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| Shredded Beef Tinga with all the garnishes |
Prep: 30 min
Cook Time: 2 hours
Yields: 6-8 servings
Ingredients:
Shredded Beef:
2 lb boneless beef roast, trimmed & cut into 1 inch cubes
2 medium onions, 1 quartered & 1 fine diced
5 cloves of garlic, 3 peeled and smashed & 2 minced
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 sprigs of fresh thyme or dried thyme (about 4 teaspoons)
1/2 teaspoon of oregano
1 (14.5 ounce) can of tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chipotle powder
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
Tostadas:
3/4 cup vegetable oil
12 (6 inch) corn tortillas
Garnishes:
lime wedges
fresh cilantro
feta cheese (crumbles)
diced avocado
Directions for Tinga: In a large sauce pan add quartered onion, thyme, smashed garlic, trimmed and cubed beef, salt & 6 cups of water. Bring to a simmer on med-high heat. Skim off any foam that is on the surface. Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover and cook until beef is tender, about 75-90 minutes. When meat is tender drain beef, reserving 1 cup of liquid for later use. Discard everything but the beef. Shred beef. Set aside. Using the same sauce pan heat olive oil on medium-high. Add diced onion, shredded beef and oregano. Cook until beef is crisped & brown, about 7-10 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add reserved liquid, tomato sauce, chipotle powder and bay leaves. Simmer until almost all the liquid has evaporated, about 5-7 minutes. Remove and discard bay leaves. If desired salt to taste.
To serve place small amount of meat in the middle of tostada. Top with desired garnishes.
Typically I never would have made this meal. I don't usually like to eat things with tostadas. Mainly because when my husband and I were on a mission trip in Mexico we ate something similar to this. Everyone got food poisoning. It has been about 10 years since then and I decided it has been long enough. It took a while to cook but the final product was so- flavorful.
The original recipe calls for pork, but I didn't have pork and I really didn't feel like packing up the kids and driving to the grocery store. I decided to give it a shot with beef. The beef seemed to need the full time cooking time. It probably differs with the meat you were using though. The original recipe also calls for bay leaves, but never states how many. I added two but you can do whatever you would like. The recipe says salt the meat and tostadas to taste. I did not salt the meat, but I did salt the tostadas. My husband and I didn't miss the salt in the meat mixture and we could have gone with out the tostadas being salted. The dish is very flavorful so we personally didn't feel the salt would really add anything. When I fried my corn tortillas I used a big heavy large sauce pan. That way it minimized the oil splatter getting everywhere. I used metal tongs and swirled the tortilla around so it fried more evenly. I also flipped them to make sure both sides were very crispy. If you have a metal potato masher you can set it on the tortilla so it is submerged in the oil and then you wont have to swirl and flip. I put all the garnishes on mine and it was wonderful. I have never heard of this dish, but it flew to the top of my favorites list. I loved it! I didn't think I would like the feta cheese on it, but it really complements the meat. Such a nice contrast with it cutting the heat of the chipotle. Fantastic!!! It does pack some heat so you may want to taste the meat as you add the chipotle so it wont be too spicy.I have come to realize that I am way more adventurous with my cooking than when I go out to eat. At home I love to try new things and make foods that we would normally never eat. When I go to a restaurant I usually stick to something with chicken. Shredded Beef Tinga normally would sound too strange for me to order. However, after cooking this recipe I may have to go out in search for it at a restaurant just to see who makes the better Tinga. :)
(Recipe source: http://ifyoucanstomachit.com/2011/01/28/good-eats-shredded-pork-tinga/)
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