Pulled Beef Chipotle Tacos with apple slaw, guacamole and salsa
Tacos are one of my favourite meals, especially when I’m feeding a big crowd – there’s something really fun and festive about them. I guess it’s the fact that everyone can help themselves and get their hands a bit messy! Serve the pulled beef (or pork) in a big pot in the middle of the table, amongst lots of colourful condiments like guacamole, slaw, salsa, corn, sour cream and tortillas.
Ingredients
Braised beef
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 onion diced
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 700-800 beef or pork cut into large 5cm chunks (e.g. shoulder, brisket, chuck, blade, shin on the bone)
- 1/4 chipotle sauce cup e.g. Culleys, La Morena or Lucky Taco brand – find in the Mexican section of supermarket
- 400 g crushed tomatoes one can
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce gluten free if required
- 1 ½ cup beer beef or chicken stock
- 1-3 dried chillies depending on how hot you like it!
Apple slaw
- 1 green apple finely sliced and cut into matchsticks
- 2 ½ – 3 cups savoy cabbage finely shredded
- 2-3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- ½ coriander/cilantro cup chopped
- ½ lemon juiced
To serve
- 12 small corn tortillas alternatively you can use wheat tortillas, but these won’t be gluten free
- 2 ripe avocados mashed
- 1 lemon or 2 limes, juiced
- sour cream or thick natural yoghurt
Tomato jalepeno salsa
- 6-8 vine ripened tomatoes diced
- 1/4 cup pickled jalepenos from a jar, chopped
- 1/2 lemon juiced
- extra-virgin olive oil drizzle
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 150 degC/300 Fahrenheit.
- Heat olive oil in a heavy-based flameproof ovenproof casserole dish, Dutch oven or fry pan with a tight-fitting lid. Cook onion until soft and starting to caramelize, 3-4 minutes.
- Add smoked paprika, beef, chipotle sauce, tomatoes, brown sugar, soy sauce, beer/stock and dried chillies (if using). There should be just enough liquid to cover the meat – if there isn’t, top it up with a little more stock. Stir, cover with a tight-fitting lid and braise in oven for 3 ½- 4 hours until meat is soft and shreds very easily. Check on the meat after about 2 hours and top it up with a little more beer or stock if it looks like it is drying out.
- Remove beef from the sauce and use two forks to shred the meat. Boil the sauce (in the dish it was cooked in or in a pot) on the stovetop for about 5 minutes until the sauce thickens. Add shredded beef back into the dish and mix together.
- Mix all salsa ingredients together and season to taste with salt. Mix all slaw ingredients together. Season mashed avocado with salt and lemon/lime juice. Heat tacos according to packet instructions.
- To serve, spread avocado in the centre of each taco, and top with a bit of slaw, beef, salsa, and sour cream/yoghurt, and a squeeze of lime. Eat!
Notes
Tacos make a healthy family dinner too, when filled with good quality fresh ingredients like these ones. The rich and tender pulled beef make these tacos that little bit more special, with a delicious hearty flavour from the beer. Accompanied by a crisp apple slaw, and fresh coriander and lime, these tacos are packed full of flavour, and are bound to be a hit with both adults and kids! The beer lends a rich, slightly malty flavour, but if you’d prefer not to use beer, just replace it with the same amount of beef or chicken stock. This recipe works equally well with pork (use shoulder or leg).