Blog | For Those About To Cook

Massaman Curry Paste

August 5, 2020 By Dan

Making Thai Massaman curry paste is a good idea if you want the best Massaman curry. Sure you can purchase good pastes but nothing compares to homemade.

Like most authentic Thai curries pastes, making Massaman curry paste is best made the traditional way, by pounding the ingredients into a paste in a pestle and mortar.

This can be quite time consuming, up to an hour. If you want to cheat, you can still get fantastic results using a food processor.

How strong is this paste

I use the whole batch in a curry to serve four people. There are so many nice ingredients in the paste and not all of them are spicy.

If you use a commercial brand of Massaman curry paste, you won't get all those delicious ingredients in it.

Usually shop bought Massaman curry paste is quite salty and spicy. You will want to use a lot less of it in your curry and you won't get all those amazing flavours.

Garlic ready to pound in pestle and mortar — It is a good idea to pound each ingredient separately. Get one pounded to a paste and then add another.

Adding lemon grass to pestle and mortar — Get the tough lemongrass out of the way early.

Adding shallots to pestle and mortar — Shallots are quite easy to pound to a paste.

Adding galangal to paste — Galangal can be a bit more difficult. Really get in there and break it down.

Soaking chillies — I soak my dried chillies to make it easier to pound them.

Roasting whole spices for Massaman curry paste. — Roasting the whole spices for the Massaman curry paste.

Pounding chillies — Pound those chillies hard. You really want to break them up.

Adding ground spices — You can add the ground spices whenever they're ready.

Stirring in shrimp paste — To finish, add the shrimp paste.

If you like this recipe, you might like to try some of these too.

Thai red curry
Thai green curry
Thai pork belly stew
Gai Yang - Thai grilled chicken

Recipe

Massaman Curry Paste

Yield: 1 cup (250ml)

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of coriander seeds
1 ½ tablespoon of cumin seeds
5 whole cloves
1 tsb black peppercorns
1 whole nutmeg
The seeds from 6 green cardamom pods
1 - 5cm (2 inch) cinnamon stick
12 large dried red chillis deseeded and soaked in warm water for 30 minutes
2 - 3 small shallots finely sliced
1 long stick of lemongrass white part only
1 thumb-sized piece of galangal
8 cloves garlic - smashed
Zest of ½ lime
3 kaffir lime leaves
2 teaspoon shrimp paste

Instructions

Heat a pan over medium high heat and toast the whole spices until warm to the touch and fragrant but not yet smoking. Transfer to a pestle and mortar to cool and then pound to a fine powder.
Transfer the ground spices to a plate and then add all the aromatic spices to the pestle and mortar. Pound the spice for 15 to 20 minutes until it is broken down into a paste.
Add the shrimp paste and ground spices and pound for another 5 minutes or so until you have a delicious, buttery curry paste.
The paste will keep in the fridge for about three week or longer in an air-tight container.

Authentic Beef Massaman Curry

August 5, 2020 By Dan

I love a good Thai beef Massaman curry. This recipe will get you authentic and delicious results.

Massaman curries are different to most other Thai curries. Thai food has many influences from Chinese to Indian.

Beef Massaman curry definitely has Indian and Persian influences. Whole spices like cumin, coriander, cinnamon and black peppercorns are added to the Massaman curry paste.

Although beef Massaman curry tastes very Thai, you will notice some of the other influences.

<H2>Getting this recipe right</h2>

It is essential that the potatoes and beef be cooked to perfection. No one likes beef that isn't tender or under-cooked potatoes.

This is why I suggest cooking these in water first until cooked through. By doing this you not only get deliciously tender meat and potatoes, the water becomes a mouthwatering stock that is added to the sauce.

<h2>Which Thai curry paste to use?</h2>

I hope you try my homemade Massaman curry paste. This is an authentic recipe prepared the traditional way, by pounding the ingredients into a buttery paste.

Although pounding the ingredient for up to an hour is the traditional way of doing it, you can cheat a bit and use a food processor.

