Deliciously Directionless: Soft Shell Tacos with Chicken and Charred Tomato Filling

For those of you who are wondering what happened to the Tacos recipe I had promised in September’s #YourChoice, here it is! This post is coming in a bit late, but with my Kerala trip and some busy times, I didn’t get around to making this dish till last weekend. There were many suggestions, of course, on #YourChoice. However, since I had never attempted Mexican flavours, I thought I’d give Darshana’s suggestion a go :)

I went to couple of gourmet shops to hunt for readymade taco (pronounced ‘tah-co’) shells – one of them said it was out of stock; the other had a packet in stock, which was exorbitantly priced and didn’t look very appealing anyway. So I decided to try making the taco shells from scratch and instead of ‘googling’ it, I sent out a request on Twitter – my new best friend! And voila! Mexican Chef @jdxicana and fellow foodie @shivzi responded with some helpful tips and a recipe for making the taco shells.

I’ve adapted their inputs to come up with this recipe – Soft Shell Tacos with Chicken and Charred Tomato Filling. This is not a traditional recipe; I have tried to make it a bit healthful by not using (deep fried) hard taco shells and there is no sour cream used as well. So here goes...

This recipe makes 6 medium-sized tacos.

You’ll need:

For the taco shells

100gm Maize Flour
150ml hot Water (approximately)
A pinch of Salt
Some all purpose flour for dusting

For the filling

100gm boneless Chicken Breast
2-3 cloves of Garlic, chopped
1 red chilli / 1 small jalapeno pepper, sliced
2 Tomatoes
1 medium Onion, thinly sliced
50g grated Cheese
Salt & Pepper
Juice of 1 Lemon
Some Cilantro to garnish
1tbsp Chilli Sauce

How to:

First, make the filling. This can be made in advance. Cut the chicken into 1-inch chunks and season with salt and pepper.
Put a pan on a high flame. Add oil and heat until very hot. Add the chopped garlic and chilli/jalapeno.
Give a quick stir and then add the chicken pieces. Cook till done; about 4-5 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Heat a skillet until very hot. Place the tomatoes. Turn them with tongs so that they get charred on all the sides.

Cool them for a bit. Then cut in half and squeeze to remove the seeds and the core. Chop them up and set aside.
Now fry the onions till soft. Add the chicken, charred tomatoes, lemon juice, chilli sauce, salt and pepper. Cook for a minute or two and check the seasonings.

To make the taco shells, combine the maize flour, salt and water (bit by bit). Mix with your fingers and gently knead to get soft but dry dough.

Cover and allow to rest and cool down. Divide the dough into equal-sized balls.
Dust a rolling surface with some flour and roll out into discs, about 6 to 8 inches in diameter (you can make them as large or as small as you wish!). Dust off excess flour.
Put a pan on medium heat and roast the tacos on either side, till done.

To assemble, heat up the chicken-tomato mixture (if made in advance). Divide amongst the taco shells; garnish with grated cheese and cilantro. Serve immediately.
If you’re making the taco shells in advance, keep them covered. Warm them up and then add the filling.
Vegetarians can replace the chicken with grilled mushrooms and/or re-fried beans.