Categories: Mexican

Ingredients

• 4 dried guajillo chiles
• 4 dried ancho chiles
• 2 cups boiling hot water
• 8 tomatillos
• 6 large cloves of garlic, skin on
• 1 sweet onion, halved
• 1 jalapeno
• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano (preferably Mexican Oregano)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
• 1 (3 pounds) lamb shoulder or pork shoulder
• salt + pepper, to taste
• 1 1/2 cups Mexican Beer
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Puffy Taco Shells
• 12 corn tortillas
• canola oil, for frying
• lime zest + salt, for sprinkling
• Cilantro Lime Yogurt
• 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice
• Mango Salsa
• 2 mangos, peeled + diced
• 1 ripe, but firm, avocado, pitted, peeled + diced
• 1 red fresno chili or jalapeño, seeded + diced
• 1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• juice of 1 lime

Directions

1. Bring 2-3 cups water to a boil, remove from the heat and add the dried guajillo chiles and ancho chiles, cover and let sit 30 minutes or until the chiles are soft.

2. Meanwhile, heat a large dutch oven over high heat. Add the tomatillos, garlic, onion and jalapeño. Char the veggies all over. Remove from the pan and let cool slightly. Remove the skins from the tomatillos and garlic and remove any completely black pieces from the jalapeño. Add all the charred veggies (skins removed) to a blender. Grab the chiles that have been soaking in water and drain, reserving 1/2 cup of the soaking water. Seed the chiles and add them to the blender with the remaining 1/2 cup of soaking water. I like to leave some of the seeds in the chiles for more heat. The more seeds you have = more heat. To the same blender, add the cider vinegar, oregano, cinnamon, cumin, pepper and ginger. Puree until you have smooth red sauce, add water if needed to get the sauce moving a bit.

3. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

4. Place the same dutch oven used to char the veggies back on the high heat. Rub the lamb with a little olive oil, salt + pepper. Once the pan is hot, sear the meat on all sides until browned. Remove from the heat. Poor in the red chile sauce, beer and chicken broth. Cover the pot and place on the middle rack in the oven. Slow cook for 3-4 hours or until the lamb is tender and falling off the bone. Check the lamb once or twice throughout cooking, adding chicken broth or water as needed to keep the liquid 1/3 of the way up the meat.

5. About 30 minutes before eating, make the puffy tacos. Heat a large pot of oil (the oil should come 3-4 inches up the sides of the pot) to around 375 degrees F.

6. Once the oil is hot, add one tortilla at a time. When the tortilla begins to puff, press the end of a metal spatula or metal kitchen tongs into the middle of the tortilla so that tortilla bends into a taco shape, hold the spatula within the tortilla until the taco is golden brown and crisp, about 1 1⁄2 minutes. Transfer the taco to paper towels to drain; repeat with remaining tortillas. Sprinkle each taco shell with salt and lime zest.

7. Once the lamb is cooked, remove it from the sauce. Shred the meat with two forks and toss with the remaining sauce in the pot, add the cilantro. Season with salt. Serve the meat inside the puffy taco shells with salsa and cilantro yogurt (both recipes below!). EAT and EAT!

8. !Mango Salsa

9. In a bowl, combine the mangos, avocados, fresno chili, cilantro and lime juice. Toss well. Keep in the fridge until ready to eat.

10. !Cilantro Yogurt

11. In a bowl, combine all the ingredients. Mix until smooth. Drizzle over the tacos. Store covered in the fridge.

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