Chicken and black bean tinga tacos with watermelon salsa

Tinga is a Mexican dish where chicken is cooked with onion, tomatoes and chipotle sauce then shredded when cooked. I like to do a half chicken and half black bean combo to mix things up and reduce our meat intake. Put everything on the table to make a sharing supper for everyone to dig into. 

Time taken: 50 minutes

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, grated or crushed

1 tsp dark brown sugar

1 tsp chipotle paste (or more for a spicier finish)

1 tsp red or white wine vinegar

400g can chopped tomatoes

400g can black beans or kidney beans, drained

2 chicken skinless breasts, or

350g boneless chicken thighs

For the salsa

300g watermelon, diced into small pieces

4 spring onions, chopped

½ green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

½ small bunch coriander, chopped

juice of ½ lime

2 tbsp olive oil

flaked sea salt and freshly

ground black pepper

To serve

1 large ripe avocado, sliced or mashed 

sour cream

1 small red onion, finely sliced

and mixed with juice of ½ lime

grated cheddar cheese

coriander leaves, roughly chopped

soft corn or flour tortillas,

warmed through

• Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan or casserole dish.
• Add the onion to cook for 5 minutes or until softened and starting to turn golden. Add the garlic then cook for a further minute before stirring in the sugar, chipotle paste, vinegar, tomatoes, 200ml water and the black beans. Mix everything together and bring to a simmer. 
• Add the chicken to the pan, spooning over the sauce to cover. Put the lid on and simmer gently for 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the sauce thickened. 
• Meanwhile, make the salsa by mixing everything together in a serving bowl and seasoning with salt and pepper. 
• Once cooked, remove the chicken from the pan and sit on a plate or board. Using two forks, shred into strips and then return the shredded meat back to the sauce. 
• Serve the tinga with the salsa, avocado, sour cream, red onion, cheese and coriander. Pile everything into warm tortillas, wrap and prepare to get messy. 
•  
• Flexible: Pescatarian Swap the chicken for some chunky white fish such as cod, pollock or haddock. Let the tomato and black bean sauce cook alone for 20 minutes then add 400g fish fillets to the pan. Spoon over the sauce, cover with a lid then cook for 10 minutes. Break the fish into flakes in the pan and serve as above. 
• Get ahead The chicken can sit in the fridge for 3-4 days and be heated through when needed. The recipe can also be doubled up so you can freeze half for another time.