Welcome to L.A. Taco’s Pozole Week! Every day this week, we are celebrating a different style of the hominy and meat stew that really hits the spot when it is cold out, and share some delicious spots in Los Angeles to try it. For our fifth day, we are enjoying a delicious North Africa-meets-Mexico pozole variation made with three types of meat and served on a tortilla.
[dropcap size=big]S[/dropcap]o far in pozole week, we’ve explored four different versions of pozole including a vegan interpretation, but there also exists a version of the dish that is sans broth.
What if I told you there exists a taco de pozole?
Revolutionario North African Tacos is most known for presenting various cuisines of the world with a North African spin and putting it all on a tortilla. But one of their tacos drew my attention: a pozole taco. I was curious to find out how a stew could be turned into a taco. Well, it turns out that the answer to that question is: guisado-fy it. They turn the pozole into a tagine, a North African dish that gets its name from the traditional cooking vessel and serve it over a tortilla.
“North African tagines are thick stews or braises like Mexican guisados,” says Susan Park, co-owner of Revolutionario explains. “They’re cooked in a somewhat similar way, in the sense that they’re cooked in low heat and you keep building flavors and adding ingredients at different times. It’s a mash-up between Mexican pozole and North African tagines.”
The first noticeable thing about the taco is the very generous portions. Their pozole tagine is made up of various layers of Mexican and North African flavors and spices. The Mexican components can be seen with the traditional hominy that’s present in pozole, and toasted chiles de arbol. On the North African front they add harissa, spices from the region, and instead of a singular protein that’s common in most pozole, they add three: beef, chicken, and lamb. “When you have a special occasion you go big on the meat,” says Susan.
The pozole taco is impressive. The protein is tender and juicy with the layering of spices and chiles creating a pleasant heat that builds in the back of your throat. Though I will admit because of the large portion, the taco can be difficult to pick up. But they also offer this tagine in a bowl, burrito, or quesadilla form.
What sticks out most about the dish is that it nails the spirit of celebration that pozole is all about. And if you ask me, that’s what matters most.
More pozole variations covered this week and where to find it in Los Angeles.
