When left over Roast pork tacos and a new raita inspired a next level dish
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"Hey, Rosita - I hafta go shopping downtown for my mother |
In more normal times food trends often started in restaurants, with top chefs venturing into the previously uncharted territories. Food forecasters obviously were prominent. Sometimes they got written up in food magazines or blogs. But the reality was that soon after, you could find the required trending ingredients on supermarket shelves. Now the pandemic has determined what we eat, from shortcuts to slow cookers. People have been travelling with their taste buds, recreating dishes they used to eat out but now have to cook instead. A big pandemic eating trend was Mexican food. There were more searches than ever during the peak of the pandemic for Mexican recipes.
Being the ever frugal minded individual that I am, I never throw any food away. Being able to eat twice from the
same meal is something that I strive to do for many reasons, but I
don’t really like to eat the exact same thing when I do that. There has
to be some sort of twist on it so that the leftovers don’t taste like….
well, leftovers. Transforming
them into something else is one of my favourite challenges. Tacos are a great way to incorporate leftovers into a new dish, and that’s what I went for with my leftover pork roast from the weekend. Now, you don’t have to use
just leftover roast. You
don’t even have to use pork. Just chop up whatever leftover meat you
have, and hey ho here comes new dinner. What I did here wowed us so much that I have created an actual recipe that I
can make again from scratch in the absence of leftovers.
This is how I did it, I chopped up my leftover pork roast into small pieces, seasoned them well and warmed them in a skillet
along with some sauteed red onion. Just a couple of simple additions
gives the meat a whole new flavour, and the finished product in no
way resembles the original dish. You can use commercial taco shells if you wish, but If you have the time using corn tortillas, and lightly frying them on each side takes it to
another level. I served it alongside a fresh raita/ chutney, which really just packed on more flavour and aided in further transforming the meal into something new. Sprinkle on a little cheese if you like, an extra soupçon of coriander, and a squeeze of lime and you have a pork taco in front of you that is better than your local Mexican takeaway, at just a fraction of the price. Actually – even cheaper than a fraction of the price since this
dish started off as leftovers.
The raita /chatni is Nepalese inspired but with some nods to West Bengal. The two regions border each other, and Nepal borders China and
Tibet so has adopted more exotic eastern flavours. Nepal would never use
cream or yoghurt in their cuisine, except in puddings or to use as
straight sweetened yoghurt, whereas the indians use cream and yoghurt in curries, sauces and other guises.
"Hey, Rosita - come quick
Down at the cantina they giving green stamps with tequila!!"
For the tacos
1 packet of "Old El Paso" (small 208g ) corn tortillas
1-2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium red onion diced
About 4 cups leftover diced pork or use fresh if you have no leftovers, just increase the cooking time
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp chili powder
salt & pepper to taste
vegetable oil for frying
cilantro lime, & shredded cheese to garnish (optional)
Cucumber Apple and Spring Onion Salsa
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
200 g apple, peeled, cored and cut into quarters
100 g cucumber, deseeded and cut into pieces
1 tsp chilli powder
1 pinch ground turmeric
½ tsp salt
20 g lemon juice
60 g Greek-style natural yoghurt
Put all the ingredients in a food processor and blitz until you have a chunky texture
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