Pork Barbacoa (Like Chipolte)

[Peffermintchili 0]

1 Pork Loin ( approximately 500 grams, but you can cook up to 1 Kilo of pork or beef in this)

1 220 gram can of Chipotle Chili's in Adobo.

4 large cloves of garlic

3 bay leaves

1 chicken Stock Cube

2 or 3 whole cloves

4 peppercorns

2 table spoons of mexican oregano

2 tablespoons of olive oil

2 tablespoons of ground cumin

couple turns of the salt grinder

2 cups of Water (or enough to cover the meat in the container you're cooking it in)

You will also need a slow cooker (Crock Pot) or a dutch oven you can use on the stove on really low heat for approximately 7 hours.

Set up your slow cooker

Put the can of chili's with all of the sauce in the crock pot.

Add one cup of the water & two tablespoons of olive oil.

add all the spices and garlic.

Turn on the slow cooker and let those things warm up.

Slice the pork or beef into large chunks and lightly braise the meat until it's lightly brown in a skillet or pan big enough to hold the amount of meat you're cooking. Do not over cook, you don't want it not crispy or cooked through. Just braise it until the meat is sealed and no pink flesh shows on the outside (it will still be rare on the inside). The secrete to not using too much oil here is using cooking spray and then adding just a bit of water so it comes off the pan if needed.

Add the meat to the crockpot with tongs. Add more water to cover the tops of the meat. Think of it as a nice spicy warm bath.

Make sure the crock pot is on low. Cook for 6 hours or until the meat when picked up with tongs squeezes apart and the flesh is cooked inside completely.

When it's done, pick the meat out with tongs, put it in a bowl and shred with two forks.

Take the whole chipotle chilis and put them in your food processor or in a blender. Find the cloves of garlic you chucked in and put them in with the chilis.

Strain the liquid to take out the bay leaves and oregano, peppercorns and cloves. These while adding flavor to the mix wont really taste nice and wont blend smooth.

Add the strained liquid to the blender or food processor with the chilis and garlic and pulse until smooth.

Add to the shredded meat and allow to sit together and stew some more.

I will warn you this recipe is Spicy. If you want to take the spice level down a bit don't add the chili's to the blended mix above just discard when you strain the juice.

Now for some nutritional info:

1 - 220 gram of La Costena Chipotle Chili's in Adobo has 126 cals, 3 grams of fat, 25 grams of carbs (19 grams from Fibre and 6 grams from sugar) and 6 grams of Protein.

The meat should be trimmed of fat and should be lean.

Each tablespoon of olive oil (I use extra virgin) has 45 cals and 5 grams of fat.

Each clove of Garlic has 1 carb and 4 calories.

1 Oxo chicken stock cube: 15 cals, 0.2 grams of fat, 2.2 carbs, 0.9 grams of protein.

3 ounces of Pork Loin has 122 cals, 3 grams of fat, 0 carbs and 22 gram of protein. I would suspect your portion will be roughly this size. 500 Grams is roughly 18 ounces.

You should get 6 3 ounce servings or 12 1.5 ounce servings.

So the totals per serving based on 6 servings:

Fat: 5.2 grams of fat

Carbs: 5.2 carbs

Calories: 163

Protein: 23 grams of protein.

I would put this over some romaine lettuce with black Beans a dollop of fage yogurt or very low fat sour cream.

I would say this is not for people who still have any food restrictions or who don't like spicy food.

The nutritional info is based on what I've used in my kitchen. What you have in yours might be different.

I should also add that when you go to use the meat you let the juice run off it. You don't eat it like a Soup. I don't know how much the calories are without the juice so I've just kept them there.

[mp8btpc 33]

That looks DELICIOUS! I am going to have to try that one day this week. Could a person use chicken instead? If so what cut of chicken should I get?

[BlackBerryJuice 349]

As soon as I saw "like Chipotle," my eyeballs nearly fell out of my skull. My boyfriend went to the States a few weeks ago and I actually made him bring me back a barbacoa bol. The customs officer was amused.

[Cknorte 7]

you can use chicken or pork. I've even used beef.

You can skip the chipotle chile all together or just use a few. These are SPICY! so beware....we're lucky we really love spicy food here at home, so this is a weekly recipe for us.

My hubby eats them with traditional tortilla wraps and I use the low cal/low carb kind (50 calories each)....I can have a taco and about 1.5-2oz of meat mixture.....and I am stuffed....

[Peffermintchili 0]

I would personally use bone in thighs or drumsticks or breasts (removing the skin of course because that will make it really fatty). I recommend leaving the bone in as it will hold the meat together during the long cooking process so it doesn't fall apart into oblivion. I imagine this would lend itself really nicely to Turkey as well.

CkNorte is correct - these chili's are not to be played with and it will get hotter the longer it sits in the mix. You could just use the Adobo Sauce or Mole Sauce which can be bought in most US Grocery stores.

Blackberry - I use to live in California (now living in the North East of England) so I had to find a way to get my Chipotle fix because they have nothing here that resembles it :-( This is probably healthier though as we can control what goes in it.

Tonight I'm having mine Bol style - no tortilla but with some lovely chopped romaine lettuce, black Beans and some fage and a sprinkle of cheese.