Salsa Tlaquepaque! Tacos Chorreados!
Tacos Tlaquepaque are most commonly filled with beef barbacoa and drenched in a salsa prepared with dried chiles, tomatillos with a touch of coffee!
Servings 5 cups
Ingredients
- 7 tomatillos, 431 gr, 15 oz
- 2 dried ancho peppers, 40 gr
- 8 dried chile guajillo, 55 gr
- 8 dried chile de arbol, 9 gr
- 1 tbsps dried chile del monte, piquin or chiltepin, 4 gr
- 7 cloves of garlic, 34 gr
- 2-4 tsps instant coffee
- Water
- Salt, to taste
- Avocado oil or natural rendered pork lard
For Tacos
- Beef Cheek Barbacoa see link in notes
- 12-16 Homemade Taqueria corn tortillas see link in notes or use store bought tortillas taqueria style
- oil
- 1 c onion, diced
- 1/2 c cilantro, finely chopped
- lime wedges
Instructions
Tlaquepaque Salsa
- Peel and wash the tomatillos. Add them to a pot filled with 5 cups of water. Bring up to a light boil at medium heat. Cook them just until they turn from bright green to olive green most of the way. Cover them and set them aside.
- Remove the stems and seeds from the chile ancho and guajillo. Remove just the stems from the chile de arbol. Set aside.
- In a medium skillet, pour in 2 tablespoons of oil and heat to medium. Add the garlic, chile piquin and chile de arbol. After a few minutes it should begin to sizzle and become aromatic. Stirring often, continue cooking until garlic lightly browns and chiles darken in some spots. Transfer to the blender jar.
- In that same skillet at medium heat, lightly fry and toast the chile ancho and guajillos for 1-2 minutes, turning often. Transfer to the blender jar.
- To the blender, pour in 2 cups of the cooking water from the tomatillos. Season with 1 teaspoon of salt. Blend on high until very smooth. Using a slotted spoon, add the cooked tomatillos to the blender jar. Cover and again, blend on high until smooth. The salsa should be very smooth looking. If it's too thick, pour in more water. It should flow easily. If needed, blend for another minute. Set aside.
- In a large skillet, preheat 2 tablespoons of oil or pork lard at medium heat for a few minutes. Once it's hot, pour in the salsa from the blender. Rinse out the blender jar with 1 cup of water, then pour that into the skillet. Stir well to combine. Reduce heat slightly. In a small bowl mix the instant coffee with 2 tablespoons of hot water. Pour into the simmering salsa. Stir well to combine. Taste for salt. Continue cooking for 10 minutes.
For Tacos
- After preparing the beef cheek barbacoa, transfer the meat to a skillet. Pour in 1 cup of the tlaquepaque salsa and stir well to combine. Cook at heat right below medium, stirring now and then until it becomes thicker and salsa reduces.
- In a skillet preheat 1/4 to 1/3 cup of oil at medium heat. Lightly fry the corn tortillas for a few seconds per side to soften them. Transfer tortillas to a piece of foil paper that folds over to cover tortillas. How many tortillas you fry depends on how many tacos you serve per plate.
- Fill softened tortillas with barbacoa and fold over. If using the smaller tortillas, serve three to four tacos per plate. Once plated, pour warm tlaquepaque salsa down the center of tacos. Garnish with cilantro, onion and lime wedges.
Notes
Taqueria Style Corn Tortillas https://pinaenlacocina.com/taqueria-style-corn-tortillas-less-is-more/
Beef Cheek Barbacoa https://pinaenlacocina.com/slow-cooker-beef-barbacoa-barbacoa-de-res/
You can pour salsa over tacos or on the side of the plate. The time noted for recipe is only for preparing the salsa, not the tacos.