Vegetarian Roselle Birria Tacos

Let me start by saying that this is an amazing recipe. It is one of the tastiest Mexican foods that I have eaten in recent memory. It is spicy and has a burst of flavors and everyone in the family absolutely loved it. I am so glad to have found this recipe because it is perfect to use all the roselle hibiscus petals after making tea. And now I have a way to use the large harvest we have had this year. It does not matter if you are using fresh roselle sepals or dried ones in this recipe. The ones in the original recipe were dry whereas I used the fresh ones that I harvested today. The recipe was originally shared by a friend, Ayshica, in a wonderful gardening group called "Gardening in the Desert".  She shared this recipe from a YouTube channel called "Views on the road" and highly recommended it. Ayshica is a great cook herself and I trust her food recommendations, so I thought that I had to give this recipe a try. 

Now, this recipe requires certain Mexican chillies - Guajillo and Pasilla chillies. After making and eating the tacos I am of the firm belief, that these chillies are a key flavor ingredient for the birria tacos. These chillies lend an earthy taste which reminds me of the mole sauce. Also, when I searched for what birria was and other recipes for birria, I realized that the original version is meat based. The birria is a stew made with the meat and these chillies. However, this version is completely vegetarian and if you use non-dairy cheese, will be a 100% vegan. I did not use any broth or bouillon powder/cubes either and the result was still lip smacking delicious. The roselle sepals add a slight tart flavor. These also make the taco filling and  provide that meatiness to the taco, that 3-4 tacos per person was a pretty good serving size for most of the family members. I think any vegetable that retains its texture after being boiled can be a used, like jackfruit or mushrooms. 

The way I understand it, birria is a stew and then the meaty portion of the stew is used to fill the taco and then the taco is then grilled/cooked and eaten by dipping it into the consomme or liquid part of the stew. The stew that I made with the roselle sepals was quite soup like. Then I used the roselle sepals and carrots which were cooked in the sauce as the taco filling. And then we dipped the tacos in the soup and also drank sipped it along with the tacos. I also made the chilli oil which was mentioned in the original recipe and modified it based on what I had on hand. The combination of flavors was perfect for a cold weeknights dinner. And so so delicious!! 

The highlight of the recipe was that I was able to use a lot of our homegrown produce. Roselle hibuscus was the star of the recipe, but it was great to be able to use homegrown carrots and cilantro as well. If you would like to know more details on growing, harvesting and preserving Roselle Hibiscus, do check out our videos on our YouTube channel, "Gardening and Cooking Made Easy".

How to grow Roselle Hibiscus

How to harvest and store Roselle Hibiscus

Ingredients

For the chilli oil

1/2 cup oil

3 guajillo chillies

2 spicy chillies, dry (I used Indian dry chillies)

1 bay leaf or 1 tsp broken bay leaf pieces

1/2 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp clove powder

salt to taste

1/4 tsp sugar

For the birria

1.5 cups fresh roselle petals. If using dried ones, I would recommend using 1 cup

6-7 carrots, cut into small bite sized pieces, appropriate for filling in the taco

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 medium red onion, cut into half

3 garlic pods, whole

1 pasilla chilli

4 guajillo chillies

10 cups of water

1 bayleaf

salt to taste

1/4 tsp sugar

For the tacos

corn tortillas

cooked roselle sepals and carrots from the birria/stew

finely cut cabbage

finely cut white or yellow onion

cilantro

chilli oil

shredded/grated cheese

Method

To make the chilli oil

Remove the stem of the chillies. In a coffee grinder or blender in which you can grind spice to a fine powder, grind the chillies and the bay leaf into a fine powder.  If you want, you can also remove the seeds, however I did not as I wanted the oil to have the heat and spice from the chillies. Heat 1/2 cup of oil (I used olive oil) and once it is warm (do not heat to very high temperature to avoid spices burning), add the chilli and bay leaf powder. Stir, and then add the garlic powder, clove powder, black pepper powder, sugar and salt. Cook all the spices for a couple of mins, making sure to not overheat the oil. Turn off the heat and set aside. 

To make the birria/stew

Boil 4 cups of water and pour over the roselle sepals (dried or fresh). Set aside for 15 mins. Strain and use the water to make tea or lemonade. Add 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar to the sepals, toss them in it and set aside. 

In a pressure cooker, Instant Pot or a regular deep sauce pan, addd the remaining 6 cups of water. Then to it add the onion, cut into two halves. Then remove the stem of the chillies and add those to the water along with the garlic cloves. If you don't like too much spice remove most of the seeds of the chillies. Add 1/4 cup of carrots. Then cook this mixture. If you are cooking it in the pressure cooker, cook for 1 whistle. In the instant pot, cook for 5 mins. Naturally release the pressure. If you are cooking it in the saucepan, cover and cook for 10-15 mins once it starts boiling, till the chillies are softened. Now, using a skimmer spoon, fish out the chillies, garlic and onion.  Let them cool down a little and blend in the blender to a fine paste. This is your salsa or sauce that flavors the stew.

Add the paste back to the water. Then, add the rest of the carrots, the roselle sepals along with the vinegar and 1 bay leaf and cook for another 10 mins till the roselle and carrots are softened. If using a pressure cooker, cook till it reaches pressure and turn off heat. Instant Pot timing will be 2 mins. Let pressure cookers naturally release pressure. 

Taste, add the salt and sugar and stir well. Then fish out the carrot pieces and roselle sepals and place into a bowl. Heat the liquid and boil it for a few mins. 

To assemble the taco

Use a brush or spoon and smear the corn tortilla on both sides with the chilli oil. Then filling a tbsp of the roselle, carrot filling, cabbage, onions, cilantro and shredded cheese. On a hot pan, cook the taco on both sides till the cheese melts. 

Serve with the consomme/soup part of the stew. Dip the tacos in the soup and eat. 

Tips

The chillies are dry, so it is easy to just split the chillies into two and shake them to remove the seeds. Or remove the stem and shake the seeds out. I made corn tortillas with masa harina flour and the taste was amazing using fresh tortillas. If possible, I recommend it. If the taco is opening up (I do tend to overfill it), place a spoon on top of the taco as it cooks on one side. Then as you flip it over and cook on the other side, it should retain its folded taco shape (see photo above). If you are using other vegetables, then I recommend adding tomatoes along with the onions and garlic and puree those as well. Else, add lemon juice to the stew at the end of the cooking, before serving.