Ground Beef Tacos (Made from scratch -> Step-by-Step for Dummies 101)

I saw that Falafel Yo was on 50% off sale for their Home Products for the month of August 2020 (incl. their Pita Bread). I LOVE their pita bread and was suddenly inspired…. to make ground beef tacos! Don’t ask me why my mind went there, but it did. To serve a family of 5, the prep can take awhile because I had to grate so many cheese, shred the lettuce etc. If you’re in a rush though, you can purchase pre-shredded lettuce, pre-shredded cheese, taco seasoning and so on to make your life easier

DELECTABLE FOOD FOR THE DAY: GROUND BEEF TACOS

DIFFICULTY: Easy (but the prep takes time)

SERVING SIZE: Good for 5 people (on its own – no need for anything else)

PREPARATION TIME: 2 hours (you can cut this down to 30 minutes if you buy everything pre-shredded/chopeed)

 

INGREDIENTS FOR GROUND BEEF TACOS

Ingredients for Taco Meat Filling

• 1kg lean ground beef (80-90% lean is best)
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 onions, diced
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 2/3 cup chicken broth
• Salt, Pepper, Sugar, Cayenne, and Basil

Ingredients for Taco Toppings

• 5 tomatoes, diced
• 10 cabbage leaves, shredded (actually, I used a scissor to cut them up)
• 1 1/2 bar Eden cheese, shredded (you can use 1 bar only, but my family loves cheese!)

Ingredients for Pita Bread

• 10 pita bread, toasted and sliced in half (Ok, I cheated here and just bought it from Falafel Yo because I love their pitas)

 

PROCEDURE:

STEP 1: Prep all the taco toppings

• Wash the tomatoes, take out the seeds, cut out the stem area, and dice them into small cubes. Couple of things I learned here: 1) you really don’t want the seeds and the mushy parts because it’s wet and not the best accompaniment to your taco filling, and 2) small cubes is best because if it’s too big, that might be the only thing you taste when you bite down on your taco

• Pluck a couple of cabbage leaves, wash it well, then use kitchen scissors to cut them up. Make sure to cut against the veins so you get that crunch

• Shred your cheese

• Other taco toppings you can consider: sour cream, avocado or guacamole

STEP 2: Cook your taco meat filling

• Mince the garlic and dice up the onions

• Heat oil in your pan over a medium-high heat. I like to use olive oil because it’s healthier, plus is said to brown the beef better
• Sauté the garlic and onion in the pan – for ~2 minutes. This is to add flavor to your meat filling.
• Add 1kg lean ground beef to the pan. Add salt, pepper, sugar, cayenne and basil. I literally just sprinkle over the beef… (once it’s cooked, I taste test and adjust by adding more herbs/spices if needed)

• Let brown on bottom then flip. After flipping, break up the beef but continue to sear until almost cooked through
• Pour into the pan 2/3 cup chicken broth and 1 cup tomato sauce. Some people like their taco filling dry – but I like mine richly flavored with a tomato base sauce. The tomato sauce serves to make the taco filling rich and saucy, while the chicken broth adds flavor and thins the filling

• Mix all the beef with the sauce. Then cover and leave it to simmer over medium-low for ~5 minutes, or until sauce has reduced and thickened. This also serves to soften the beef.

End result – sarap! Notice how there’s barely any sauce left?

STEP 3: Prepare your pita bread

Okay, to be honest, most people would use taco shell (which I don’t like because they break easily and adds no value imo to the taco), or corn/flour tortilla (I like this, but don’t have it readily available). So I compromised and went with pita bread. The downside of using pita bread is you get full very fast because the pita itself is already heavy on its own. Having said that, it’s also REALLY good on its own – so if you run out of toppings, you can just keep eating the pita bread – just mop up the remaining sauce and you’re good to go!

• Place some oil (minimal!) onto a new pan, and swirl so oil is evenly coated across the pan. Increase to medium-high heat. If you place too much oil, your pita will be oily which is a bit disgusting.
• Place the pita bread on the pan for ~20 seconds each side. I use my spatula to push down on the pita bread for max effect. Do this until a few golden brown spots appear then flip

• Once done, transfer the bread to a chopping board and slice in half. Gently open up the pita bread so there’s a hole in the middle for you to place your toppings

STEP 4: Ready to eat!