Mexican Taco Night In
If you are looking for a quick dinner or weekend lunch, tacos are one of the best choices. They are so versatile that you can have every week a different style.
One or More?
Tacos are so fast and easy to make because most of them require only the preparation of the meat or fish. Important are the flavors and fresh cut toppings. And frankly, any leftover can fit in a taco. When our fridge bursts from tons of small leftover containers then we know: Taco Night In is on!
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Quick Tips for Tasty Tortillas
The freshness, quality, temperature, and type of tortilla make a great difference. SpiceBreeze tips for you:
- If you have a Mexican grocery store on your way, it’s absolutely worth to stop for freshly made tortillas.
- For all cold tortillas, reheat them quickly in a PAN without oil. Then keep them warm in the OVEN until it’s time to serve.
Change up the flavor experience with difference type of tortillas.
- Alter between corn and flour tortillas, and hardshell tacos.
- Try something new with tortillas or hardshell tacos made with a different type of flour, for instance cassava or rice flour.
Essential Mexican Sauces
No taco without a number of delicious sauces. If you are like us a fan of Taco Tuesday, you might want some variations. With our sauce recipes, you can easily bring your own twist to traditional basics.
Guacamole
Ingredients: Avocado, onion, tomato, cilantro + optionally jalapeño
This is one of the simpliest recipes with the biggest flavor. The name means ‘avocado sauce’. All you really need is
- 1 large avocado, mashed
and salt. If you don’t have any of the other ingredients avialable, we recommended thinly sliced avocados as they look really nice on tacos. For the avocado sauce, there are only 4 typical additional ingredients that are mixed with the mashed avocado. For a delicious sauce, you don’t need all of them or fix amounts. Just follow your taste. That’s the beauty of home cooking and easy to remember! The following recommendations are for 1 avocado and meant to give you a good start:
- 2 tsp onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp finely chopped tomato (not from a can)
- 1 tsp cilantro, finely chopped
- Optionally for heat: finely chopped jalapeño or serrano chili or SpiceBreeze ground jalapeño to taste
Guacamole Tips!
How to Prevent Avocado from Turning Brown:
(1) place the seed in the serving bowl before adding the Guacamole
(2) add a little squeeze of lime or lemon juice
(3) place the avocado flesh in a colander and hold it in boiling water for 30 seconds – not longer!
Inspirations for Guacamole with a Twist:
- Substitute tomato with mango, pineapple, or strawberries.
- Substitute cilantro with Italian flat parsley or chives.
- Use red or green onions.
- Add a little garlic.
- Give it a smokey flavor with chipotle or smoked paprika.
Pico de Gallo
Pico de gallo means the rooster’s beak. The ingredients are almost the same as in guacamole without the avocado. A mixture of chopped tomatoes and onions is seasoned with salt, cilantro, and a hot pepper, usually jalapeno. A very important difference is the almost indispensable addition of lime juice. Yet again, here are our recommendations for a start. Please adjust the recipe to your taste.
- 1.25 cup tomatoes, finely chopped
- 0.25 cup onions, finely chopped
- 0.25 cup lime juice
- 1 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
- salt to taste
- Optionally for heat: finely chopped jalapeño or serrano chili or SpiceBreeze ground jalapeño to taste
The inspirations for guacamole with a twist (see before) work here as well. You can even add a bit of chopped avocado.
Extra Tip: We love to mix the ingredients in a blender just a bit to combine the flavors more. This variation turns out more liquidy if you like it.
Tacos al Pastor
Tacos al Pastor is a popular Mexican street food. Mexican liked Shawarma made by Lebanese immigrants so much that they created their local take of it. The ‘shepherd style’ tacos are marinated in a traditional chili-adobo-paste and topped with pineapple.
Variations
- Use pork chops or tenderloin or chicken breast.
- Add pineapple, mango, or passion fruit. For the latter, don’t fry it.
- Use a blender or grate the onion and garlic.
Tacos al Pastor Culinary Spice Kit:
Annatto, ancho chili, pasilla chili, cumin, allspice, oregano, cloves
Mexican cowboys in Texas made the first Fajitas from skirt steak, probably without any seasoning other than the smoke from the grill. Today, most Fajitas seasonings include artificial flavors. Dig into the deep flavor of Fajitas made with our pure and fresh spices.
Variations
- Use beef flank skirt or sirloin steak, chicken breast, shrimps, or boneless pork cutlets or tenderloin.
- Substitute meat with zucchini or eggplant.
- Substitute the SpiceBreeze spice pouch [1] with the following spice blend: 1.5 tsp smoked paprika, and each 1 tsp cumin, white pepper, and oregano..
Fajitas Culinary Spice Kit:
[1] Smoked paprika, cumin, white pepper, oregano
[2] Jalapeño pepper
