Persian Tacos W/Vegetarian Option

Submitted by COOKGIRl

"Local recipe. For a vegetarian version, substitute any seasonal vegetable such as eggplant, summer squash/zucchini, acorn squash, portabello mushrooms, etc. either grilled or roasted. *FRESH* herbs only, please! Even quicker to prepare if you use leftover shredded meat or vegetables!"

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photo by DailyInspiration

Ready In:: 20mins
Ingredients:: 20
Serves:: 3-4

ingredients

6 -8 corn tortillas (5 inch, I made my own using masa harina dry mix)
Garnishes
fresh Baby Spinach (or combination, can also sub your favorite salad greens like butter lettuce, red leaf, etc.) or fresh baby arugula (or combination, can also sub your favorite salad greens like butter lettuce, red leaf, etc.)
tomatoes, diced small
lime slice
yellow hot chili pepper (we like yellow jalapenos)
green onion, thinly sliced
red onion, diced small
cucumber, diced small
avocado, diced small
fresh cilantro
fresh basil
of fresh mint
plain yogurt, drained
Meat mixture
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1 lb ground chicken or 1 lb ground turkey
1 garlic clove, peeled and finely minced (I used 1/2 teaspoon dried minced garlic because my fresh garlic had gone bad)
salt or pepper
1 -2 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
1 -2 teaspoon sumac, to taste
¹⁄₂ lime, juice of

directions

Prep the garnishes and arrange on a serving platter. Cover until ready to use and set aside or refrigerate.
In a large skillet heat up olive oil on medium heat. Brown the ground beef until half way cooked then add the garlic. Cook until the meat is no longer pink; approximately 5 minutes.
Remove skillet from stove and season meat with salt and pepper, to taste. Now stir in about 1 tablespoon of pomegranate molasses and 1 teaspoon of sumac. Taste test. Add more of either-to your preference.
Serve the meat warm with the corn tortillas and platter of garnishes. We served simple dark red kidney beans on the side which were lightly seasoned with cumin powder, salt and pepper. I also slightly mashed the beans, too.

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Reviews

I made two taco's for my dinner a short while back. Used ground beef (what I had) and Zatar seasoning as I had just made fresh batch of it. Veggies of choice were: olives, diced tomato, green leaf lettuce and fresh mint. Topped with yogurt with a bit more Zatar in it for a really yummy change of pace.

Annacia
These tacos are absolutely delicious! What a wonderful idea for tacos -- love the pomegranate molasses and sumac. Used white corn tortillas and made a garnish platter with cucumber, avocado, tomatoes, red onion and basil. These tacos will be on my menu often -- so healthy and flavorful. Adding to my Best of 2013 Cookbook for sure. Made for the NA/ME tag, September, 2013.

DailyInspiration
I made a vegetarian version of this for my lunch today with an eggplant from my garden and it was delicious! :) I used a small eggplant (Black Beauty variety; was not quite 1/2 lb), diced & tossed with olive oil. Cooked in a nonstick skillet until browned & soft, then tossed with lime juice, pom molasses, za'atar, salt & pepper (forgot the garlic, darn it!) all to taste. Served with diced cucumber, tomato, basil, mint & lettuce - all from the garden too - and greek yogurt (dang it, forgot the green onion also!) I have more eggplants growing so expect I will make this again soon! Thanks for sharing! :)

flower7