Chicken tinga is a dish that originated in the city of Puebla, Mexico. “Tinga,” meaning stew made up of tomatoes, onion, garlic and smoky chipotle, with oregano, bay leaf and thyme as well as a sweet touch from the piloncillo sugar if you’re able to find it. I learned how to make this from a chef who taught me when I was learning Spanish. The recipe and directions were all in Spanish and so for me, this dish means a lot. It was my entry into being a cook, ser cocinera, and my entry into the Spanish language. To this day, every time I’m shredding chicken with a fork I think “desmenuzar.” Great word.
I went back to this recipe because the polar vortex is gripping New York and I find myself reaching for comfort foods and hot toddies. Hiding in my apartment from the bitter cold, I realized, just isn’t me. Stick a finger in the frozen winds and you’ll always feel an icy new gust of dread blowing, but change your perspective and the unabashed romantic comes out. Rather than becoming the stereotypical lady twisting her hankie and succumbing to the vapors from being cooped up, I decided to get out of the city and embrace the frozen tundra of upstate New York, my roots. I’ve always been into ice hockey, skiing, skating and anything that really requires a challenge. I called up my brother to see what kind of trouble we could get into. This time we were eyeing ice fishing! Apparently you need a license for that so while his neighbors set up their tent on the frozen lake, we just cruised down the road and found a ski slope, some local bars and sat by his wood burning stove playing UNO, eating and drinking and breathing in the fresh frozen air as the snow fell. The time outside of the city reminded me to celebrate life’s accidental nature, its capacity for mystery and coming up with chances for renewal.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 pounds chicken breasts with skin and bones
- 5 cups water
- 1 large white onion, finely chopped and divided
- 2 large garlic cloves; 1 whole, 1 finely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- Salt to taste
- 1 pound plum tomatoes (about 4)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 tablespoon achiote (annato seed) -if you can find it. I promise it adds so much.
- 1/4 cup white wine vinegar
-
1 tablespoon cane sugar
- 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons finely chopped chipotle in adobo, including some sauce
- 24 (5- to 6-inch) soft corn tortillas
- 1/4 cup crumbled cotija or mild goat cheese
- 24 small sprigs cilantro
Directions:
Combine chicken with water, half of onion, whole garlic clove, bay leaf, and 1 teaspoon salt in a medium (3- to 4- quart) saucepan. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cook at a bare simmer for 10 minutes. Cover and let sit until chicken is just cooked through, about 15 minutes. Transfer chicken to a bowl. Strain and reserve 1 cup of broth for tinga and save remaining broth for Colombian ajiaco (post to come).
Use two forks and desmenuza! (shred) the chicken. At this point it should come apart easily. Discard skin and/or bones.
Cut an X in the bottom of each tomato. Blanch in a saucepan of boiling water for 1 minute. Transfer tomatoes to a bowl of ice water. Peel and core, then finely chop.
Cook remaining chopped onion with 1/4 teaspoon salt in oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and crumble in oregano, then cook, stirring, until fragrant, 1 minute. Add tomato and continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened but still saucy, 10 to 15 minutes.
Add chicken, 3/4 cup of reserved cooking liquid, the white wine vinegar, sugar and chipotle to the tomato sauce and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened and excess liquid is almost completely evaporated, 10 to 15 minutes. Moisten with additional cooking liquid if mixture looks dry.
Meanwhile, using cookie cutter or the open part of a cup, cut out a circle from each tortilla, stacking 12 in each of two folded sheets of foil (reserve remaining tortilla scraps for chilaquiles-post to come!). Wrap each stack in foil and warm through in oven, 5 to 10 minutes.
To serve, arrange warm tortillas on a heated platter and divide chicken mixture among them (about 1 rounded tablespoon per tortilla), spooning it onto center of each tortilla. Sprinkle with cheese and top each taco with a cilantro sprig. Serve with whatever fixings you like, radishes, lime, avocado, etc.
Ice fishing on the lake
Love it. There should be more shredded chicken in this world. Beautiful photos.
Thanks, David. I always forget about this classic of mine. But it got me started. Next up I’ve got ajiaco, a Colombian classic and then chilaquiles. I’m on a kick now!
I could handle a bit of that chill right now… And a few of those tacos too please.
Ha! Oh I’m so jealous watching sports in warm weather. I mean this is serious cold. But the tacos are delish! Thanks for dropping by.
I was scrolling down thinking “wish Amanda would have shared some ice fishing pix” and then woo hoo, a whole host of them. Boy, that looks like serious snow and ice! I’m with you – not into being cooped up. Your escapade with your brother sounds like a LOT of fun.
