Barbeque Chicken Tacos

I try to be inventive in the kitchen but more often than not it is always a miss.

Like the time I tried to make salsa pasta. I know! What was I thinking, right?!

Well, I thought it would be the best of both worlds but it turned out to be the worst.

I actually blame it on the salsa (not the salsa recipe but that particular salsa batch).

I added more cilantro to the salsa than called for and in the hope of rescuing the salsa batch, I decided to mix it with some pasta thinking it might reduce the cilantro flavor and in the process I would come up with a new dish in the kitchen that would be truly my creation (while writing this post I did google salsa pasta and apparently there are versions of it floating around in cyber space).

Either way, whether its been done before or not, my version of salsa pasta was NOT great. (I haven’t given up on the idea of it yet though).

Now this is where I do NOT trust V’s views on my food.

While I hated it– the salsa pasta, V kept on saying “it’s not that bad, its ok” till I pestered him enough for him to admit that yes there was an overkill of cilantro in the pasta and this dish might not be my best (but that was after 20 minutes of nagging and calling him a liar!)

So, yes, next time V’s opinion on my food will not be taken into consideration while judging a dish. (Sometimes I really wish that he wouldn’t be so diplomatic with his opinions. But, there are other times when I love his sugar coated words. Sigh, we can’t get everything, now, can we?)

Moving on.

Since I am a true Capricornian, and continue to persevere in spite of certain failures in the kitchen, I set out to make another batch of salsa. And since I love barbequed chicken and I love tacos, I decided to combine the two. Brilliant, right? (On second thoughts, maybe not! Again, I did a google search while writing this post and it turns out even bbq chicken tacos have been doing the rounds in cyber space- Well, great minds do think alike, right?!)

So, while that salsa pasta wasn’t a success, these barbeque chicken tacos were.

Bottomline- even though my creativity in the kitchen doesn’t work always, when it does it leads to some really great meals!

BARBEQUE CHICKEN TACOS

The best thing about tacos, besides being easy, is that they are really versatile. I used store bought barbeque sauce, since it was one of those days where I just did not feel like doing anything! Feel free to make your own- there are plenty of good recipes online.

For toppings I used salsa, avocados, lettuce, cheese and sour cream. You can also use sauteed onions or grill some onions along with the chicken. I had some spicy guacamole in the refrigerator. I added a bit of that too.

Makes 6 tacos

Ingredients

6 taco shells (I used hard shells, but feel free to use whatever you prefer)
1 avocado, chopped into chunks
2 cups lettuce, shredded
1 cup sour cream
1 cup salsa (store-bought or homemade-I used homemade tomatillo salsa, recipe soon)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 cup bbq sauce ( I cheated and used KC Masterpiece Bbq sauce!)
2 skinless boneless chicken breasts, cut into 6-8 pieces

For the chicken marination

1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp red chilli powder ( I might have used more)
1 tbsp oil

Directions

Marinate the chicken with the lemon, salt, red chilli powder and oil for about an hour in the refrigerator.
Heat the grill. (I used my Cuisinart electric grill). Grill the chicken pieces as you normally would. 5-6 minutes before they are done, baste them with the barbeque sauce, both sides. Remove and once cool, chop them into smaller pieces. Mix another 2-3 tbsp of bbq sauce in the chopped grilled chicken.
Warm the taco shells, as per the instructions on the package.
To assemble the tacos, place BBQ chicken evenly in the taco shells. Top with lettuce, avocados, sour cream, cheese and salsa. (I generally mix the lettuce with the salsa and sour cream so that the lettuce is evenly moist.)
Serve and enjoy.