Hapukapsas/sauerkraut, cabbage soup, cabbage rolls, kapsapirukad, and more. But if you have some raw cabbage and want to spin it in a different style, here’s a simple and effective way of doing so.
Let’s try making some tacos with a bit of kick to them. To make these you’ll need:
-a whole raw cabbage
-eight or so boneless chicken thighs
-corn tortillas (three per person is suggested)
-chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (You can find these canned in many grocery stores. With a clean utensil, take out two larger peppers and put it on a cutting board. Empty the can into a container and refrigerate it, so you can use the rest of the peppers and sauce for other meals, such as for huevos rancheros.) Alternatively, you can also sautée jalapeño peppers on your own if you’d prefer to not to use the smoked, canned peppers.
-ground chili powder
-ground paprika
-garlic powder
-cheese (Oaxaca is best, but Mozzarella is a possible substitute)
-olive oil, salt, and pepper
The steps:
To begin, wash the first few layers of the cabbage well, shake off the water, and pull the more easily removable leaves off. Then take a sharp chef’s knife and start cutting at the hard base of the leaves, so that you can pull the other leaves off one by one. Put all of the leaves aside until you get to the “tightly packed” core of the cabbage.
On the chopping block, line up a few cabbage leaves at a time on top of each other and cut the leaves into long strips. If the cabbage strips are too long, you can cut these in half again. Put aside the toughest and hardest bottom part of each leaf for cooking another time.
Pick up the cabbage’s core again and start cutting it down into little flakes. Transfer all of the cut cabbage onto a baking sheet. Add a generous sprinkling of olive oil and about five cracks of sea salt and black pepper each, to help bring out the flavours of all that cabbage. Toss the cabbage with a pair of tongs. Also sprinkle the cabbage with a generous amount of chili powder, ground paprika, and garlic powder, tossing it all again for even coverage.
Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius (approximately 400 degrees Fahrenheit). You’ll be working with the chicken in the meantime, but once the oven is at the right temperature, you can slide in the seasoned cabbage.
Take the chicken thighs, cut them into bite-sized pieces, and then place them in an oven-safe baking dish. On a cutting board, finely chop the two chipotle peppers. Scrape everything (including the sauce and seeds) over the cut-up chicken and mix it in well so that the chicken is well-coated. Add some cracks of pepper to this as well.
Put the marinated chicken in the oven, and while you’re at it, use tongs to rotate the cabbage and prevent it from burning. You’ll need to keep an eye on it for the rest of the cooking process.
Once some of the cabbage is starting to look browned, you can take it out and test to see if it’s sufficiently soft. For the chicken, use a meat thermometer to check that it’s fully cooked, to a temperature of 74 degrees Celsius (165 Fahrenheit).
To bring out the best flavour and texture of the tortillas, you should heat them up. One way to do this is to put it on a pan at high heat. You can even pour a bit of olive oil on the pan first and coat both sides of each tortilla. When one side is done, flip it over and put a crumble of cheese on each tortilla. Oaxaca is a delicious, melty cheese for this, available at quite a few grocery stores.
Plate up the tortillas and dollop on some chicken and cabbage for each, along with a squeeze of fresh lime if you’d like some tangy flavour. Hopefully you have plenty of friends and family to enjoy these tacos with. Head isu!
