Picadillo Tacos : IHCC

What's for lunch? A delicious Mexican Picadillo Tacos. The theme at I Heart Cooking Clubs (IHCC) this week is "Wrap It Up" where we are currently cooking from the selected chef, Rick Bayless's recipes. I missed on last week's theme which is "Turn On The Grills", I bought some corns to grill, and the corns ended up being steamed instead, as I was really busy the last week and did not have time to grill the corns, in fact did not do any cooking at all. So I was really looking forward to this week's theme, even thought of making my own tortillas, but in the end, I ended up buying ready-made tortillas instead! One of these days, I am gonna try making my own tortillas!

Getting Mexican ingredients is really a challenge for me. The stores in the area where I'm staying do not have any Mexican sauces like the one above. I got this bottle of La Costena brand Homestyle Mexican Salsa from the special store which carries imported food, mainly catering to the expatriates living in Kuala Lumpur.  I actually bought this a few weeks ago, knowing that I'll be using this sooner or later. Most of the things there are quite expensive, since most of them are all imported. This bottle of sauce is however reasonably priced. I cannot find any of Frontera products (by chef Rick Bayless) over here, well, there are one or two more places that I have yet to check, keeping my fingers crossed!

I made this for lunch, and it was delicious. A simple filling of minced pork, salsa, onions, olives and raisins. I did plan on making some tortillas that afternoon. At the last minute, I realized that I did not thaw the vegetable shortening beforehand, for one of Rick Bayless's Tortilla recipe that I wanted to try, and my kids are getting hungry, me included! So as soon as I've cooked the filling, I went out to get some tortillas from the supermarket nearby! There are a few flavours to choose from, I bought the garlic tortillas.

To warm the tortillas for easy wrapping, simply place the pieces of tortilla on a microwavable plate, with a piece of lightly damp kitchen towel separating each piece,  microwave on high for 20 seconds. You will get nice soft warm tortillas.

This is delicious, even though it is a little bit spicy for my son, he managed to eat two of these with a glass of iced water!  The filling is really delicious, spicy from the salsa, a little saltiness from the olives and bits of sweetness from the raisins. I wrapped the filling up with some fresh green lettuce lining the tortillas. Definitely worth making again!

To see all the delicious wraps, hop over to IHCC! 

I'm sharing this with :

Full Plate Thursday hosted by Miz Helen's Country Cottage
Weekend Potluck hosted by Life As A Lofthouse

Recipe Box 1 hosted by Bizzy Bakes

Picadillo Tacos

(source from : Frontera, Rick Bayless)
Serves 4 to 6 as a taco filling
1 pound ground beef or turkey (I use ground pork)
1 small white onion, diced
1 jar (16 ounces) Frontera Chunky Tomato Salsa (mild) (I use La Costena Homestyle Mexican Salsa, Medium)
1/2 cup sliced green olives (I use stuffed olives with pimento)
1/2 cup raisins
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp ketchup
8 to 12 warm tortillas
chopped cilantro

1. Cook beef or turkey and onion in a large skillet until browned, about 10 minutes. Stir in salsa, olives, raisins, sugar and ketchup. Cook until thickened, about 10 minutes. Season with salt.
2. Serve in warm tortillas sprinkled with chopped cilantro.