Birria Tacos

Step 1/11

• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 pepper

Chop your vegetables in a bowl

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• 250 g beef chuck

Sauté your meat in onion and garlic until it’s not red on the outside. I used beef chucks but lamb meat is the traditional way to go.

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• 2 tbsp Arbol pepper paste

Add Arbol paste ( or arbol peppers) and all the other vegetables. I was not able to find guajillo peppers but if you can, don’t hesitate to put them in.

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• 75 ml water
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 2 bay leaves

Add water and spices . I used cinnamon, bay leafs and salt.

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Let it simmer for about 3-4 hours depending on the time you have.

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• 200 g masa harina
• 1 tbsp salt

Meanwhile prepare your tortillas. I used 200g of blue-ish masa harina, 1 tsp salt and 75 mL of water. If you buy tortillas from the store, try to find fresh ones. ( This makes about 8-9 tortillas)

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• tortilla press

Smash your tortillas with a press or simply use some plastic wrap and a bottom rounded dish. Cook them in a pan by flipping every 10 seconds until brownish spots appear.

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• blender

After the stew has been cooked, throw all the vegetables in a blender and blend them together as a paste. Combine the paste back in to the pot. At this point the meat is so soft that it can be shredded by a fork.

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• 20 g parsley

Prepare the consumé by combining the stew with parsley and onion when ready to serve.

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• 100 g queso fresco

Dip the tortillas in the stew and fry them in a pan to crisp up. After that put queso fresco cheese (mozzarella also works) and meat on the tortilla, fold into a taco and let it fry in the pan until the cheese is melted and the outside of the taco is crispy.