How to make taco sauce – I love tacos very much. One of the easiest Mexican recipes out there, they’re as easy as browning mince to make.

Here’s how you can make your own delicious taco sauce.

How to make taco sauce

To make your amazing taco sauce, enough for 12 taco shells, you’re gonna need (ingredients):

400g tinned tomatoes (fresh if you like, you’ll hear no qualms from me!)
1/2 an onion
1/2 a capsicum (you can use the rest of both of these when you go to cook your beef if you like)
2 cloves garlic
1 small chilli (but it’s up to you how many chillies you use, isn’t it?)
A splash of white wine or cider vinegar
2 tsp of paprika
1 tsp of ground cayenne chilli (to taste)
A splash of olive oil

To actually do the sauce making, you will need to (method):

1. Place the olive oil in a medium sized pan and heat. Place a dessert spoon in your mouth and slice the onion and capsicum. The dessert spoon seems to fend off some of the onion sting and reduces crying into your food.

2. When the oil is getting hot, brown the onion and lightly cook the capsicum for a few minutes. Crush the garlic cloves and add to the pan, stirring well all the time.

3. Next chop the chilli (chillies if you’re like me) and throw them in also. Continue to stir until the onions are browned how you like them.

4. Add the can of tomatoes to the pan, ensuring the sudden temperature change doesn’t break the pan or cause the juice to spit out everywhere. If it does, you’ve got some cleaning to do. Stir and turn the heat down so that the sauce simmers gently.

5. Add a short splash of the vinegar, seriously not too much. Add the paprika and cayenne and stir well again.

6. You can now go and begin to prepare your meat for the tacos. After 20 minutes, or when the sauce has thickened appropriately, you can add it to your meat mixture, as if it was a canned supermarket sauce.

Enjoy!

I’m addicted to chilli. I have been since I was 14, but didn’t notice until I was 17 when one day I thought to myself “Hang on! I ALWAYS order the spicy option, no matter where I am.”

It just happened. Now into my 30s, I am well and truly mad about chilli. Heck, I even planted some chilli seeds today.

Despite this affection, I only had/made my first vindaloo the other week. I’ve spent a few weeks twiddling with it to make it spot on, but I think I now have it right.

Something I never knew about vindaloo, is the ‘vin’ part refers to the vinegar used in its making. Not many vegetables, either.

As always, you’re welcome to comment/suggest your improvements down below, but for now here is my hot vindaloo recipe.

To make a hot vindaloo for 4, you’re gonna need:

Some meat (Roughly four chicken breasts, or around 1kg of beef – I don’t mind what you put in your vindaloo, go for your life)

2 onions, diced

6 gloves of garlic (I crush my garlic for that authentic ‘crushed garlic’ flavour. You are most welcome to chop yours if you wish)

1 tsp of turmeric (Good for the Alzheimer’s so I use two)

3-4cm of ginger, shredded (I crack mine through a cheese grater – be careful not to take a bit of your fingers off if you do this!)

1 tsp chilli powder (Really do do this part based on taste. I actually have more like 4. Or 3 plus an actual red chilli. Chilli is a very personal thing. Like underwear)

A stick of cinnamon, crumbled (Watch out for splinters! That’s my ass covered…)

2 tsp of ground cumin seed

A splash of clove powder (I never go too nuts with cloves. I think it’s to do with my huge orthodontic problems as a child. I suffered from an abscess or two as a child and quite distinctly remember the taste of cloves as mum tried to anaesthetise her young, noisy boy!)

1 tbsp of vinegar (I use cider vinegar, but white will do – subtlety is key here!)

1 tbsp of brown sugar

1 can of tomato paste or tomatoes

Some water

To make your hot vindaloo for 4, you’re gonna need to:

1. Wash your hands. There is no excuse for poor hygiene in my kitchen, so there certainly ain’t a place for it in yours.

2. When you’re done washing your hands, and only when you’re done, may you begin preparing the hot vindaloo marinade. Mix in a bowl 1 of your onions, garlic, turmeric, ginger, cinnamon, chilli, cumin, clove powder, vinegar and sugar.

3. Prepare the meat. Slice it up however you want it. I do chicken in thin strips and beef in cubes. Sling it into the marinade and leave it covered in the fridge for as long as you have time for. 4 hours is good. Overnight amazing.

4. When you are good to start cooking, slice up the other onion. Use a dollop of ghee or olive oil to brown it in a pan or wok on a medium-high heat. Nice, sugary onion!

5. Next add the contents of your marinade bowl. Be sure to scrape every last drop of your vindaloo marinade into the pan. Stir fry the mixture until the meat seals nicely.

6. Next add your tomatoey can contents. Top up with a splash of water, say 250ml. Give it a good stir and leave to simmer, stirring occasionally, for around 30 minutes or until the sauce thickens.

If all goes to plan, you will have made a great-tasting chicken or beef vindaloo using just spices and other basic ingredients. I always enjoy mine with brown rice and a helping of home made mango and apple chutney and a chilli and garlic naan (recipes to follow!).