Mex-Indian tacos - the perfect summer cuisine combination
If you’re on a summer health kick but craving some comfort food, Hersha Patel’s in the kitchen with a multicultural Monday night meal. Giving Mexican tacos an Indian twist, she’s raiding the spice cupboard to cook charred chicken chapati wraps.
Serves: 2
Ingredients
For the chicken
2 Chicken Breasts2 tsp Garam Masala1 tsp chilli powder½ tsp turmericJuice half lemon2 tbs cooking oil that can withstand high temp (I use coconut oil)2 tsp honey
For the chapati: makes around 4
125g plain flour
Warm/hot water not boiling, you need to be able to touch it with your hands
1 tsb Oil
For the Raita style salad:
2 tsp honey
250ml tbs organic natural yoghurt or coconut yoghurt
squeeze lemon
Half Grated Cucumber with juice squeezed out
150g red cabbage, very finely shredded
100g iceberg lettuce, finely shredded
¼ onion, very finely sliced
25g or a handful mint leaves / coriander leaves, roughly chopped
Seeds of half a seeds of a pomegranate
Method
For the chicken
Batten out the chicken breast so it’s the same thickness, around 1 inch. This helps to reduce the cooking time and gets more spice to the chicken.
Marinade the chicken in the Garam Masala, chilli powder, turmeric , juice half lemon, oil and honey for around 30 mins or not longer than 2 hours
For the chappati
Combine all the ingredient apart from the water into a medium/large bowl
Using a large spoon or fork slowly pour on the water, mixing whilst you go
Once the flour starts to stick together into a clump then dive in with your hands and start kneading
At this point only add very very tiny bits of water
Knead the dough until you get a soft and pliable lump that’s not sticky. The timing will vary depending on the type of flour you’re using. If you have time leave for 30 minutes.
For the salad
Whisk honey, yoghurt and lemon into a small bowl. Start with a small squeeze of lemon and taste and add more if you want.
Place the cucumber, cabbage, iceberg lettuce, onion, mint and coriander into a bowl and sprinkle over the pomegranate seeds
Put half the yoghurt on the salad and mix to cover well. Leave the rest in the bowl
To make the chapati
Grab a shallow bowl of plain flour
Get your tawa or flat pan onto a medium high heat and your griddle pan on a low heat
Roll the big ball into four
Grab a ball press it flat and if it feels sticky dip into flour and roll into a circle about 4 mm thin
Make sure your pan is really hot and fling on the chapati, let it cook for around 30 seconds or until bubbles start to appear
Then turn and leave for a bit longer until that side is cooked, dark brown spots appear
Brush some butter or oil onto the half cooked side flip and gently press the chapati
It should start to puff up and the steam inside will finish off the cooking, make sure there are no raw looking bits on either side, press those parts if so
Remove from the pan and keep them wrapped in a tea towel or foil to stay soft
To cook the chicken
Grill the chicken under a medium hot grill for 7 minutes each side or alternatively heat a griddle pan and cook as follows
When the griddle pan is almost smoking cook the chicken for 4 to 5 minutes on each side. Keep an eye on heat you may need to turn it down if it’s too smoky.
To serve
Shred the chicken into a bowl, grab the chapatis, salad, yoghurt and put in the middle of the table and serve yourselves. (with onions if you have)