34. Zucchini and Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos

Name: 34. Zucchini and Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 5 min
Total time: 1 h 5 min
Cuisine: Mexican, Latin American, American
Ingredients: 8 15cm Corn Tortillas; 1 can (435g) refried beans; 1 avocado, cut into slices; 2 cans jackfruit in brine, 400g each,drained and rinsed thoroughly; 1 zucchini, cut into eight 15cm batons; 2 tbsp olive oil; 1 tbsp ground cumin; 1 tbsp dried oregano; 1 tsp ground coriander; 1 tsp paprika; 1 orange, juiced; 30g pine nuts; 30g pistachio nuts; 5 ancho Chillies, dried; 2 garlic cloves, sliced; 2 tbsp olive oil; 250ml warm water; 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar; 1 tbsp rapadura sugar; 1 red onion, very finely sliced; 1 jalapeño chilli, very finely sliced; 4 limes, juiced

5 steps

Prep:1hCook:5min

You can absolutely substitute the rapadura sugar for brown sugar, I just like the way this unrefined sugar brings out the complex flavours of the chillies. On that subject, you can substitute other mild dried chillies here, Arbol chillies would be good here. Use the best corn tortillas you can find - I love the La Tortilleria brand but they can be hard to find at times.

Updated at: Thu, 17 Aug 2023 05:16:47 GMT

Ingredients

4 servings

8Corn Tortillas

15cm

1 x 435grefried beans

can

1avocado

cut into slices

Instructions

Step 1

Start by pickling the onion and jalapeño in the lime juice, and adding a teaspoon of salt to help it soften down nicely while you make everything else.

Step 2

Make your salsa roja by dry toasting the pine nuts, pistachios, and chillies individually. Place the chillies in the warm water when toasted to soften for 10 mins or so. Fry the garlic in the oil until golden, a few minutes, then add all ingredients to a blender with a pinch of salt and blend to a smooth texture. You may need more water to do this. Now, every batch of chillies are different, and you want a tangy, sweet, flavoursome chilli sauce, so although I’ve got ingredient amounts listed, you will need to taste it and season with more salt/vinegar/sugar to your taste. This will make more sauce than you need for this meal, but hey, it’s bloody good hot sauce, you won’t be complaining.

Step 3

Cut the jackfruit pieces into small bits or shred as desired. Dry them out by placing them all in a kitchen towel and wringing them out. Then get the oil hot in the frying pan and fry the jackfruit, sizzling them and removing moisture, while adding the spices. Add plenty of seasoning with salt and pepper, even some vegetable stock powder if you’re so inclined, the jackfruit needs quite a lot to remove the brine taste. Let it start to stick to your pan or pot, and deglaze with the orange juice. Add the zucchini and cook for a couple of minutes. Be careful not to cook the zucchini until limp, it’s better for it to still have a bit of firmness for texture.

Step 4

Warm up the refried beans in any way you prefer, microwave is fine.

Step 5

Heat the tacos in a medium hot frying pan for 20 seconds or so each side to make them pliable and release their flavour. Assemble each taco immediately by spreading some refried beans, then the jackfruit and a slice of zucchini for each taco, salsa roja, avocado, then pickled onion. Enjoy.