Easy & Healthy Mexican: Tinga

This is my favorite Mexican dish because it's very healthy and super delicious! Tinga is basically shredded meat/chicken cooked in a red chile chipotle sauce with onions and served in a variety of ways. This is my family's recipe for Chicken Tinga hailing from Michoacan, Mexico.

You'll need the following ingrediets:

• A whole can of chile chipotle in adobo sauce (add half if you want it less hot)
• 5 roma tomatoes
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 7 dried Chiles California or dried Chile New Mexico (NM chiles provide a smokier flavor)
• 2 red onions
• 3 lbs of chicken breast
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 tbs of salt / add salt to taste

Start by boiling the chicken in water with a bay leaf, half an onion, and 1 clove of roughly chopped garlic. To make the sauce, boil the roma tomatoes along with the dried Chiles California in a sauce pan with some water (enough to cover the tomatoes) for 15 mins. Remove the stem of the dried chiles and add them to a blender, along with the tomatoes, garlic, and the can of chile chipotle. Add 1/3 cup of water and blend on high for 2 mins.

Once the chicken has finished cooking, let it cool and shred it. Set aside, and cut the remaining onion and a half in thin slices. Add onion to a large pan or dutch oven and cook on medium heat for 5 mins, then pour in the chipotle sauce and cook for an additional 2-4 mins. Add shredded chicken to the sauce & onions, mix, and simmer for 20 mins. At this stage, add salt to taste. I add about 2 tbs of salt. Simmer for another 15 mins & finished!

My favorite way to eat it by adding a scoop of tinga on top of a bowl of lettuce and add some avocado and crumbled queso fresco on top. Traditionally, it is served on top of tostadas with some cotija cheese on top and avocado. However, we use it as a filling for any Mexican dish such as sopes, burritos, enchiladas, tacos, etc. If you enjoy a low carb diet, you can make lettuce wraps filled with tinga and avocado, or whatever you desire. Hope you all enjoy it.

bon appetit