El pastor tacos veganized and dreaming of Mexico

DSC_5336.jpg


Last year this time I was somewhere in Bangkok. I was sitting in a beautiful park with monitor lizards and beautiful flowers with trees full of weird squirrels and birds I hadn't seen before. Ahh glorious.

The winter before I was here in Montreal, and the winter before that I spent six months in Mexico. Ahh glorious.

Now I am smack in the middle of Montreal plateau , the area where everyone would go if travel were still a thing. People here on Hive are talking about spring and getting their seeds ready to plant in different parts of the world. I am green with envy as I look out my window and see the only view I have in this studio apartment.

This is it

DSC_5055.jpg

If I poke my head out the window I see a little bit more.

This is what I see

DSC_5058.jpg

This is not the greatest view or weather but one thing I do have is a fully functional kitchen where on my days off I can do what I want.

So although I am not in the tropics I can make tropical-ish food that will help me imagine being somewhere warm. Today I am returning to Mexico in my mind.

There is a dish made in Mexico which in most cases in done with pork or chicken but I would say pork would be the most common.

This is made with typical dried chili and has a sweet kind of taste brought on by the marinating of the meat in pineapple and/or orange juice. I believe this dish has some Lebanese influence.

We do a Pastor taco at work at the vegan restaurant, with mushrooms and an imitation chicken which is super greasy but the sauce taste good. I'm using mushrooms and soy curls since I saw them in Chinatown the other day. I've never seen them before so I grabbed them.

The Pastor is usually a marinade for the meat but I am doing like in the restaurant where my Mexican chef makes a sauce then we cook it with the other stuff. She will not share the recipe but that's not a problem because there exists plenty of them online. After investigating the general ingredients I put together my own recipe based on the recipes found and what I had.

DSC_5200.jpg

For the sauce I used around 4 guajillo peppers and 3 ancho peppers with some chipotle in adobo from a can.

I first deseeded the dried peppers then boiled them, but you could fire roast them or fry in oil.
After I sauteed them in a pan with 4 chopped Roma tomatoes. 4 minced garlic and a chopped onion.

DSC_5218.jpg

After it was blended with two chipotle peppers from a can, around 2 tablespoons of achiote paste, one cup of orange juice which was fresh squeezed and pineapple juice from frozen fresh pineapple which I drained the juice from, and the juice of 1 lime. I reserved the pineapple for the garnish later.

DSC_5212.jpg

DSC_5214.jpg

The spices added were: 1 teaspoon cumin seeds toasted and ground, 3 whole cloves toasted and ground, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1 teaspoon chili powder, salt and pepper.

DSC_5224.jpg

If you taste the sauce and you find it bitter, don't worry. After it's cooked with everything, the bitterness of the peppers goes away.

I ended up with more sauce then I needed but that's okay because now I have it handy for more tacos later.

DSC_5205.jpg

For the filling I started with king oyster mushrooms. At work we use shimeji mushrooms but I am not a fan of those for this kind of thing.

I shredded them then put them in the oven to dry them out for a meaty texture. I believe authentic pastor is usually from meat that has been roasted on a spit.

DSC_5208.jpg

The mushrooms had shrunken much more than I thought they would so this is why I added the soy curls that I randomly purchased from Chinatown.

DSC_5226.jpg

I didn't know how the soy curls would cook. I ended up adding some veggie broth along with the sauce. They were not softening up as much as I thought they would. After the added broth they were perfect. I just simmered everything with a cover.

DSC_5273.jpg

I made my own tortillas. At work we use store bought tortillas. I really notice a difference in the ones I make and the store bought. It is not possible for us to make them in the facility that we have and the amount that we sell. Even in Mexico, people just run to the tortilla factory to get them fresh off the press.

DSC_5284.jpg

If you buy a tortilla flour just mix it with warm water. I start with 2 cups flour to 2 and a half warm water. I am no expert but after it sits for ten minutes it is perfect. You may have to add more water or flour to get a playdough consistency to work with. Or if you want to avoid all of this just get them already made. For me it's kind of therapy.

DSC_5290.jpg

I don't have a tortilla press but then again I like camping. If I were stranded with no food except tortilla flour and water I would make do with what I had. In this case it was parchment paper, a plate and a rolling pin.

DSC_5297.jpg

You have to get the tortillas as thin as possible but not too thin that they'll break. It's like a pancake. You have to throw the first one out. You have to treat them like a new born baby, peeling them away from the parchment or plastic wrap then place them in a non stick pan. Or you could just get store bought and save the headache.

For one of the toppings on the taco, I made a chipotle mayo. I used vegan mayo that I made from cashews, onion powder, garlic powder, nutritional yeast, salt, juice of a lemon and olive oil. I added 1 chipotle from the can and blended.

