Street Tacos from Scratch

Living abroad can be tough for many reasons, and not being able to eat or find your favorite foods is one of the things that can make it tough.  If found, they can be a huge comfort in a far away place. Vietnamese and Mexican food, not surprising, are the 2 cuisines we miss the most here in Dublin.  Having moved from San Francisco, we had been spoiled with the abundance of delicious and authentic dishes of both.  We ate them often, and really, really miss them over here.

I'm super lucky because, even though we can't find Vietnamese at all here, and the Mexican just isn't the same, I have my husband who will cook them for us. I've mentioned before how spoiled I am to have a husband who not only likes to cook, but is also pretty amazing at it.  Brian has been determined to bring our favorite foods to Dublin.  Last week, I shared his version of banh mi, which we thoroughly enjoyed and we've already had again since.

And now, he is perfecting street tacos.  Friday night we made tacos for the second time.  And, if you're thinking - yeah, no biggie, tacos are easy to make.  Yes, that's true, when you have all the right ingredients available.

We (I did help with the tortillas) made our own refried beans, our own salsa, guacamole and corn tortillas, and tortilla chips.  All of which you just can't find here in Dublin.  Don't get me wrong, you can buy salsa, but not like what we're used to.  Guac comes in a squirt bottle like mayo, which I would never even think about buying.  You can find large flour tortillas, but we've yet to see any small corn tortillas.

Here are the components to make delicious, homemade street tacos.

Note: If you're going to make refried beans from dried pinto beans, you'll need to soak the beans for at least 8 hours

Fresh Guacamole:

1 Avocado

1 T chopped cilantro

2 teaspoons chopped red onion

1/2 small tomato, diced

1 teaspoon chopped jalapeno pepper

2 cloves garlic

salt & pepper to taste

splash of lemon juice

Just throw it all in a bowl and mash either with a fork or a potato masher.  I just guessed on the measurements, it doesn't have to be exact

This was the first ripe avocado we have found in Ireland

Fresh Salsa:

2-3 tomatoes
1.5 T cilantro
2 garlic cloves
1 teaspoon chopped jalapeno pepper
1 T chopped red onion
salt & pepper to taste

Chop everything into small pieces and mix in a bowl.  Again, I just guessed on measurements as Brian was throwing things in.

Refried Beans:

Add 1 part dried pinto beans to 5 parts water and let soak for 8 hours, or overnight.

Drain, then add to 5 parts boiling water.  Boil for 10 minutes, then simmer for an hour.

Drain again, then add to a pan over medium high heat.  Add salt & pepper to taste, and about 1/4 cup olive oil.  Mash with a potato masher, then stir with a spatula.  We cooked for no more than 5 minutes in the pan.

Corn Tortillas:

1 3/4 cup masa harina

1 1/8 cup warm water

Mix the masa harina and water together in a bowl.  Then, remove the the bowl, knead on a clean surface, until the dough is smooth and sticks together well.  Add additional water, or masa harina, if needed.  Then, put it back in the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap for at least 30 minutes.

When you're ready to make the tortillas, take a ping-pong sized ball of dough and either roll between baking paper with a rolling pin, or press with a tortilla press (I picked this up on my last trip to London, couldn't find one here, even online).  Place flattened dough in a frying pan over medium heat for 1 minute, then flip and repeat.

Any leftover dough, you can easily make some tortilla chips with.  Just press, then cut into quarters.  Then, fry with a little oil in the pan.

Chicken:

Season the chicken with salt, pepper, cumin and chili pepper.  Bake at 350°F for about 15 minutes.

Let the chicken rest for at least 5 minutes, then shred with a fork.

Garnishes:
Chopped cilantro
Grated cheese (we used cheddar because we can't find queso fresco here)
Chopped red onion

Put it all together, and viola, delicious tacos

And a lot of dishes to clean, I think we used almost every dish we own.  But it was all worth it for a little comfort from home.