Loved reading how “ser cocinera” became the title of your blog and Googled desmenuzar, ha ha.
Oh, almost forgot the most important comment: that fireplace? I’m in LOVE with it. What a welcome sight!
Thanks, Azita. That was much needed. I love how you bike ride in the winter too. We ended up skiing, but the only pics I took were with my cellphone on the lift. I’ve struggled with the title of the blog because it’s not English and not easily understandable. If I ever customize or get off wordpress, I may go with something more obvious, but it was personal to me at the time. Making this dish again set me off on an entire Latin American kick. After visiting my brother I just feel so much better. You have to get out of the city every once in a while. I’m so jealous of his wood stove! That thing kept the whole place warm all night. xoxo
Great photos. Lovely dish. I will be in New York next week. I might call by and scoff any leftovers.
Oh wow, how cool! If you need any restaurant recommendations, by all means!
Flying in. Rushing to NJ. A day of meetings. Rushing to the airport and flying out. Poor planning on my part, I fear.
Ah boo! Well hopefully all goes well. You’ll get a nice taste of the cold we’ve been having!
Great pics, as usual. In my stupid way I read through your recipe and wondered, How is the chicken going to stay inside each tortilla if it has a hole in the middle? Ha! As usual, took me a minute. Sounds like a fantastic recipe. Isn’t it funny how we latch on to a word when we’re learning a new language? When I was learning French for some reason tarabiscoté (overwrought, fussy, too complicated or elaborate) stuck in my mind. Swiss friends, after I’d been there for a year, picked up on this, and would say, “You know, for Ken, it is always too tarabiscoté.” Ken
That’s a great word! So funny about languages and that you couldn’t visualize the mini tortillas. I guess I didn’t specify that they were muy pequeños. I ate like 5 of them. Thanks, ken!
These tacos look delicious. I am always on the lookout for interesting tacos. I am adding your recipe to my taco file.
Ohh nice. It’s actually pretty quick. Thanks as always, jovina!
You’re certainly getting some really lovely light for your photos. That’s the only thing that really gets to me about this time of year. Well, that and the general lack of light. And the cold. I’m more of a flip-flop type!
Oh if only. .. It’s pretty grey and dark. I have to use a daylight bulb. Your photos are always gorgeous.
Lovely story about how you first cooked this dish! Gorgeous recipe too – love all those flavours. Have only visited NY (City) once and it was in January. Boy was it cold but amazing – did all the touristy stuff but felt like I was starring in a winter movie 🙂
It really does feel like that sometimes here. The cold adds an unreal quality and it can be quite nice!
Oh, my mouth is watering again looking at your photos. The shredded chicken looks so delicious and comforting, and the cilantro/lime with it sounds like a vibrant zip to it that I would LOVE. Is there a place for me at the fire?
Aw Thank you. There’s always a place for you! Especially if you bring stew!
Oh my gawd these look amazing. I could eat them 3 times a day!
Thanks, Mimi! Ohi knew you would like these. And now that you commented I realize that I completely left an ingredient out of the recipe. Achiote, your fav. I added a little less than a tablespoon for that special annatto flavor! Will have to fix that.
Hahaha! You know me well!!! Love those seeds! And this dish.
Ok. I will be making this without a doubt. We are really into spicy foods right now and have been having a ball in the kitchen. I love making “Mexican food” and can not get enough of it these days. Your photos are incredible Amanda and I like the idea of the ski lodge and Uno…and of course eating, drinking and fresh frozen air. Sounds good for the soul. Looking forward to your chilaquiles post. I posted a chilaquiles recipe last year..and I can’t wait to see your rendition!
Oh I’ll have to go see your chilaquiles. It seems like you have been having a blast. Ive be back on a Latin kick again. I do love spice and heat esp I the winter. Thanks for your lovely comment as always.
That looks really cold – I’d want your hot spicy tacos for sure, though I could eat them in summer too 😉
Perfect combo, md.
Amanda, this sounds and looks amazing. The ice fishing also sounds great, it has only been cold here for the past two days, no snow, no ice, no nothing, it’s just a bit colder than the past few weeks. So your weekend fishing sounds very exotic to me! I would love to do something like that some day.
The tinga looks delicious too! Mexican produce is quite hard to find here in France, I guess I could get annatto powder somewhere as one of our local cheeses, Mimolette, calls for it as a food coloring. I recently ordered (from England) a can of chipotles in adobo along with pinto beans and some other Mexican/Tex Mex ingredients, and haven’t used it yet! This sounds like the recipe to put them to use. I do have another question: do you think I could replace the cotija or goat cheese with feta or cheddar? Cotija is unavailable here, and Pierre doesn’t like goat cheese.