Alternatively, purchase a good quality Massaman curry paste if you must. I use Mae Ploy

Thai green curry
Thai green curry paste
Thai red curry paste
Thai grilled chicken - gai yang
Khao soi - Thai chicken soup with noodles
Coconut curry chicken

Recipe

Authentic Beef Massaman Curry

Yield: 4 - 6

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes

Ingredients

700g (1 ¾ lbs.) stewing beef
500ml (2 cups) water plus more as required
2 potatoes - peeled and cut into bit sized pieces
2 tablespoon coconut oil
½ red onion - roughly diced
1 handful of roasted peanuts
1 batch homemade Massaman curry paste or shop bought paste to taste.
400ml (1 ½ cups) thick coconut milk
1 - 2 tablespoon palm sugar
3 tablespoon Thai fish sauce
1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
Salt to taste

Instructions

Place the beef in a saucepan and pour the water over it. Bring to a simmer and cook for 1 ½ to 2 hours until the meat is really tender. You will probably need to add more water but only add just enough to cover. We want the stock to be really flavourful from the beef.
When the meat is almost tender enough to eat, stir in the potatoes and cook until fork tender.
While the meat is cooking, you can start making the curry. In a wok or large frying pan, heat the coconut oil over medium high heat. When it begins to shimmer, add the onion and peanuts. Fry for about 3 minutes and then add the massaman curry paste. Stir well to combine in the oil.
Now add the coconut milk and the tamarind concentrate, followed by the beef, potatoes and about 250ml (1 cup) of the cooking stock. Simmer for about 10 minutes to thicken.
Season with salt to taste to serve.

I hope you enjoy this beef Massaman curry recipe. If you do try it, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

Fried Fish Tacos

August 4, 2020 By Dan

Fried fish tacos are just dream food! This recipe for perfect Mexican fish tacos is very quick and easy and goes amazingly well with my creamy fish salsa and/or a tomato or tomatillo salsa if you want to be healthier.

Fried fish tacos can be made with any chunky white fish. I love cod or haddock but fish like cat fish also works too so use whatever fish you can lay your hands on that isn't too expensive.

Finished Fried Fish Tacos — The finished result, delicious!

I enjoy my fried fish tacos served on corn tortillas but flour corn tortillas are a great alternative if these are what you have to hand. Here in the UK, you can purchase freshly made corn tortillas from The Cool Chilli Company.

They're authentic and delicious.

Make the recipe for fish tacos your own:

If you like really spicy fried fish tacos think about maybe adding chilli powder along with the cayenne powder to the batter.

Also you may want to grate some cheese on the top of the tacos along with spooning the salsas on top.

Fried fish tacos can be made any way you choose so feel free to add to the top of the tacos your favorite Mexican ingredients.

If you enjoy this recipe try these similar ones:

Creamy Salsa for Fish
Pork Carnitas Tacos

Beating the batter — Whisk the beer and flour.

Dipping the fish in oil — Dip the battered fish in the oil.

The crisping fish — Cook the battered fish in the oil.

Fried Fish Tacos — Serve with lettuce and salsas of your choice

Recipe

Fried Fish Tacos

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

700 g ( 1.5 pounds ) fresh white fish
For the batter:
300 ml ( 1 Cup ) Beer
125 g ( 1 Cup ) All Purpose Flour ( Plain Flour )
1 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper
1 teaspoon Salt
1 tablespoon Rapeseed ( Canola ) Oil
8-10 Corn Tortillas
Lettuce/Soured Cream/Cheese/Salsas or whatever you choose for the top of the tacos

Instructions

Whisk the ingredients for the batter together
Heat the oil to 180 C ( 350 F )
Cut the fish into large chunks
Dip each piece into the batter
Fry each piece in the oil for around 5 minutes
While the fish is frying heat the oil in a non stick frying pan and gently fry the tortillas for a minute on each side until lightly browned.
Serve the fish in the tortillas with the toppings of your choice

Guacamole Recipe

August 4, 2020 By Dan

If there’s one dish I never get tired of making (and eating), it’s guacamole. It’s simple, quick, fresh and goes with just about everything. Whether I’m throwing together a Mexican-style feast, grilling up meats on the barbecue, or just need something to dip into while sipping a cold beer – guacamole always hits the spot.

