Tinga Pueblana & Green Rice

Again with the Cooking Channel? Yes. Again with, or rather, from the Cooking Channel. From the same episode in which I found the Mexican Corn Soup.

Tinga Pueblana is Mexican Pulled Pork, and the recipe says prep time is 15 minutes. Maybe on Jupiter. It became a lot more involved that I had anticipated. But, in the end, it was well worth the effort.

Two large russet potatoes are boiled, then diced and set aside.

Pork loin is placed in a large pot of cold water along with an onion half, garlic and bay leaves. This is brought to a boil and the heat reduced to low. The meat simmers until it is cooked through and no longer pink. This took about an hour, though the recipe says 45 minutes. No big whoop. The meat is set aside and the cooking liquid is discarded.

When the pork is cool enough to handle, it is shredded, either with fingers, or with a couple forks. I tried both methods, and settled on my fingers as the most effective method.

In a large skillet, chorizo is sauted until cooked through, removed to a paper towel-lined plate and onions are softened in the chorizo grease. The shredded pork, canned diced tomatoes and finely diced chipotle chiles are added to the pan and cooked until the tomatoes begin to break down. Five to ten minutes. Remember the potatoes? They are now added to the pan, along with the chorizo. Finally, some apple cider vinegar, dried thyme & marjoram are added. This cooks until some of the liquid has evaporated. Another five to ten minutes.

I served this with warmed flour tortillas, and Green Rice, the recipe for which is coming up next. Now even.

Chicken broth, poblano peppers and cilantro are pureed in a blender, and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, diced onion is sauteed in corn oil until translucent. Garlic and white rice are added to the pan and cooked for a minute while stirring. The green puree is added and brought to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and cook until the liquid is absorbed and the rice cooked through and tender. The recipe says about fifteen minutes. After 25 minutes the rice was not quite done, but my impatience got the better of me. And everything else was getting cold.

The pork was spectacular. The rice needed something. Perhaps complete cooking. I liked the rice despite a slight crunch. Susie didn't care for it at all. But she loved the pork.

Bon appétit!