Would these work with flour tortillas? I don’t buy the supermarket tortillas (they are disgusting and very expensive AND full of additives), but I make my own flour tortillas and a kind of “3/4 corn/1/4 flour tortillas”, as I haven’t mastered the art of 100% corn tortillas yet.
Sorry to bombard you with questions… but I am sure we would love this dish here and really would like to give it a try, and it would be perfect for serving to friends as well!
Have a nice weekend, and stay warm!
Oh wow. This should be your recipe! Flour tortillas work just fine. I like corn but the ones I used in the picture were flour and they were good, but nothing like homemade. Also, yes feya and cotija are very similar in taste so feta would work out you can skip it all together. Tacos are meant to be altered! Enjoy the cold! At least you have some good skiing nearby.
Hmmm no, unfortunately there is no skiing anywhere near where I live! And I have only skied once in my life when I was 10, it never was one of those things we did with my family… 🙂 But enjoying the snow and going on long walks, yes please. But it isn’t going to happen this year I am afraid.
Thanks for the advice on substitutions. I’ll be on the lookout for annatto powder.
If you can’t find it I can send you some in the mail. It’s hard to find. I didn’t ski growing up either. It was a scary ride down but fun.
I just checked on the site of the spice shop I go to when I am in Paris, and they carry both achiote (seeds, not powder) AND some kind of an achiote paste. Both are cheap enough. They also carry interesting kinds of dried peppers, so I’ll try to go there the next time I am in Paris!
Nice! Take me with you!
I wish! Come to Paris and I will take you all over the place, not just spice-searching. I am serious! Come and visit!
Omg. I just might have to. And same to you in nyc and your parents:)
Your photographs are getting better and better. I love the look of this dish and will be trying it. We were just moaning on how cold it is but after seeing your photographs ours is a spring day!
Maria, you are too sweet. Thank you so much. I hope you enjoy it!
Not only does it looks delicious but I love the name. It is the sort of name that compels you say it out loud!
Completely inspired by this post. Your photographs are fantastic and this recipe looks wonderful. A perfect antidote to the polar vortex. We’ve got feet of snow on the ground and relentless extremely cold weather. Fortunately I’m off to Mexico soon! And in the meantime, as a little taste of what’s to come, I’ll be making your Tinga de Pollo Tacos. Muchos gracias!
Completely inspired by this post. Your photographs are fantastic and this recipe looks wonderful. A perfect antidote to the polar vortex. We’ve got feet of snow on the ground and relentless extremely cold weather. Fortunately I’m off to Mexico soon! And in the meantime, as a little taste of what’s to come, I’ll be making your Tinga de Pollo Tacos. Muchos gracias!
Muchas gracias for the comment! Take me with you! The recipe is authentic. I hope you love it. Thanks for the compliments. I have a colombian anti vortex remedy coming up soon too 🙂
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Thank you, Dimple! I love yours too. You are too sweet!
The achiote is so authentic. Lovely story and photos… 🙂
Thanks. Yes, that was the one ingredient that took me the longest to find. But it’s worth it!
I have a big affection for Mexican cooking as well as fond (albeit cold) memories of ice fishing in Alaska. My sister-in-law, Irma, is from Oaxaca and is one of the best cooks I know. These look delicious.
That’s so cool. Thanks for stopping by. Lucky you that you get some authentic Mexican food every now and then!
Your tacos look sooooo good and I want to make tinga for ages! Wow, what a snow deluge you had, beautiful though. I like the ice-fishing idea, always reminds me of Lemon & Matthau. And just now – finally, I better say – I understand the name ser cocinera. Amanda, I can’t wait for more Mexican food. Nicole xo
Thank you so much. I don’t think we knew each other well this time last year so I’m glad you got to read it. That’s what i love about posts where you can refer to older ones. I’m actually going to the town where tinga was invented this weekend! So excited. And so glad you finally get the name if my url. Probably a bad choice by me, but oh well! Xo
Amanda, that’s brilliant, bring lots of recipes!
Shoot, I accidentally pressed the button. Anyway, about your name, I always see you as What’s cooking and it just did not click (also, my Spanish is reduced to camarones blancos). 😉
Ha! Yeah. It’s just the url when you click on that is sercocinera.com. so funny. 😉
Ups, looks like the comments are getting shuffled a bit odd, maybe just my computer or – are you still playing UNO here? 😉
I’m actually going to my brother’s again next weekend to play uno and do other cold winter things. It calms me.
Grand idea, It’s the same weather now, isn’t it, I was so admiring the icicles – that’s why I did not notice. Any ice-fishing plans this time? N