In this post, I’ll show you how to make guacamole the way I like it: traditional, punchy, and full of zing. No weird extras. Just real-deal guac, made in minutes.

Homemade Guacamole in a serving bowl next to corn chips.

A Quick Guac History Lesson

Guacamole goes way back – we’re talking Aztec times in what’s now Mexico. The word itself comes from āhuacamolli, meaning “avocado sauce” in Nahuatl. Simple, right? That’s what makes it so good. The base has always been the same: ripe avocados, lime juice, salt, and maybe a bit of chile and tomato.

These days you’ll see all sorts of versions – with garlic, with peas (don’t ask me why), even with yoghurt stirred in. But for me, the best guacamole sticks close to the roots. Let the avocado be the star, and build flavour around it.

[feast_advanced_jump_to]

What Makes a Great Guacamole?

There’s guac, and then there’s guac. A great one is all about balance – creamy avocado, tangy lime, a little kick of heat, and a bit of crunch from onion. Here's what I look for:

Texture – Slightly chunky, not mashed to oblivion
Freshness – Made just before serving for the best flavor and color
Zing – Lime juice and salt are key to waking it all up
Simplicity – Less is more. You don't need much.

Ingredients

Even my guacamole has a couple of ingredients that weren't in the original versions, but it's still quite simple and the avocado is the star ingredient.

Avocados
Tomatoes
Onion
Jalapeño chilies
Lime juice
Salt
Cilantro
garlic

See recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Use this section for process shots, alternating between the step and image showing the step. Users don't like seeing process shots cluttering up the recipe card, so include your process shots here.

Step 1: Spoon the avocado out of their skins. Retain the pits if you are not serving the guacamole right after making it.

Placing the cut up avocado in a pestle and mortar.

Step 2: Chop it all up roughly and put it in a pestle and mortar.

Pounding the avocado in a pestle and mortar.

Step 3: Pound the avocado to smash it to your preference.

Adding the chopped onion to the avocado.

Step 4: I usually add the onion second. This way I can get right in there and pound the onion so that the juices get right into the guacamole.

Step 5: Add the diced tomatoes and chillies and keep pounding to incorporate them into the guac.

Adding lime juice, cilantro and coriander to the guacamole.

Step 6 Add the minced garlic, cilantro (coriander) and lime juice to the guacamole.

Seasoning with salt to taste and adding the pits to the guacamole to help preserve the color.

Step 7: Season the guacamole with salt to taste. This is a good time to adjust the other flavours too. Add more lime juice for example. If not eating within the next hour or so, push the pit into the guacamole which will help preserve its bright green color.

Serving the guacamole in a bowl next to corn chips.

Step 8: Enjoy with corn chips or use as a topping for tacos, burritos or steaks. Really... this is good with most things, not just Mexican dishes.

Variations

Although I usually keep my guacamole simple, you can do other things to make it a bit different. Here are a few popular ways to do it:

Spicy guac – Add more jalapeños or stir in some crushed red pepper.
Garlic-lovers’ guac – Add one small minced clove (or roasted garlic for mellow depth).
Fruit twist – Stir in chopped mango or pineapple for a tropical vibe.
Smoky style – Mix in a bit of finely chopped chipotle in adobo.
Crunchy version – Add toasted pepitas (pumpkin seeds) for texture.

Equipment

This recipe can be prepared in minutes and all you need is a pestle and mortar.

If you don't have a pestle and mortar, you could use a blender on pulse mode until you are happy with the consistency.

Storage

You can store your leftover guacamole in an airtight container for up to three days. It might discolor some but that does not mean it's off. If it does, stir it and see if you can get some color back.

