What is Chicken Tinga?
Chicken tinga is a Mexican poultry dish used in numerous savory meals as a filling, stuffing, and topping. Shredded chicken is simmered in a sauce made from tomatoes, onions, and chili peppers with specific herbs including oregano and thyme. The flavors are salty, umami, and spicy and the chicken sits in light red sauce.
Ingredients
Grilled chicken breast is meat from the chest of the chicken. It is a white meat, making it a bit dryer than the darker meat from the leg or wing. When grilled properly chicken breast can be moist, juicy and tender. The meat is an off white color with golden brown grill marks. These golden brown parts have extra flavor and a bit of crispiness. Grilled chicken has a mild taste that is meaty and savory.
The plum tomato is type of tomato with a small body and oblong shape that is somewhat bigger than the roma tomato. This tomato is less juicy than the round slicing variety, which makes it good in salads, but is mainly used for tomato sauce. It is red with a thin skin and a soft yet slightly firm flesh and seeds in its center. It has a mild acidity and tart sweetness.
The onion is a bulb vegetable, meaning its bulb and not its leaves are eaten. Onions come in many varieties, including white, yellow and red. Shallots are small and mild onions. Vidalias are sweet, while red onions are strong and sharp. The onion is usually round and has a thin dry skin around its juicy layers. This skin depends in the color of the onion, as does the flesh. The flesh, or body of the onion is made of multiple round layers, that get smaller towards the center. The flavor of onions are sharp and sweet when raw, with an astringent taste. When cooked, these flavors mellow and the sweetness emerges. Onion are a very common flavoring and ingredient for many savory dishes.
Chipotle peppers are in fact smoked and dried red jalapeno peppers. The pepper gains a dark red color that is almost brown and because they are always dried, the chipotle has a crispy, crunchy texture, until ground into powder, or reconstituted with liquid. The flavor is earthy, smoky and hot. Chipotle peppers are popular in the Southwestern US and in Mexico, which makes it a common ingredient in Tex-Mex cuisine.
Vegetable oil is obtained by extracting oil from seeds. Types of vegetable oil include canola, sunflower, corn, and safflower. Light and with a neutral taste, vegetable oils are used to fry foods, or can be used to lightly coat meats and vegetables before roasting. Vegetable oils are also used as ingredients in salad dressings and sauces.
Garlic is used in cuisines around the world and is extremely popular for its depth of flavor. The garlic bulb forms underneath the soil and is harvested once it reaches maturity. The bulb typically has thin, dry, white and flaky skin, surrounding the individual cloves. Often there are 10-12 cloves to a bulb/head of garlic. The cloves are cream colored with a strong smell and flavor that is spicy and sharp. Garlic takes on a nutty flavor in addition, when cooked. It is used in countless dishes, sauces, breads and more.
Salt is a mineral composed mostly of sodium chloride. It is the main flavoring used in food and is naturally occurring in certain foods, such as cheese, beets, meat and celery, plus many others. Salt is white and has finer granules than sugar. Many commercial salts include iodide, while others exclude it. Most salts are white, while some are naturally pale pink with minerals. Salt brings out the flavor of something and can create a tangy mouthfeel, if used in excess.
Oregano is an herb in the mint family and grows on thin and delicate stalks that produce tiny oblong leaves with tapered ends. These leaves are less than half an inch in length. Oregano has a mildly fuzzy texture and is thin and delicate. The green herb has a sharp and peppery flavor that is pungent, slightly bitter, green and a bit minty. When eaten, raw oregano creates a stringent feeling in the mouth. This herb is used in many cuisines and can be found frequently in Italian dishes, such as tomato sauce.
Thyme is an herb used in various cuisines for its gently sharp and cool pungency. A minty edge is present in its flavor. It grows on thin stalks and has very small tapered green leaves with a hint of white at the edges. The herb is often dried and takes on a muted green color. It goes well in soups and with meats, grains and vegetables.
Marjoram is an herb in the mint family and grows on thin brown stalks. The small, green oblong leaves are used fresh, or dried and ground into flakes to season food. Marjoram looks similar to oregano and the flavors are somewhat akin, with marjoram holding a more delicate flavor and without the spicy bite that oregano has. Flavors within the herb can be described as zesty, herbal and with citrus notes. Marjoram pairs well with meats, vegetables and soups.
The peppercorn plant grows in tropical climate and produces tiny black fruit. The fruit is dried and become hard. At this point it is ground into a textured powder comprised of black and grey dots. It has a flavor that is spicy, pungent and sharp. Pepper is an extremely popular spice, especially in Western cuisines and lends a gentle heat to dishes. There are different varieties of black pepper and the flavor changes subtly because of this.
