It’s 7 am and you are standing in front of the fridge, feeling underwhelmed about your lunch options. Left overs? Meh; too much gravy. Sam’ich? Meh; too boring. That sad looking prepackaged salad you stock for lunches? Meh; you’re always still hungry after. Cup o’noodles? Eww; icky, bloated, sodium-belly. What you need is something you can make quickly, cheaply, is fairly healthy, and well, good enough to eat on purpose!

Enter the street taco. Traditionally it’s a Taco el Carbon, which loosely translates to ‘grilled over an open coal flame,’ but lots of food trucks and Mexican caterers sell these without the fuss of flame grilling. I’ll show you how to make this in a way that will have you out the door in 10 minutes with a lunch that packs up well, comes together when it’s time to eat so it tastes freshly prepped, and will save you from carrying around sad taste buds all afternoon. You’re welcome.

Tacos el Carbon

Ingredients:

• 4 oz poached chicken
• 3-5 4.5 inch corn tortillas
• 1 small, white onion
• 1 bunch cilantro

Preparation:

• Prepare your poached chicken.
• When the chicken is ready, dice the small onion and chicken. If you have the time, I think shredded chicken tastes a little better, but dicing is traditional and faster.
• Roughly chop or tear some cilantro, ‘to taste,’ which is jargon for ‘use as much or as little as you like.’
• Combine all the ingredients into a tupperware and seal.
• Over an open flame, lightly grill your corn tortillas. I like mine with just a few minor char spots, but don’t over do it. You want the tortilla to stay soft and pliable.
• When your stack of tortillas is done, roll them loosely and pop into a plastic sandwich bag. The steam will keep them soft.

When you are ready to eat, you really don’t need to re-heat anything. Just sprinkle the mixture into each tortilla and keep your moans of pleasure down so you don’t get any co-workers asking for sharzies. If you are a fan of taking checks with your mouth that your stomach can’t cash, make a batch of this Salsa Roja as a garnish. 

Nom your non-tragic-lunch-at-your-desk on,

~Crunchy