Korean Inspired Spicy Tacos With Pineapple Salsa and Homemade Tortillas

Sue and I have been running a little Chopped-like contest on Facebook for our family and friends to keep us busy while we are self isolating. Every week we announce 2 mystery ingredients that players have to use to create any kind of recipe they like. They then send me a photo of it, I post the photos in an album anonymously so no one knows who made what, and we open it up for voting. 

Sue has pretty consistently kicked my butt. This recipe, for example, was the grand prize winner from our Chopped: Quarantine Edition, Pineapple and Flour challenge. (I did come in third with my Hawaiian Pineapple Hot Dog on Homemade Pretzel Bun, which I will share soon!)

She totally deserved the win. (But don't tell her I said that)

I mean... pretty creative use of pineapples and flour, am I right? She even took a great photo for the contest. Want to see it?

Pretty sure the fancy tropical drink helped her get more votes.... Normally I take all the photos for the blog so I'm impressed with her arrangement. Good job Sue!

Anyway... on to her winning recipe!

Korean Inspired Spicy Tacos with Pineapple Salsa and Homemade Tortillas

Ingredients

Pineapple Salsa

3 cups pineapple, fine chunks

1 small red pepper, finely diced

1/2 small onion, finely diced

juice of 1 lime

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp honey

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp salt

Spicy Mayo

1/2 cup mayo

2 Tbsp sour cream

1/2 Tbsp sriracha

juice of 1 lime

1/2 tsp garlic powder

salt & pepper

Tortillas

4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 2/3 very hot water

1/4 cup oil

Taco Meat

1 lb ground beef

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp hoisin sauce

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 Tbsp dijon mustard

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

pinchh red pepper flakes

salt & pepper

Taco Toppings

shredded cabbage

shredded or julienned carrots

julienned radishes

diced jalapeno

diced green onion

Directions

Prepare Pineapple Salsa - mix together pineapple, red pepper, onion, lime juice, oil, honey, cumin, and salt. Cover and chill until ready to use. 

Prepare Spicy Mayo - mix together mayo, sour cream, sriracha, lime juice, garlic powder, and salt & pepper. Cover and chill until ready to use. 

Prepare Tortillas - Whisk together flour, salt, and baking soda. In a separate bowl, stir together the hot water and oil and then add to the dry ingredients. Dough should be like playdough. Knead about 10 times. Divide into 12 pieces for "regular" size tortillas, or 24 for small tortillas. (FYI - I made them small for the tacos) Cover them with a tea towel while you work with each piece. Roll out each piece into a thin circle on a lightly floured surface. Repeat until all have been rolled out. Keep covered with towel so they don't dry out.

Fry each tortilla in a dry frying pan over medium heat. About 1 minute on the first side then flip and and cook an additional 30 seconds or so on the other side. Watch carefully as they brown very quickly. Remove from heat and place on serving plate. (These are best eaten fresh but will last, in an air tight container, for a couple of days.) 

Note - you may need to wipe any excess flour out of the frying pan between frying as it can start to burn. Use a damp cloth and quickly wipe around the pan, being careful not to burn yourself! 

Prepare Taco Meat - Over medium heat, cook the ground beef until only a little pink remains. Add in the garlic, brown sugar, hoisin, soy sauce, mustard, rice vinegar, red pepper flakes, and salt & pepper. Cook and stir until beef is no longer pink and is cooked through. 

Remove from heat and serve immediately. 

While beef is cooking, prep your toppings, if not already done!

Place the tortillas, toppings, spicy mayo, and pinepple salsa on the table. Place the hot taco beef into a bowl and place on table with the toppings. 

Top your taco however you like!

Make sure you drizzle with the spicy mayo. You can make it as spicy as you like. 

That pineapple salsa with the ground beef is such an amazing combination! 

I love dinners that can be personalized for each guest. Sue loves spicy so she piled on the jalapenos and spicy mayo... me, not so much, so I went with lots of cabbage and veggies and pineapple salsa. 

These tacos have a lot going on and all of it is good. 

Sue deserved the win with this creation but I'm coming for her with our next challenge. The mystery ingredients are bacon and brown sugar and I'm pretty sure I might actually win with my creation. Stay tuned! :)