red chilli (optional) and a small bunch of coriander.
2) Mix all the ingredients in a bowl with the juice of half a lime, a pinch of salt and pepper.
For the warm filling:
1) Thinly slice the other half of the red onion you used in the pico de gallo.
2) Cut bite-sized slices of the red pepper and chicken thighs (one per person, if using).
3) Fry these in a tablespoon of oil in a wide frying pan over a medium-high heat.
4) Once the veg starts to soften, add half a teaspoon each of cumin and smoked paprika and let the spices cook for a minute on a medium heat.
5) Add a small tin of sweetcorn and the tinned black beans (if using) and heat through.
6) Season with salt to taste and either transfer to a bowl or just put the frying pan on a heat mat on the dining table.
To assemble:
1) Get everything on the table – each person can assemble their own taco.
2) Cup your tortilla in your hand and layer up with the warm filling, the pico de gallo and the sauce – eet smakelijk!
