Ingredients
The filling
- 500 gbeef
- skirt or braising steak
- boiled and shredded
- or minced beef
- 1onion, finely chopped
- 2garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 teaspoonground cumin
- salt and black pepper
The tortillas
- 12corn tortillas
- warmed and pliable
- cocktail sticks
- to hold them closed
To fry
- oil for deep frying
- about 5 cm deep
- a deep heavy pan
- a slotted spoon
To top
- shredded cabbage
- dressed with lime and salt
- tomato salsa
- crumbled hard cheese
- queso duro
- salsa rosada, optional
Directions
- Warm tortillas are pliable and roll cleanly. Cold ones split down the middle. Heat them briefly on a dry pan. Roll them while they are still warm. They stiffen again within a minute or two. Work quickly and roll them one at a time. Keep the rest wrapped in a cloth. Queso duro is the Honduran hard dry cheese. Keep children and pets out of the kitchen. Water dropped into hot oil erupts violently.
- Make sure everything going in is genuinely dry. Wet tortillas spit dangerously in the oil. Turn off the heat and cover the pan with a lid. Leave it covered until completely cool. The oil should be about one hundred and eighty degrees.
- Boil the beef until it is entirely tender. Cover it with water and add salt. Simmer it for about ninety minutes. It should pull apart easily by then. Keep the cooking liquid for moistening it. Shred the cooked beef with two forks. Pull it apart along the grain of the meat. Shred it finely rather than coarsely.
- Fry the onion and garlic and add the beef. Cook the onion until soft and golden. Add the garlic and cumin for a minute. Add a little cooking liquid to moisten it. The filling should be moist but not wet. Cook off any excess liquid entirely.
- Season the filling generously with salt. It should taste clearly seasoned on its own. Taste it before you start rolling. Let the filling cool before rolling the tacos. Hot filling steams the tortilla and softens it. Let it cool to room temperature. That takes about twenty minutes.
- Shred the cabbage as finely as you can. Use a sharp knife or a mandolin. Take real care with a mandolin. Toss the cabbage with lime juice and salt. Let it stand for about fifteen minutes.
- Warm the tortillas until they are pliable. Heat them briefly on a dry hot pan. Give them about twenty seconds each side. Wrap them in a cloth to keep them warm. Put a line of filling along one edge. Keep the filling to about a third of the tortilla. Too much filling makes rolling impossible.
- Leave a clear border at each end. A loose roll unravels in the hot oil. Roll it firmly with steady pressure. Keep the filling contained as you roll. One stick per taco is quite enough. Heat the oil in a deep heavy pan.
- Fill it no more than one third full. About five centimetres of oil is enough. Heat it to about one hundred and eighty degrees. Fry the tacos until golden and crisp. That helps hold the seam closed initially. Fry three or four at a time at most. Give them about four minutes in total.
- Turn them once so they colour evenly. They should be golden and genuinely crisp. Lift them onto kitchen paper to drain. Stand them upright if you can to drain.
- Pull every cocktail stick out before serving. Check each taco individually for one. Lay the tacos on a plate side by side. Lay them parallel rather than piled up. Serve them straight from the pan. Pile the dressed cabbage over the tacos. It should cover them substantially.
- Spoon tomato salsa over the cabbage. A thin cooked tomato salsa is used here. Crumble hard cheese over the whole plate. It adds salt and a dry sharpness. Assemble each plate freshly to order. Fry and top them to order rather than ahead. The filling keeps three days refrigerated.
Technique
- Hot oil is genuinely dangerous: fill the pan no more than a third full, never leave it unattended, and keep children and pets out. Water in hot oil erupts violently and throws burning oil a long way, so cook off any excess moisture from the filling — wet filling spits dangerously. If oil catches fire, never use water; turn off the heat and cover the pan until completely cool.
- Every cocktail stick must be removed before serving. Count how many you put in and count them all out again, checking each taco individually before anything goes on the plate — a swallowed stick is genuinely dangerous.
- Corn tortillas crack and split if cold, so warm them briefly on a dry pan until pliable and roll them one at a time while still warm, keeping the rest wrapped in a cloth. They stiffen again within a minute or two.
Substitutions
- Minced beef, chicken or potato all replace the shredded beef and are genuinely made in Honduras. Parmesan or feta are rough substitutes for queso duro, the Honduran hard dry cheese, which is salty and crumbly rather than melting.
- Salsa rosada — mayonnaise mixed with ketchup — is drizzled over by some stands and not others, and is a genuine local practice on Honduran fried dishes.
Variations
- These are rolled and deep fried rather than folded soft, sharing only the name with Mexican tacos and sitting closer to flautas or taquitos, though the Honduran topping is quite different. The atlas records them as separate dishes.
- Roll them as tightly as you can with the filling kept to about a third of the tortilla and a clear border at each end — a loose roll unravels in the oil, fries unevenly and fills with oil. Lower them in seam side down, which helps hold the seam closed, and fry three or four at a time at most.
- The topping is what defines the dish: finely shredded cabbage dressed with lime and salt as a light sharp pickle rather than a creamy slaw, a thin cooked tomato salsa, and crumbled hard cheese. Drain the cabbage before it goes on, and assemble each plate to order — the topping softens the crisp tortilla fast.
History
Sold from evening fritanga stands, crisp and rolled rather than folded like their Mexican namesake.
Frequently asked questions
What is Tacos hondureños?
Tacos hondureños is a street food from Honduras: tortillas rolled tight around meat, deep fried and topped with cabbage and sauce. Sold from evening fritanga stands, crisp and rolled rather than folded like their Mexican namesake.
How long does Tacos hondureños take to make?
Tacos hondureños takes 30 minutes of preparation and 25 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes makes 12. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Tacos hondureños?
Yes, within limits. Minced beef, chicken or potato all replace the shredded beef and are genuinely made in Honduras. Parmesan or feta are rough substitutes for queso duro, the Honduran hard dry cheese, which is salty and crumbly rather than melting. Salsa rosada — mayonnaise mixed with ketchup — is drizzled over by some stands and not others, and is a genuine local practice on Honduran fried dishes.
What is the most important thing to get right in Tacos hondureños?
Boil the beef until it is entirely tender. Cover it with water and add salt. Simmer it for about ninety minutes. It should pull apart easily by then. Keep the cooking liquid for moistening it. Shred the cooked beef with two forks. Pull it apart along the grain of the meat. Shred it finely rather than coarsely.