Top Tip

For best results make the guacamole right before serving. Everyone loves to see guacamole being prepared and you can do that at the table for a bit of theater.

FAQ

How do you keep guacamole from turning brown?

Exposure to air is the issue. The lime juice helps, but the real trick is to press plastic wrap directly onto the surface—or even better, eat it straight away. I often place the pits in it if serving later as that can also help keep it fresh looking.

Can you make guacamole in advance?

You can make it a couple of hours ahead, but not much more. If you do, save the lime juice until just before serving and cover it tightly.

Can you freeze guacamole?

Technically yes, but I don’t recommend it. The texture suffers, and you lose the freshness. It’s such a quick dish—better to make it fresh.

Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:

Recipe

Easy Guacamole Recipe

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Guacamole is good on so many things. Whether your dipping corn chips or spreading it over a taco or steak, this recipe will get you the flavor you're looking for.

Ingredients

3 - 4 Avocados
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 medium tomatoes, finely diced
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 - 2 jalapeño chilies, finely chopped
Juice of 2 Limes
4 tablespoon Cilantro ( Coriander)
Salt to taste

Instructions

Spoon the avocado out of their skins. Retain the pits if you are not serving the guacamole right after making it.
Chop it all up roughly and put it in a pestle and mortar and then pound the avocado to smash it to your preference.
I usually add the onion second. This way I can get right in there and pound the onion so that the juices get right into the guacamole.
Add the diced tomatoes and chilies and keep pounding to incorporate them into the guac.
Add the minced garlic, cilantro (coriander) and lime juice to the guacamole.
Season the guacamole with salt to taste. This is a good time to adjust the other flavours too. Add more lime juice for example. If not eating within the next hour or so, push the pit into the guacamole which will help preserve it's bright green color.
If not eating immediately, press a piece of cling film right on top and then store in an airtight container in the fridge.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 6 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 260Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 134mgCarbohydrates: 23gFiber: 11gSugar: 8gProtein: 4g

Easy Tomatillo and Dried Chilli Salsa Recipe

August 3, 2020 By Dan

the finished tomatillo salsa — Delicious tomatillo salsa recipe

I love serving an array of salsas with Mexican food and this tomatillo salsa recipe works great with meat or fish.

I actually used a mixture dried Anch and Guajillo chillies as those are what I had on hand but the tomatillo salsa works very well with any dried chillies. Just remember to cut the tough veins out you will notice inside them and also to soak them for around 15 minutes in boiling water so they are not tough.

Even though there are quite a lot of dried chillies used this tomatillo salsa is believe it or not that spicy. Dried chillies are not as hot as fresh ones so if you do like the extra heat add some red or green fresh chillies before you blend everything together.

If you do require the salsa to take on the green colour of the tomatillos then feel free to add more tomatillos as the red colour of the dried chilles does take over so the green colour of the tomatillos tends to be lost.

If you enjoy this recipe try my other Mexican salsas:

Restaurant Style Salsa
Creamy Salsa for Fish
Fish Tacos

pointing out the tough bits of the chilli to remove — Remove any hard veiny parts in the dried chillies.

Roasting the dry chillies — Toast the chillies until fragrant but not smoking.

soaking the chillies — Soak the chillies in boiling water

Add everything to the blender — Add the chillies, onions and tomatillos to the blender.

Recipe

Easy Tomatillo and Dried Chilli Salsa Recipe

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

4 Dried Ancho Chillies
4 Dried Guajillo Chillies
1 Pound ( 500 g ) Tinned Tomatillos
1 Medium Onion
3 Tbsn White Wine Vinegar
Salt

Instructions

Remove the veins and the hard parts from inside the dried chillies as these can be tough.
Heat the dried chillies over a medium heat in a griddle pan until they are very lightly roasted
Soak the dried chillies in boiling water for around 15 minutes
Add all of the ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth

Creamy Salsa for Fish

August 3, 2020 By Dan

My delicious creamy salsa

finished creamy salsa for fish — Fish salsa

I think one of my favourite foods has to be white fresh served with an array of delicious salsas. This creamy salsa recipe is admittedly not very healthy but a little of it goes perfectly with some lovely fresh fish. I like to serve this creamy fish dip with a few other lighter, tomato based salsas so that the calorific mayonnaise fish salsa can be balanced out with lovely tomato ones. If you do think there are too many calories in this fish dip try using a lighter soured cream as these are available and also a reduced calorie mayonnaise would help reduce the fat content.

