Spicy Mole Negro Tacos with Cheat Tortillas

Mexico has given the world so damn much. An incredibly popular cuisine, a day of the dead tattoo fad, and cooking with chocolate. I was unable to find masa for this recipe, so I improvised, soaking polenta and turning it into a batter to make pliable polenta crepes, some sort of approximation of the authentic Mexican tortilla. This combined with the spicy mole pork, lemon slaw, tomato, plum, mayonnaise and a drizzle of lime, you've got a taste-bud tantalising that'll turn you into a taco eating machine.

Ingredients

For the Polenta Crepe/Tortillas

200g fine Polenta

4 eggs

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

For the Chocolate Mole

1.5kg Pork Shoulder (skin on ideal)

200g Dark Chocolate

3 Heaped Teaspoons Smoked Paprika

1 or 2 Habenero Chillis, depending on heat preference, minced

2 Heaped Teaspoons Ground Coriander Seeds

1 Heaped Teaspoon Ground Cumin

1 Garlic Bulb, peeled and minced

1 Heaped Teaspoon Grated Ginger

1 Teaspoon Ground Cinammon, or one cinammon quill

1/2 a fresh Lime

3 Onions, peeled and roughly chopped

Salt

Pepper

Olive Oil

For the Slaw

4 Carrots

1/4 Cabbage

Spring Onions

Lemon Juice

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Extras

Mayonnaise

Fresh Lime, segemented

Plums, sliced

Tomatoes, sliced

Method

The best part of this is how damn simple it is.

Get going with the pork first! Pull out a pot, add a few lugs of oil and turn to a medium heat. Put in the pork, add all of the ingredients except the chocolate, salt and pepper. Coat the pork, then pour in water to cover the pork by about an inch. Cover, and keep on a medium heat.

Move to the tortillas. Again, crazy simple process. Pour the polenta into a large mixing bowl. Mix in the four eggs. It'll make a thick dough. Gradually add water until the mixture is really loose - about as thick as crepe batter. Add a couple of pinches of salt, pepper, a lug of olive oil and mix through. Cover and set aside for an hour and a half. It'll thicken as the polenta absorbs the liquid.

Next, prep the slaw. Finely slice the cabbage, spring onions. Peeled the carrot and julienne them. Grating them is fine too. Mix the ingredients together and spritz with three tablespoons of lemon juice, drizzle with olive oil then season well.

After an hour and half, it's time to cook the tortillas. Mix 1/4 cup of milk into the mixture. Check the viscosity- if it's quite goopy, incrementally add water until the batter is loose, like crepe batter.

In a nonstick pan on a medium-low leat, add a ladleful of the batter. Try and spread it out for a thinner cake. Cook for about 3-4 minutes on one side, flip carefully, and cook on the other. Done! Do this until you finish the mixture. They'll stay nice and pliable for quite some time!

Check the pork after 4 hours, if it falls apart with a fork, accelerate it's process with a fork - pull it to pieces! If it's not, cook it longer and check periodically for tenderness.

If its tender, add the chocolate, stir through until it dissolves. Stew on a low heat until the sauce is thick. Salt and pepper well to draw out the flavours even more!

Serve with a dollop of the meat, some slaw, mayonnaise, a couple of bits of plum, a squeeze of lime.

Enjoy!