Tupork Shakur (slow-cooked pork tacos)

These spicy, succulent slow-cooked pork tacos are the kind of food you’ll always want more of. Comforting with a lift from the pickled pink onions and spicy salsa.

This recipe is based on the Tupork Shakur dish served at Homies on Donkeys in Walthamstow, London. It has been adapted to make it easier to cook in a domestic kitchen.

Ingredients

For the pork

• 4 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1kg/2lb 4oz pork shoulder, deboned, skin removed and cut into 5cm/2in chunks, keeping plenty of fat
• salt and black pepper

For the pickled onions

• 3 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• generous pinch dried oregano
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced

For the chipotle sauce

• 100g/3½oz chipotle in adobo (see recipe tips, below)
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 large vine tomatoes
• 50–75g/1¾–2⅔oz soft brown sugar (depending on how sweet you want it)
• 1 tsp garlic granules
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp all-purpose seasoning

For the spicy salsa

• 4 vine tomatoes, quartered
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
• ¼ dried guajillo chilli
• small handful fresh coriander, chopped
• 1 tbsp soft brown sugar

To serve

• 10 nixtamalized corn tortillas (about 15cm/6in in diameter)
• sunflower oil, for frying (optional)
• small handful chopped fresh coriander

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/Gas 3.

2. For the pork, heat 2 tablespoons of the vegetable oil in a large, flameproof casserole over a high heat. Fry the pork in batches, cooking for a few minutes on each side until browned all over. Remove from the pan while you cook the rest of the meat, adding more oil as needed. Return all the pork to the casserole, cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 2½ hours, or until tender and falling apart (the fat in the meat should be sufficient to stop it drying out, but check after 30 minutes and add water if needed).

3. Meanwhile, make the pickled onions. Mix the red wine vinegar, caster sugar and oregano in a bowl. Add the sliced onions and stir together. Allow to pickle for 1–2 hours, or longer if time allows.

4. To make the chipotle sauce, place all the ingredients in a blender with some salt and whizz until smooth.

5. Pour the chipotle sauce over the cooked pork, cover with a lid and cook in the oven for a further hour. Remove from the oven and allow to rest in the sauce.

6. To make the salsa, increase the oven temperature to 200C/180C Fan/Gas 6. Place the tomatoes, onions and peppers in a roasting tray. Drizzle with a little oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes, adding the dried chilli for the last 10 minutes of cooking. Remove from the oven and pick out the chilli. Place the dried chilli into a bowl and pour over boiling water to rehydrate for 10 minutes, then chop. Transfer the roasted vegetables into a blender, along with the rehydrated chilli, the coriander, 2 tablespoons water and a pinch of salt. Blend until smooth and season to taste.

7. To serve, heat the tortillas over a flame for 1–2 minutes on each side until charred and starting to crisp. Alternatively, heat in a hot frying pan with a little sunflower oil. Pull the pork into strips using two forks.

8. To assemble the tacos, top each tortilla with some chipotle pulled pork, then add salsa and pickled onions. Scatter over the fresh coriander and serve with extra salsa alongside (any leftover salsa can be kept in the fridge for up to 7 days).

Tupork Shakur (slow-cooked pork tacos)