This salsa dip recipe definitely works better with fish rather than meat I find but you could try it with chicken as this would work better than red meat with this particular salsa.

This fish taco sauce is actually not very spicy but of course it would be fine to add some fresh chillies or extra hot sauce if you enjoy a really spicy salsa for fish.

My recipe can also be made ahead of time as it would easily keep in the refridgerator for a few days.

If you enjoy this recipe try my other similar ones:

Pork Pasta with Paprika and Garlic
Portuguese Pork with Paprika and White Wine Sauce
Easy Salsa Recipe

adding the chipotle paste to salsa for fish — Add the chipotle paste.

adding some hot sauce — Hot sauce added!

Recipe

Salsa for fish

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

½ Cup ( 125 ml ) Mayonnaise
½ Cup ( 125 ml ) Soured Cream
4 teaspoon Chipotle Paste
2 Cloves Garlic
2 teaspoon of your favourite hot sauce
1 Tbspn Mexican Oregano and a pinch to use as a garnish
Juice of 3 limes
1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Mix all of the ingredients together in bowl
Pour int a servivng bowl and garnish with a pinch of Mexican Oregano

My delicious fish salsa

Tacos al Pastor

August 2, 2020 By Dan

Where I grew up, taco trucks were the place to get satisfy your taco craving. They were parked all over town and I had a few favourites I used to frequent.

None of that Taco Bell nonsense for me!

One of the most famous tacos on the menu was tacos al pastor. The crispy pork meat filling was cooking on a huge vertical spit. As it cooked, the chef would shave off the crispy bits and scoop them generously into my tacos.

I was surprised when I moved to Europe and saw the same cooking technique being done at the takeaways here.

The thing is, and this isn't known by many, the famous tacos al pastor is actually has Lebanese influences.

The history of Tacos al pastor...

The first introduction to this style of cooking was in the 1930s when Lebanese immigrants. If you've ever tried a shawarma, that's what they were making.

The Mexicans loved shawarmas and adapted the recipe.

The Lebanese used lamb for their shawarma as pork was a big no no. The Mexican used pork and for some reason unknown also added pineapple.

The pork version - tacos al pastor - was also marinated in a more Mexican style marinade like you will see in the recipe below.

To be honest, I never knew that pineapple was such a popular ingredient in tacos al pastor as they didn't use it at the taco trucks I went to.

In Mexico, however, many street food stalls top the meat with grilled pineapple pieces. I don't do this as I'm not a big fan of the fruit but if it sounds good to you, do it.

I only used half of this pork joint for this recipe.

Removing skin from pork — Remove the skin from the pork. This makes awesome crackling.

Thinly sliced pork — Cut the pork into ¾ (1cm) slices.

Blending the marinade — Blend the chillies with the other marinade ingredients and then add the pepper.

Marinating the meat — Marinate the meat for 24 - 48 hours.

Cutting the center out of a pineapple — Cut the center out of the pineapple.

Sticking a wooden skewer into the pineable — Stick a wooden skewer into the pineapple.

Cooked pork — You can keep this on the barbecue and shave off the cooked bits for your tacos.

If you like this tacos al pastor recipe, you might like to try some of these too...

