Short Rib Tacos with Cassava Tortillas

Tacos are some of my favorite foods. I love making them at home because one big pot can last us for days and I don’t have to cook for a few days. Another reason I love tacos is I can use whatever I have in my fridge. A lot of people go out and buy specific ingredients for tacos. I used to be one of those people. But I’ve learned that improvisation is more fun. For instance, if I have a bundle of kale, I can slice it thinly and lightly sauté it with a bit of white wine vinegar, salt, and pepper as the veggies for the tacos.m. Take a look at your fridge and throw what you already have onto your taco! You have no idea what kind of creations you can make.

You’ll notice I don’t use any sugar in this recipe. I was also influenced by Roy Choi to use fresh citrus juice in my marinade/sauce cause why not? It’ll naturally help break up the proteins and it’s delicious. I used short rib since I bought some at Costco and had no idea what to do with them. They just looked beautiful with the marbling and I couldn’t resist buying them. The gochujang adds a great flavor and spice to this marinade/sauce which I love. I think the concept of this recipe is using whatever I have in the fridge. Which means, I didn’t have salsa. Is salsa a mandatory topping? Not really, for me at least. I decided to blend up the marinade to use as a sauce because there’s so much good stuff in it. I’s bright, acidic, and spicy. Don’t hate on it until you’ve tried it.

I’m still trying to get back on the bandwagon of healthy/moderate eating. When eating tacos, surprisingly it’s not the meat where the calories sneak up on you. It’s actually the tortilla. If you’re like me, I prefer flour over corn tortillas (unless the corn tortillas are made fresh right before I start eating them). One 6″ flour tortillas on average has 98g of carbs. If you eat two tacos for dinner, that’s already 196g carbs. It’s recommended to aim for 50 to 150g of carbs daily to support weight loss. I’ve tried to find a low carb tortilla in the past. My husband HATES the store bought low carb tortilla texture. We’ve done lettuce wraps but it just didn’t quite feel the same. Which is why I decided to play around with different types of flours and I got into cassava flour. A cassava tortilla has 18g of carbs and surprisingly, the texture is closer to a flour tortilla than some other alternatives out there. Otto’s sent me some of their cassava flour and it was absolutely perfect to make tortillas with. I used their Easy Grain Free Tortilla recipe to make tortillas to go with my short ribs and it was so delicious.

Tip: cassava flour has no gluten so the tortilla dough can get a bit crumbly. The recipe says to roll it out thin between two parchment papers but I’m gonna take it a step further and recommend a tortilla press. You know me, I hate unitaskers but this is one I wouldn’t skip. It’ll help keep the tortillas evenly thin and avoid ripping the already fragile dough.