DSC_5080.jpg
Aside from chipotle mayo and fresh pineapple, I decided to add some chimichurri sauce that I had made. I blended a bunch of flat leaf parsley with olive oil and around 4 cloves of garlic, juice of a lime, 2 jalapenos, 1/2 cup of red wine vinegar and olive oil. Add salt to taste. There are many different recipes of chimichurri that vary but this is how I made this. Parsley is the main ingredient. It is usually in heavy oil base as well. Mine was not so much.

DSC_5383.jpg

The most important garnish in my opinion for El Pastor is the pineapple. With that you have a tropical dish and it really comes across. The taste of the corn from the flour and the taste of the Pastor ingredients brought me to one of my favorite places that is Mexico.

DSC_5352.jpg

There are quite a few variations of this dish depending on the region or the family recipe. Also the veganized version changes the game as well. The flavors that are common come from the basic combination of the dried peppers, the achiote, the orange and/or pineapple juice, the cumin, cloves and oregano. It is my opinion that the achiote paste should not be left out for this dish.

DSC_5374.jpg

DSC_5376.jpg

Have a nice day everyone!

Sort:  

Another delicious dish from you. I even to eat this one time in my country but your dish looks like delicious more than. !wine

Thank you my friend. There are so many kinds of tacos that I don't know most of them.

I don’t know how to make it and I would like to try your recipe but I think I can’t do it like you.


Congratulations, @sreypov You Successfully Shared 0.100 WINE With @carolynstahl.
You Earned 0.100 WINE As Curation Reward.
You Utilized 1/3 Successful Calls.

wine-greeting
Total Purchase : 23477.534 WINE & Last Price : 0.290 HIVE
HURRY UP & GET YOUR SPOT IN WINE INITIAL TOKEN OFFERING -ITO-


WINE Current Market Price : 0.280 HIVE

Yummy recipe! But I don’t remember all your ingredients by the end of the reading! LoL

Haha thanks. It was long winded yes!

So yummy! 😋
I could eat the whole plate 😊

Yes you cannot just eat a few tacos haha!

Absolutely right!😉

I never try tacos. I would love to try tacos someday. I would love to try your tacos the most.

Oh thank you so much. I hope you try them some day. There are many kinds.

Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
TIBLogo

You have been curated by @thekittygirl on behalf of Inner Blocks: a community encouraging first hand content, and each individual living their best life. Come join the Inner Blocks Community , and check out @innerblocks! #lifehappening

Your photographies is really stunning! Tacos looks so yummy, I can't stop staring at the photos! 😍😍😍

I have no natural light to use since I live in a studio so I guess I have to try harder.

Thanks for the nice compliment!!!

AMAZING... bookmarking. Need to order some proper chipotle in. Ah, missing tropics tooooo.


Posted on NaturalMedicine.io

Thanks @riverflows. Chipotle is a nice thing to have around. Fortunately we can get it in a can here pretty easily. I also have a Mexican grocer nearby but I never have time to go down.

Love your Foodie post!

Yum! You have been curated @taco.cat on behalf of FoodiesUnite.net on #Hive. Thanks for using the #foodie tag. We are a tribe for the Foodie community with a unique approach to content and community and we are here on #Hive.

Join the foodie fun! We've given you a FOODIE boost. Come check it out at @foodiesunite for the latest community updates. Spread your gastronomic delights on and claim your tokens.

Join and Post through the Community and you can earn a FOODIE reward.

Banner_followBHcommentsize.png

Thank you so kindly!!!!

Wow, creativity is here, amazing meal is ready, cheers. Am salivating, this community has thought me to prepare lot of dishes

Thank you @zoetech. I am happy that you are inspired by the community.

Outstanding once again, and Mexican is one of the cuisines that is easy to make vegetarians, but vegan is a whole other challenge because dairy is so integral to Mexican style cooking. This would be a very welcome treat in our house, and awesome presentation by the way!!


Posted on NaturalMedicine.io

Yeah what you say is true. When I was in Mexico I mostly had to make my own food. They just didn't get it hahah.

Thank you @justinparke!

Oh man, this looks sooo good and I'm starving right now, I can just imagine how good this must have been @carolynstahl!
We're complaining that summer just won't come to an end but looking out your window really makes me think again and appreciate all the greenery.
Your food always looks amazing!

Haha thanks @lizelle. Yes appreciate every bit of your summer. We have this wintery thing for up to 6 months of the year. I am thinking of going to the flower shop to get a bunch of flowers to remember what they were like again.

Thanks again!!!

Dear @carolynstahl

Seems like there is too much process steps involved in the preparation though but the end product look yummy

Yours, Piotr

It's not for everyone to do all this but I had time. Thank you for stopping by!