Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Cilantro-Lime Chicken Tacos

Late last week, I had a sudden craving for chicken tacos. In corn tortillas. Flavored with cilantro and lime. I can't recall ever having had cilantro-lime chicken tacos before, but nothing else would do. I mentioned this to G. the Meanie at our Friday appointment and received the reply, "That sounds really good."

Yes, it does.

So on Saturday, I went for it. At the request of my friend Miz Minka, I am posting the "recipe." (In quotes because I didn't follow any recipes and I didn't measure anything.)

The Ingredients:

Boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used a couple pounds so I'd have days' worth of leftovers)
Lime juice (in the plastic bottle)
One lime
Lots of chopped onion
Lots of chopped cilantro
Cumin seeds
Chili powder
Garlic powder

How I did it:

1. I boiled the chicken in a large pot for about 10 minutes, until it was cooked through.
2. When the chicken was cooked, I set it aside to cool a little, wiped out the pot, and then started cooking the onion in some lime juice. Maybe about 4-5 tablespoons of lime juice.
3. I added garlic powder, chili powder (not a lot, I wanted flavorful, not spicy for this recipe), some cumin. Then I added lime slices.
4. I chopped up some cilantro and added it to the mix.
5. I shredded the chicken by hand, adding it to the pot. I cooked everything for a few minutes, until the onions were golden and the flavors had blended.
6.  I served them in white corn tortillas (way fewer calories than whole wheat, and they taste better, too).

I also made guacamole (two avocados, some onion, fresh cilantro, lime juice, garlic powder, cumin and a potato masher) to serve on the tacos. A little bit of fresh cilantro, black beans and tomato on top and voila! Done. Delicious.


I mentioned my delicious tacos to G. at yesterday's appiontment, and how good they had turned out. This afternoon, I had a message from him in my voicemail when I got home.

"Hey Megan, it's G. Got a question about the chicken...[wanting to know how I'd boiled it, as apparently, he's never boiled chicken before]...and how do you season it?"

When G. the Meanie is asking me for cooking tips, I must be doing something right.

4 comments:

Miz Minka said...

Oh, YUM!!! I love the idea of cooking the onion in lime juice instead of oil. Now I'm hungry -- and I just had dinner!!

Meg said...

Exactly--even though olive oil is a good fat, I still try to minimize the use of it. Makes the recipe healthier!

This was so easy to make, and I really, really liked it. Definitely going on my list of stuff to make again.

bigleggedwoman said...

Most excellent - I am going to try this out tomorrow night, thanks!

alana said...

The words "boil a chicken" are just funny to me. lol