Smoky chicken tacos

Impress your guests or even just yourself by whipping up from scratch these delicious tacos. They are perfectly balanced, moorishly good and couldn’t be easier to make. Two ingredient flat breads made from gut loving wholegrain flour, with absolutely no nasties, you will never buy tortillas again. Source good quality organic chicken thighs, which are a really affordable way of buying higher welfare meat. I use field & flower or riverford for online orders. A quick marinade in a good quality olive oil along with smoked paprika, oregano, garlic and fennel seeds gives the chicken a lovely colour and flavour. Once everything is prepped, cooking time is only 10 minutes, making this a perfect dinner party feast.

You will need (Serves 3-4)

For the flatbreads

Wholemeal flour

Yoghurt (I use Yeo valley in the green tub)

For the garlic sauce

Kefir

Garlic puree

1 tbsp EVOO

Salt

Lemon juice

Pinch of oregano

For the cabbage

1 red cabbage

Vinegar of choice

For the chicken

4-6 chicken thighs

2 tsp sweet smoked paprika

1 tsp onion granules

2 tsp garlic puree

1 tsp oregano

1 tbsp fresh parsley

Lemon

1 tsp fennel seeds, crushed

2 tbsp EVOO

Wooden skewers

Option extras: Spring onion and fresh avocado

Method

1. Prep the chicken thighs, remove the skin and take out the bone. Trim any large bits of excess fat and dice the thighs up into nice chunks. Make the marinade by mixing together the extra virgin olive oil, spices, herbs, 1/2 lemon juiced, 1 tsp salt and 1tsp pepper. Mix the chicken into the marinade and leave for at least an hour or overnight.

2. Cut the cabbage into quarters. Use 2 of the quarters to make enough for 4 people. Remove the stem and slice very finely, removing any large chunks or thick pieces. Add to a pan with a ratio of 2/3 vinegar to 1/3 water, with just enough liquid to cover the cabbage. Bring to the boil and leave to cool. If you prefer it less pickled use a 50:50 ratio instead.

3. Make the flat breads by mixing flour and yoghurt with a good pinch of salt in a ratio of 2:1. I use 1 cup of flour to 1/2 cup of yoghurt. This doesn’t need to be kneaded, but mix until it forms a ball, adding extra flour if it’s too sticky. Form into balls just a little smaller than a golf ball. Roll out nice and thin, around 2mm. Leave to one side on a floured surface.

4. For the garlic sauce, simply whizz together 8 tbsp kefir or full fat yoghurt, 1 tsp garlic puree (more if you like a lot of garlic), 1 tsp oregano, 1 tbsp EVOO, a good pinch of salt and squeeze of lemon juice. Adjust to your taste preference with more or less of any ingredient.

5. When you are ready to cook, heat your grill to its maximum temperature. If you don’t have a grill, a hot frying pan is fine. Place roughly 3-4 pieces of chicken onto each skewer and place under the hot grill. Wet the exposed wood end slightly to stop them burning. Turn now and then until the chicken is nicely coloured each side but not dry.

6. Heat a dry frying pan nice and hot. Turn the heat down a little and add a flat bread, one at a time, turning every 10-20 seconds until it puffs up and has nice colour on both sides. Don’t worry if they don’t puff up, just roll thinner next time.

7. Once you have cooked all the flat breads, its simply a case of assembly. Fill each ‘taco’ with one chicken skewer, some pickled cabbage and a drizzle of garlic sauce. Add a few slices of fresh avocado and finish with a sprinkle of spring onion.

Enjoy!