Often served on tostadas, chicken tinga can be transformed in a multitude of ways. Use it as a topping for sopes, a stuffing for flautas, or simply add a little chicken broth to the sauce and serve it with rice and beans.
- Poached chicken
- 2 skinless chicken breasts
- 1/2 medium white onion
- 5 cloves garlic, cut in half
- 4 cloves
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 sprig thyme
- 1 sprig oregano
- 1/2-1 tsp salt
- Sauce
- 3 large tomatoes
- 1/4 cup cooking oil
- 1 white onion, cut into strips
- 3/4 cup Mexican chorizo
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
- 7 chipotle chilies in abodo sauce or 3 dried chipotles, without stem
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 clove, crushed
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
- 1/4 cup vinegar, to taste
- 3 tbsp brown sugar or 5 tbsp piloncillo
- Salt to taste
- Extras to garnish
- 18 tostadas
- 2-3 cups finely shredded lettuce or cabbage
- 1/2 cup queso fresco
- 1/2 cup crema
- 2 avocados
To poach and shred the chicken
Place the chicken breasts into a medium sized pot and cover with an inch of water. Add remaining ingredients and place over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a bare simmer and cook for 25 minutes. Remove chicken and set aside to cool. When cool enough to touch, roughly shred the chicken with your fingers.
For the sauce
Place a comal or dry skillet over high heat and add the tomatoes. Toast them, turning every few minutes until they have blackened on all sides. If using dried chipotles, add them to the comal and toast them for about 20 seconds per side until they take on just a hint of black. Remove from heat and transfer tomatoes to a blender. Blend until smooth.
Place a wide shallow pot or large frying pan over medium heat. When hot, add the oil, chopped onion and chorizo. Fry for about 5 minutes stirring occasionally until the fat renders from the chorizo and it becomes brown and a little crisp. In the last minutes of frying, add the garlic.
Add the tomato puree and remaining sauce ingredients except salt. Bring the sauce to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes until the sauce is reduced to half. As the sauce is cooking, break the chipotles up with your spoon into three or four smaller pieces. Stir occasionally.
Salt the sauce to taste. Add the shredded chicken and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring as little as possible so that the chicken does not break down too much more.
To serve
Spread a spoonful of the chicken tinga mix onto each tostada and top with a selection of garnishes. If using avocado, add this last because it’s nice to see a flourish of green.
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