My Mexican Tacos with Cochinita Pibil and Ensenada style fish tacos

 Authentic Mexican Tacos

Cochinita pibil tacos

There is nothing better than savoury Mexican Tacos to cheer up your mood, don't you think?

Ensenada fish tacos

During our second lockdown in October 2020 in London, where we live, we had to celebrate my daughter's 17 birthday and we all love tacos at home. We usually get some tortillas from the supermarket and then we add the ingredients somehow to the tacos. Yet this time my husband, who is always keen to prepare whatever is needed for any celebration, got the idea to make the tacos from scratch and prepare two types of tacos, Cochinita Pibil tacos with pork and the Ensenada Style with fish.

We all got so excited about the idea. We also wanted to find the best ingredients possible. So we went to @wholefoods market where we found two types of Mexican flour to prepare the tortillas from scratch. The Blue Masa Harina from Cool Chile Company @coolchilecompany is made of blue corn flour, and the White Masa Harina, which is finely ground white corn flour. 

For this recipe, you will need to prepare 3 basic elements: the tortillas, the 'cochinita pibil' and the Ensenada fish. Some other fresh ingredients like avocado, pickled red onion and pico de gallo sauce are needed to finish the tacos.

What do you need?

✅ 1 Oven prove pot or you can also use an oven tray

✅ Some kitchen bowls to prepare and marinate the fish tacos

✅ 1 skillet or frying pan for the tortillas

✅ 1 whisk

✅ Cling film

✅ Chef knife or paring knife

✅  Cutting board

Ingredients

For the cochinita pibil

✔ 1 kg pork shoulder

✔ 1 small pack pasta de achiote (about 100g)

✔ 2 limones

✔ 1 onion

✔ 5 oranges squeezed

✔ 3 garlic cloves

✔ 1 tsp cumin powder

✔ 1 tbsp oregano

✔ 1 cinnamon stick

✔ 1 tsp grounded black pepper

✔ 1/2 tsp star anise cloves

✔ 2 bay leaves 

For the Ensenada Fish tacos

✔ 250g peeled King prawns

✔ 250g tilapia fish cut squared pieces

✔ 250g plain flour

✔ 1 tbsp baking powder

✔ 1 pinch salt

✔ 1 tsp garlic powder

✔ 1 egg

✔ 1 Coronita beer

Pickled onion

✔ 1 red onion

✔ 1 cup apple vinegar

✔ 1 cup water

✔ 1 tbsp oregano

✔ pinch of salt

✔ chile habanero

Pico de Gallo

✔ 2 chopped tomatoes 

✔ 1/2 chopped onion 

✔ bunch of coriander 

✔ 1 red jalapeño 

✔ 1 1/2 limes

Method 

The cochinita pibil and the pickled onion with habaneros are two dishes that you need to prepare in advance the day before, to marinate and store them in the fridge overnight. The rest of the preparations can be done the same day.

1 Cochinita pibil

The day before, in the afternoon if possible, we have to marinate the meat and the red onion.

Toast the cinnamon with the pepper and the anise cloves for about 3 minutes in a frying pan. Add it into a blender with 3 garlic cloves, the oregano, the bay leaves, the juice of the oranges and the lemons, the achiote paste and a tablespoon of salt and blend the mixture.

Add this mixture and the meat into a bowl and massage the meat to marinate. Cover with cling film and leave it in the fridge overnight.

2 Pickled red onion with habanero

Cut the onion and put in a container with a lid with the vinegar and 50% water. Add oregano, salt and 1 thinly sliced habanero pepper (with or without seeds, that's up to you how you would like it) Stir well and cover with cling film and store in the refrigerator overnight.

3 The next day we will cook the meat

Remove it from the maceration bowl and place it on a baking tray with a little of the liquid. Set your oven at 175º and cook in the oven for about 2 and a half hours. You have to cover the tray with kitchen foil and seal it well before putting it in the oven. Originally this recipe uses a banana leaf to cover the meat, although we have not been able to find it. Once it’s finished, remove it from the oven and let it rest for about 10 minutes. The meat will be so tender that will almost fall apart when cutting, this is the characteristic point should have.

Cochinita pibil 

4 Ensenada Fish tacos

In a bowl add the sifted flour, the baking powder, the garlic powder, the salt and mix well.  Add the egg and start to pour the beer and stir well. We will add the beer little by little and mix it with a whisk until it has a creamy consistency.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan and when it reaches 175ºC it is ready to fry.

Put all the peeled prawns in the mixture and fry them in batches until is finished. Leave the prawns in kitchen paper or in a colander to remove excess oil.

King prawns in butter mixture

We will do the same with the tilapia fish that we will have cut into square tacos to make it easier to eat in the taco. Once fried, put in a colander or kitchen paper until serving.

5 Pico de Gallo

Chop all the ingredients and put them in a bowl and season with salt and pepper and the limes juice. Mix well and put in a bowl to serve.

6 Tortillas

Once we have done all the previous preparations, we only have to make the tortillas with the 2 flours that I have mentioned before, the blue flour and the white corn flour, both from Cool Chile Company, you can find them already made too. I understand that you may not be able to find the same type of flour, so I can recommend buying a similar one in @amazon or @ebay. Maseca is a brand that I found by doing a quick search. Or the easiest way is to buy some already prepared tortillas tacos that you can find in your supermarket or a Mexican store.

The process to prepare them is quite simple.

Put 250g of blue flour dough in a bowl and mix with ½ tablespoon of salt. Make a hole in the middle and add 320ml of hot water. Mix well and leave it in the shape of a round dough and cover with a kitchen cloth. Let it rest for about 20 minutes.

After the time press down the dough, if you see that it breaks you should add more water, just 1 tablespoon each time until it has the elastic consistency we are looking for.

Cut the dough into 20 pieces of approximately 30g each and make balls like the ones you see in the photo.

Now we have to flatten the balls. Use a piece of plastic wrap large enough to cover each ball and that you have leftover. Pressing with a rolling pin or the base of a small skillet can also work.

What else needs to be done?

Basically toast the tortillas in a pan. About 20 or 30 seconds on each side is enough. They should be fluffy. 

Turn the tortilla and always put it carefully one at a time in the hot pan. 

 Remove them carefully from the pan and wrap the tortillas with a nice kitchen cloth that you may have to keep them warm.

7 How do we serve the dish?

Set the table fun, go for a coloured tablecloth if you have or use some colourful napkins and light some candles to give grace to your table.

We have a very colourful tablecloth that we got from a trip to Mexico that we made many years ago. I use it at many parties, so this time I couldn't miss it.

Please have a look at this picture with our table set up.

Use different table plates to serve all the dishes: serve the 'cochinita pibil' already shredded and very warm. On another plate serve the prawns and fish, in other small bowls plate the pickled onion, a few pieces of sliced avocado, slices of lime, the pico de gallo sauce and the tortillas wrapped in napkins.

Now you just have to enjoy it, get some Mexican music and give some rhythm to your tacos!!

I can assure you that you will have a great time with this Mexican feast!