The first time I tried this dish it wasn’t in Mexico, it was here in London at a friend’s house, there I was queuing again and again to get some more tinga tacos and since then I love the dish.
Tinga is originally from Puebla, a state in the east-central Mexico, it can be made with chicken, beef or pork. Traditionally you have tinga on a tostada as an appetiser, but you can use it as a filling for tacos, burritos or just eat it with totopos, tortilla chips, but tonight I am having my tinga tostadas as a main course.
Although it is a very easy dish to cook, the combination of its ingredients give the dish a very smoky and intense flavour. Give it a try at home and tell me what you think. I usually cook tinga when I don’t have a lot of time to cook and it never fails to impress to el inglés (my husband) and me!
Serves 2
Difficulty: easy
Prep 10 min
Cook 20 min
Ingredients
For the Chicken Tinga
- 2 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded.
- 3 medium tomatoes.
- 2 small onions, chopped one in julienne (a fancy name for thin strips)
- 2 small cloves garlic
- 1 or 2 whole Chipotle Chillies * in adobo sauce.
- 1 bay leave
- Salt
- Pepper
- 2 tbls rapeseed oil
For the tostadas
- 100 ml rapeseed oil
- Corn tortillas*
To serve
- Half small shredded chopped iceberg lettuce
- Fresh cheese (use feta or Anari* cheese)
- Sour cream
Method
Put the chicken breasts in a saucepan together with one tomato cut in half, half an onion and one garlic and salt and covered them with water, cook them until they are thoroughly cook but still tender.
While the chicken is cooking put in a blender the two tomatoes cut, half an onion, one garlic and the two chipotle chillies and blend them until smooth and set the salsa aside.
By now the chicken must be cooked, take it out of the saucepan and put it on a chopping board and start shredding it with the help of two forks. It shreds better and easier as soon as it is cooked.
In another saucepan put two tbls of rapeseed oil on medium heat and add the julienne onion, when the onion is clear, add the salsa, the bay leave, salt and pepper to taste and cook for 10 min in medium heat then add the shredded chicken and let cook for another 10 min.
In the mean time put the 100 ml rapeseed oil in a frying pan on medium/ high heat and start frying the tortillas one at a time. Put the tortilla in the pan and press it on to the oil with the help of a spatula so the tortilla get flat when is fry. Three minutes on each side is enough. Then put them on to a plate with a kitchen roll to absorb the extra oil.
Shred the lettuce, crumble the cheese and put the sour cream on a ramekin so they are ready to serve with the tinga tostadas.
Listo!
Provecho!
Tips
- Chipotle chillies are widely available in the UK. I buy my tin of smoke chipotle chillies in any whole food market, but you can also find them in waitrose.
- The picture of the tortilla pack I put in this recipe, are the tortillas I always use for my tacos, tostadas, chilaquiles, etc. you can get them online or in whole food supermarket.
- Anari Cheese is a cheese I buy on my local convenience shop, it is from Cyprus and it is not expensive, the taste is better than feta as it resemble the taste of Panela, a cheese we have in Mexico.
- If you are not a good eater of spicy food, feel free to put less chillies.
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