Pork carnitas tacos
Pico de gallo salsa
Camping burritos
Grilled fish tacos
Shredded beef tacos
Easy salsa recipe

Recipe

Tacos al Pastor

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Additional Time: 2 days

Total Time: 2 days 1 hour 50 minutes

Ingredients

4 dried guajillo chillies
4 lbs (2 kg) boneless pork shoulder
3 tablespoons achiote paste
5 cloves garlic - crushed
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon pepper
¾ cup (175ml) white distilled vinegar
1 cup (250ml) pineapple juice
1 pineapple

Instructions

Slice the pork shoulder into thin slices as shown above.
Roast the dried chillies until fragrant but not yet smoking. Then blend all the marinade ingredients. Add the black pepper.
Marinate the meat for 24 - 48 hours.
Slice the center out of the pineapple. If you like pineapple, you can barbecue it with the meat and add chunks of roasted pineapple to your tacos al pastor.
pre-heat your oven or barbecue to 400f (200c).
Cook the pork for 1 and a half hours or until it begins to char on the exterior.
Slice the charred bits off and continue cooking the pork, helping yourself to the meat when you want another taco. Season with salt to taste.
Pile high on warmed or fried corn tortillas topped with your salsa of choice and onions to garnish.

I hope you enjoy this recipe. If you do try it, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

Achiote Paste Recipe

August 2, 2020 By Dan

This homemade achiote paste is great to have on hand. It keeps for months.

Whenever I visit family back in California, one of my first shopping stops is the local Mexican supermarket.

The food I cook most while there is Mexican food, so I stock up for the days I'm there and also purchase lots more ingredients to bring back to the UK with me.

One of the essential ingredients I buy is achiote (also called annatto) seeds to make this achiote paste recipe.

What is achiote paste?

You can use this achiote paste recipes in lots of different Mexican and Latin American dishes. Achiote comes in both seed and paste form. I purchase the seeds to make my own paste.

Making your own achiote paste you will get much better results that anything you can purchase in paste form.

Although achiote (annatto) is not used much in other cuisines, it's natural food colouring can is used to colour butter and cheeses among other things.

What does achiote paste taste like?

Try this achiote paste recipe and you are in for a delicious flavour that is often lacking in Mexican food cooked outside of the Americas.

It has an earthy, somewhat nutty flavour. It can often taste slightly sweet too. Although I have tried substitutes, there really isn't a substitute for the real thing.

How long does this achiote paste recipe keep?

Go ahead and make this whole batch. I think you might even double the achiote paste recipe the next time you make it when you see how good it makes your Mexican food taste.

You can keep your finished achiote paste in an airtight container in the fridge for up to three months to use as and when you need it.

Achiote seeds and powder — You can purchase achiote in powdered and seed form.

Roasting whole spices — Roast the whole spices over medium high heat until fragrant but not yet smoking.

Grinding whole spices — Here I ground the seeds and whole spices together to a powder.

adding powdered achiote — I was making a large batch and added the ground achiote too.

Squeezing lime juice into the paste — Adding the lime juice to give the paste a tart flavour.

Adding oregano and vinegar — To finish, add the vinegar and oregano.

Finished achiote paste — You can store your finished achiote paste in the fridge for weeks if not months.

If you love Mexican food, you might like to try some of these recipe too...

Grilled fish tacos
Shredded beef tacos
Pico de gallo salsa

Recipe

Achiote Paste Recipe

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 minutes

Total Time: 17 minutes

Ingredients

2 whole cloves
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 tablespoon cumin seeds
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
¼ cup achiote (annatto) seeds
1 teaspoon sea salt
5 garlic cloves
¼ cup (70ml) distilled white vinegar
1 teaspoon finely grated lime zest
3 tablespoon lime juice

Instructions

Place the cloves, coriander seeds, cumin seeds and black peppercorns in a dry frying pan and roast them over medium high heat until warm to the touch and fragrant. About 30 - 40 seconds should do.
Pour into a pestle and mortar and pound to a fine powder.
Add the achiote seeds and pound them into a powder too.
Now add the garlic and salt and pound some more until you have a fine paste.
Stir in the vinegar, lime zest and lime juice and continue working with your pestle into the paste.
Store in the fridge for up to three months in an air-tight container and use as required.

