Tag: beef
Birria Tacos
Birria Tacos
Over the last 6 months, there has been a huge trend in the Mexican culinary world. All of a sudden, every Mexican restaurant is carrying birria tacos. So what is a birria taco? Birria originated from the Mexican state of Jalisco; also home of pozole and menudo. It all started with caldo de birria, a meat stew in a pepper broth. Traditionally goat and lamb are used, but beef can be substituted. I used a combination of all 3 meats. Corn tortillas are dipped in the birria broth, then assembled with the meat, onions, and cilantro. The tacos are folded over and grilled on a griddle until they are crispy. The tacos are served with a side of the birria broth to dip the taco in; just like a French dip sandwich. I chose to use an Instant Pot to make the birria. It only took 90 minutes to prepare. You can make this in a Dutch oven or a crockpot if you don’t have a pressure cooker. It will take anywhere from 4-6 hours to get the meat tender enough to shred. Either process will get you the same results.
Servings: 24 tacos
Equipment
- food processor
- instant pot
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 lbs beef chuck cubed
- 1 beef shank
- 1 1/2 lbs bone in goat shoulder cubed
- 1 lamb shank
- 3 dried ancho chilies
- 6 dried guajillo chilies
- 3 roma tomatoes
- 1/2 medium white onion sliced
- 6 garlic cloves
- 4 whole cloves
- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
- 1 tsp Mexican oregano
- 1/2 tsp marjoram
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1/2 cup vinegar
- salt to taste
- 2 cups water
- corn tortillas softened
Garnish
- white onion finely chopped
- cilantro chopped
Instructions
- Dry toast the dried peppers in a sauté pan over medium heat for 5 minutes.
- Place the peppers in a bowl of hot water for 20 minutes.
- Dry toast the cumin seeds, cloves, and cinnamon stick for 2 minutes. Remove from the pan.
- Dry toast the tomatoes, onions, and garlic for 10 minutes.
- Place the rehydrated roast peppers, tomatoes, onion, garlic, whole spices(except the cinnamon stick), oregano, marjoram, vinegar, and salt in a blender.
- Purée until smooth.
- Arrange all of the meat in a glass baking dish.
- Pour the sauce from the blender over the meat. Cover with foil and marinate overnight in the refrigerator.
- Place all of the meat and sauce in the Instant Pot along with 2 cups of water. Toss in the cinnamon stick. Turn the function to pressure cook on high for 90 minutes. Put on the cover and push start.
- Remove all of the meat and bones from the Instant Pot.
- Keep all of the birria juice warm.
- Pick out all of the bones from the meat. Place the meat in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.
- Cook down the meat until the majority of the liquid has evaporated.
Birria Taco Assembly
- Dip the softened corn tortillas in the birria juice.
- Top the tortillas with the meat, onion, and cilantro.
- Place the tacos on a griddle over medium high heat. Fold the tacos over.
- Grill the tacos for 3-4 minutes a side until the tortillas are crispy.
Chapli Kebab
Chapli Kebab
Chapli kebabs are a widely popular street food served in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and India. They consist of either ground beef, lamb, or chicken with various spices and ingredients such as eggs, tomatoes, onions, etc. The particular chapli kebabs in this recipe have slices of tomato pressed into the patties. They are then pan fried until they develop a char on both sides. Serve the chapli in a pita with a mint garlic yogurt sauce.
Ingredients
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1 large egg beaten; scrambled
- 1 medium tomato 4 slices from the center; the rest diced
- 1/4 small red onion finely diced
- 1/4 cup cilantro finely chopped
- 1/4 cup mint finely chopped
- 2 tsp ginger garlic paste
- 2 tsp coriander seeds ground
- 1 tsp cumin seeds ground
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil for frying
Yogurt Mint Sauce
- 1/4 cup Greek yogurt
- 2 tbsp mint finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
Instructions
- Mix together the yogurt sauce ingredients. Set in the refrigerator until ready for use.
- Mix together the ground beef, scrambled egg, diced tomatoes, onions, ginger garlic paste, mint, cilantro, coriander, cumin, cayenne, and salt.
- Form 4 patties out of the beef mix.
- Press a slice of tomato into each of the patties.
- Heat up cooking oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat. Placd the patties in the oil tomato side up.
- Cook the patties for 6 minutes a side until there is a nice char.
Sichuan Sliced Beef in Chili Sauce
Sichuan Sliced Beef in Chili Sauce
Fu qi fei pian is one of my favorite Sichuan appetizers. The dish consists of very thin slices of beef drizzled with chili sauce; typically served cold or at room temp. While the recipe is very simple, it has a tremendous amounts of flavor. There are a couple different cuts of beef that you can use. Most people use brisket, but heart and tongue are also popular choices. The first time I tried it was with beef tongue, and it’s had me hooked ever since.
Equipment
- instant pot
Ingredients
- 2 lbs brisket
- 1/4 cup light soy sauce
- 1/4 cup shaoxing cooking wine
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 3 dried red chilies
- 3 green onions
- 2 large ginger slices
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp Sichuan peppercorns
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
Chili Sauce
- 4 tbsp chili oil
- 3 tbsp braising liquid
- 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce
- 2 tsp Chinkiang black vinegar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground Sichuan peppercorns
- 4 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 2 green onions finely chopped
- 1 tsp ginger minced
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients in an Instant Pot. Set the function to pressure cook on high for 60 minutes. Placd the cover on and push start.
- Release the pressure once the time is up.
- Let the brisket cool, then refrigerate until ready to slice.
- Slice the brisket no more than 1/8” thick.
- Arrange the beef on a plate in a single layer.
- Mix together all of the sauce ingredients. Set aside.
