How to Cook Beef Tacos with Guacamole and Tomato Salsa

Serves: 4

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins

Ingredients needed to make Beef Tacos with Guacamole and Tomato Salsa:

For the beef filling:

• 1 lb ground beef
• 5 oz button mushrooms, sliced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 6 tbsp tomato puree
• 7 fl oz beef broth
• ¼ tsp ground cumin
• ½ tsp hot paprika
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

For the guacamole:

• 3 ripe avocados, peeled, halved and stoned
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 tomatoes, finely chopped
• 4 mild green chillies, finely chopped
• Juice of half a lime
• Handful of cilantro leaves, chopped
• Pinch of salt

For the salsa:

• 9 oz fresh tomatoes, finely chopped
• 3 mild red chillies, seeded and finely chopped
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• Handful of cilantro leaves, finely chopped
• Fresh lemon juice

For serving:

• 12 ready made taco shells
• Handful of spring onions, thinly sliced
• 1 cucumber, sliced into thin strips

Cooking instructions for Beef Tacos with Guacamole and Tomato Salsa:

• Warm up your oven to 350 degrees F.
• To make the filling, add the ground meat to a frying pan and brown it for about 5-6 minutes, over moderately high heat, while stirring at times.
• Crumble the meat with the spatula into tiny bits while cooking and stir in the onions, followed by mushrooms, garlic and green pepper.
• Stir them all together and saute the mixture for about 5 minutes or until the veggies soften.
• Sprinkle the cumin as well as paprika over the cooking mixture, along with a dash of salt and black pepper to season.
• Pour in the tomato puree, followed immediately by the beef stock and give it a nice stir to mix well.
• Put a lid on and leave the mixture on a gentle simmer for about 10 minutes.
• Meanwhile, to make the guacamole, add the cilantro, chilies  onions as well as tomatoes in a mortar and sprinkle a pinch of salt over them.
• Pound them with a  pestle into a fine paste and dilute the consistency slightly with a splash of water and lemon juice.
• Scoop the flesh out of the avocado halves and add them to the paste.
• Mash them further into a smooth puree and set aside.
• To make the salsa toss all its ingredients together into a uniform mixture and set aside.
• To assemble, arrange the taco shells on a baking sheet and toast them for a couple of minutes in the oven.
• Place a couple of tsp filling into each taco shell and top it up with a dollop of guacamole and tomato salsa.
• Finish it off with spring onions as well as cucumber and serve.

Image credit: Wikimedia Commons