Beef Tacos with Sweet Pepper Relish
Look for special ‘masa harina flour’ to make the soft tacos that make all the difference in these delicious and easy Mexican Beef tacos (you could cheat with bought tacos if you really need to though!). Serves 2.
Ingredients
300g/10½oz beef skirt steak, room temperature
For the relish
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 red or 1 orange long, pointed pepper(Romano), or a mix, seeds removed, thinly sliced
1 red onion, sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp hot smoked paprika
½ tsp dried flaked chillies
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tbsp soft light brown sugar
For the tacos
150g/5½oz white masa harina flour, plus extra for rolling
¼ tsp fine sea salt
1 tsp baking powder
50ml/2fl oz rapeseed oil or melted dripping
To serve
soured cream
1 red chilli, finely sliced
lime wedges
handful fresh coriander
METHOD
To make the relish, heat the oil in a medium frying pan and gently fry the pepper and onion for about 10 minutes, or until softened, stirring regularly. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute. Stir in the garlic, paprika and flaked chillies and cook for a few seconds more before adding the vinegar and brown sugar. Cook together for 3–4 minutes, stirring regularly. Leave to cool a little.
To make the tacos, put the flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl and mix. Add the oil and enough warm water to create a slightly sticky dough. Wrap in cling film and rest for 30 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 10–12 balls for smaller tortillas, or 6–8 for larger ones. Cover with a damp tea towel to prevent them drying out. Roll out each ball of dough to a disc approximately 3mm/⅛in thick.
Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat and cook the tacos in batches for about 30 seconds on each side, or until cooked and browned in places. Keep warm while you cook the remaining batches (you can wrap them in a damp tea towel and leave them in a low oven).
Place a griddle pan over a high heat until very hot. Rub the oil into the steaks and place on the griddle. Season generously on one side with the salt. Cook, unseasoned side down, for 3 minutes on one side, for rare steak, and 3 minutes on the other. Transfer to a board and leave to rest for 6 minutes.
Slice the beef and spoon it on top of the tacos. Top with the soured cream, relish, sliced red chilli and coriander. Squeeze over the lime wedges to serve.