Notes

This can all be done in a spice grinder too.

I hope you try this achiote paste recipe. If you do, please leave a comment. I'd love to hear from you.

Pork Carnitas Tacos

August 1, 2020 By Dan

Warning... Please make these pork carnitas tacos using pork lard. DO NOT USE normal vegetable oil or you'll probably catch your kitchen on fire when adding the orange juice and coke.

Pork carnitas tacos are a Mexican street food favourite. For that matter they're a Californian street food favourite too.

Two of the taco trucks where I grew up in California did these really well. They made their pork carnitas tacos just like this too.

In today's health-conscious world, pork carnitas tacos are often made by simmering the pork shoulder (pork butt) in water.

Although you can get good results doing that, pork carnitas tacos just aren't the same. The meat must be cooked in pork lard!

A word about the coke...

The traditional way to make this is with cane sugar or Mexican coke which is made with cane sugar. Most coke is made with corn syrup and there are a lot of people who say only use Mexican coke.

I used regular coke for this recipe and it worked just fine. In California, when I make this recipe I used Mexican coke. I really can't notice any difference.

Working ahead...

You can make the pork part of this pork carnitas tacos recipe one or two days in advance. Then just heat the meat up in a pan or the microwave before serving.

Melting pork fat over medium heat — Melt the pork lard over medium heat.

Adding pork to pork lard — Add the pork to the lard and let it simmer until lightly browned.

Adding black pepper and oregano — Add the black pepper and oregano. If you can get Mexican oregano, use that.

Adding orange juice — Carefully add the orange juice.

Stirring in the garlic and onions — Stir in the garlic and onions.

In goes the milk. — Then add the milk and simmer for three hours.

Chop up the meat finely — Chop up the meat.

Frying the carnitas — Fry up the carnitas.

Adding carnitas to tortilla — Time to start building those tacos.

How you serve your pork carnitas tacos is up to you.

I served mine with homemade tomatillo salsa, diced red onions and cilantro.

All that piled high on fried corn tortillas!

If you like this recipe, you might like to try some of these too...

Camping burritos
Grilled fish tacos
Shredded beef tacos
Pico de gallo
Easy salsa

Recipe

Pork Carnitas Tacos

Yield: 6

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours 20 minutes

Ingredients

3 pounds (1.5kg) skinless, boneless pork butt (or shoulder)
1 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
2 teaspoon dried oregano (Mexican oregano is best for this)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ large white onion , cut into wedges
8 cloves garlic , smashed
½ cup (125ml) orange juice
1 cup (250ml) coke (don't use diet coke)
1 cup (250ml) milk
3 bay leaves
Juice of two limes
16 corn tortillas - lightly fried in oil
Salsa of choice
Diced red onion to ganish

Instructions

Cut the pork into large chunks and sprinkle with the salt. Melt the lard in a large pan and the add the pork.
Fry in the hot oil until lightly browed. About ten minutes should do.
Now add the black pepper, oregano and cumin and stir well before adding the onion and garlic. Again stir it all up to combine.
Pour in the coke, milk and orange juice and add just enough water to cover if needed. Add the bay leaves.
Simmer over a low heat for 2.5 to 3 hours.
When the meat is fork tender, remove it from the liquid and chop it up into small pieces.
Heat a frying pan over medium high heat and fry the meat until crispy on the exterior. Squeeze the lime juice in.
Top your tortillas with the pork carnitas and add your salsa of choice and the diced red onions.

Thai Red Curry Recipe with Chicken

July 31, 2020 By Dan

Looking for a delicious Thai red curry recipe? Look no further. You've found it.

I learned to make this recipe in Thailand and it truly is the best I've had.

Many people assume that because of its red colour, Thai red curries are the hottest. This isn't necessarily the case. Green curries are usually the spiciest because of all the fresh green bird's eye chillies used.

This recipe does have a kick to it but it isn't really spicy. You could of course add more red bird's eye chillies to turn that zing into a zap.

