Gringas

The smell alone is worth making these for – as the marinated pork roasts, the marinade caramelises and mingles with pineapple and spice. Adam Liaw shows you how to recreate one of Mexico City's most irresistible street foods at home.

• serves

  8

• prep

  15 minutes

• cook

  2 hours

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 24 flour tortillas
• 3 cups shredded gouda cheese
• thinly sliced pineapple, to serve
• 1 cup finely diced onion
• 1 cup finely shredded coriander
• hot sauce, to serve

Al Pastor

• 1 kg pork shoulder, sliced into 1 cm slices
• 2 tbsp chipotle in adobo
• 4 guajillo chillies
• 4 cloves garlic
• ½ onion, roughly chopped
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp achiote (annatto) powder
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• ¼ tsp black pepper powder
• 2 tsp chicken stock powder
• ¼ cup pineapple juice

Marinating time: Overnight

Instructions

1. Combine all the ingredients for the al pastor and set aside the marinade overnight.
2. Thread the pork slices onto a rotisserie or large skewer. Alternatively, you can skip the skewering and choose to just barbecue the pork slices instead and then thinly slice them. It’s much easier and it’s my preferred method for making al pastor at home.
3. If you do want to cook the pork in an oven, heat your oven to 160°C (fan-forced) or 180°C. If you don’t have a rotisserie, you can stick the skewer into the base of a pineapple to keep it upright while it roasts. Roast the stack of pork for 1½ hours until cooked through, then thinly slice the meat. 
4. To make the gringas, cover a flour tortilla with cheese and cook cheese down until the cheese is melted. Turn cheese-side up and add some al pastor meat. Add a slice of pineapple, then add a spoon each of diced onion and coriander. Serve with hot sauce.

As featured in Adam Liaw’s North American Fan Feasts showing on SBS On Demand.

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.