Mis tacos son deliciosos

I posted a little while ago on chowhound about how thrilled I was about a new “pretty darn authentic” Mexican place opening at the Calgary Farmers’ Market, and as it turned out, the place lasted about three weeks. This was a tragedy for this taco- and burrito-deprived city (never mind flautas, enchiladas, flan, etc etc), one that has myriad immigrants from pretty much everywhere except Mexico it seems. Canada as a whole is piss-poor for Mexican coast to coast to coast (I grew up in thrall of a ton of real Mexican food prepared by real Mexicans, in the Chicago area, not that I was a connoisseur as a kid, but I could have been if I’d wanted to be), and I guess that if we want anything like Mexican (or Tex-Mex or Cal-Mex), we have to make do on our own, and today, I did just that.

As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in my blog, Brian is the real cook in this house, but sometimes I get inspired. Today we bought some nice boned/skinned chicken thighs from the salubrious T and T Supermarket in Harvest Hills (yes this is an Asian market, bear with me) , and seeing that we had a pack of 10 corn tortillas in the freezer, I decided to try tacos. Here’s how I did it:

1. I sauteed a couple of small thinly-sliced onions and four minced garlic cloves in some peanut oil in a chef’s pan.

2. After the onions/garlic seemed a little limp, I added good tablespoonful of Doña Maria brand Pipian paste. Pipian is a kind of mole made with pumpkin seeds and no chocolate, not that I had any idea of what it was when I bought it (at Boca Loca Mexican Grocery, not at T and T); it’s mild but with lots of flavour. I also added about a teaspoon of sambal oelek, and yes I know this is getting ridiculously “fusion” but I used what we had in the cupboard.

3. I tossed in the chicken thighs, chopped, and sort of stir-fried this mixture for a couple of minutes.

4. Then I added, slowly, about a cup of water. Bubble bubble, the sauce is lookin’ and smellin’ good! After a bit, I turned the burner off and covered this rich-looking stew.

5. I wanted to put shredded cabbage on my tacos but had no cabbage, so I did a desperate thing: I sliced some brussels sprouts thinly and sauteed them in a different pan for a bit. And wow, what a nice way to prepare brussels sprouts, makes them nice and sweet and pretty bright green too.

6. I chopped some cilantro too…

7. Ready to assemble now: First, make the tortillas (CORN tortillas please!) warm and pliable by heating them–this is my suggestion–over an open flame. You can heat them in a greased pan, on a griddle or enchilada-style in a bath of hot oil, but this worked well. Second, if you like, sprinkle a little cheese (queso fresco or monterey jack or just plain mozzo which is what we had), or not, on the warm tortillas (trad tacos are double tortilla-ed); then I added a nice big spoonful of the stewed chicken mixture; then a good squeeze of LIME (never lemon!); then a few pinches of the green stuff.

MAN this worked! It was delicious, one of my proudest culinary moments, and a resourceful one at that. Here’s what the finished product(s) looked like:

Okay, there is cabbage on there, because Brian let me know that there was indeed cabbage in the fridge and cut some up for these… also, single tortillas but that’s how likes them. Still, happy times- who needs a “real” taqueria?