Thai red curries are Thai restaurant favourites. The red colour is from the red curry paste and the colour will vary depending on how many red spur chillies you use in the paste.

You can use shop bought red curry paste but add less to begin with as commercial pastes are often a lot spicier and saltier than homemade.

One eye-catching way of adding colour to the curry is to drizzle it with red chilli oil (see page xx) but this is optional.

A word about this Thai red curry recipe...

For best results, be sure to try my homemade Thai red curry paste. It packs a punch but it is full of other, not so spicy ingredients that really give it a delicious depth of flavour.

You can add the main ingredient/s of choice. I have used chicken but feel free to use chicken, duck, prawns, tofu... Whatever sounds good to you, use that.

I have mentioned a selection of vegetables that I used in my recipe. There too you are free to use whatever you want.

A good Thai red curry recipe will always include at least three different vegetables in the mix.

Frying the curry paste — Fry the curry paste for about 40 seconds to cook off the rawness.

Adding chicken to curry paste — Add the chicken pieces.

Stirring chicken and paste to combine — Stir the chicken and curry paste to combine and brown the chicken for a couple of minutes.

Stirring in coconut milk and stock — Add the coconut milk and stock.

Adding tamarind paste and palm sugar. — Stir in the sugar and tamarind. Then add the remaining sauce ingredients.

Stirring in vegetables. — Stir in the veggies to finish off. Taste and check for seasoning and serve.

If you like this Thai red curry recipe, you might like to try some of these too...

Thai green curry
Thai green curry paste
Thai red curry paste
Thai grilled chicken - gai yang
Khao soi - Thai chicken soup with noodles
Coconut curry chicken

Recipe

Thai Red Curry Recipe with Chicken

Yield: 4

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

2 tablespoon coconut oil or rapeseed (canola) oil
450g (1lb) chicken thighs, skinless and cut into bite sized pieces
1 batch homemade red curry paste or two tablespoon shop bought paste
250ml (1 cup) Thai chicken stock
400ml (1¾ cups) thick coconut milk/cream
3 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon palm sugar
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
About 225g (½lb) vegetables like baby corn, bamboo shoots, baby aubergine, broccoli, red bell pepper, baby plum tomatoes, green beans
Coriander (cilantro) to garnish
1 teaspoon chilli oil, to garnish (optional)

Instructions

Heat the oil over medium high heat in a large frying pan or wok. When visibly hot, add the red curry paste and fry for about 30 seconds in the oil.
Stir in the chicken and fry for a couple minutes or until the chicken is about 50% cooked through. Stir in the stock and coconut milk and simmer for five minutes to thicken the sauce a little.
Now add the veggies, fish sauce, tamarind concentrate and sugar and simmer for about three minutes to cook the vegetables through.
Cook the sauce down until you are happy with the consistency. It should be quite thin. Be careful not to overcook the vegetables.
Garnish with coriander and drizzle with chilli oil to serve.

How strong is this paste

If you like this recipe, you might like to try some of these too.

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

Make the recipe for fish tacos your own:

If you enjoy this recipe try these similar ones:

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

A Quick Guac History Lesson

What Makes a Great Guacamole?

Ingredients

Instructions

Variations

Equipment

Storage

Top Tip

FAQ

Related

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

Nutrition Information:

If you enjoy this recipe try my other Mexican salsas:

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

My delicious creamy salsa

If you enjoy this recipe try my other similar ones:

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

My delicious fish salsa

The history of Tacos al pastor...

If you like this tacos al pastor recipe, you might like to try some of these too...

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

What is achiote paste?

What does achiote paste taste like?

How long does this achiote paste recipe keep?

If you love Mexican food, you might like to try some of these recipe too...

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

Notes

A word about the coke...

Working ahead...

If you like this recipe, you might like to try some of these too...

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions

A word about this Thai red curry recipe...

If you like this Thai red curry recipe, you might like to try some of these too...

Recipe

Ingredients

Instructions