French Tacos with Chicken and Cheese Sauce, No Added Refined Sugar
International dishesBreads and SandwichesFranceAbout 1 hour 40 minutes, including 1 hour marinating the chicken
French tacos with chicken and cheese sauce come out as a hot pressed square parcel holding spiced chicken, fried potato and molten cheese sauce. This is the French version, quite unlike a Mexican taco in its squared fold and its crisp pressed shell.
The hardest part is a cheese sauce that stays smooth without clumping or splitting. A full hour of chilled marinating is what carries the seasoning into the chicken and keeps it from drying in the pan. The cheese sauce cooks over low heat with steady stirring, since high heat pulls the cheese into strings and splits the fat out at once.
This batch weighs about 1.5kg, at roughly 208 calories per 100g.
Method
Mix 30ml of olive oil, 5gr of garlic powder, 5gr of hot chili powder, 5gr of paprika, 5gr of turmeric powder, 5gr of ground ginger, a little ground pepper, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and the juice of 1 lime in a bowl.
Wash 400gr of chicken breast, cut it into bite sized cubes, put it in the bowl and mix through, then cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour.
Peel 3 medium potatoes, wash them, cut them into batons and deep fry until golden and crisp. Lift them onto paper towel, sprinkle with a little salt and toss.
Make the cheese sauce: heat 400ml of cream over low heat, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper and stir. After about 3 minutes add 100gr of shredded Emmental cheese, cook another 5 minutes and stir every minute until the sauce is smooth and thick, then take it off the heat.
Put the marinated chicken into a hot pan and cook for about 8 minutes, turning a few times until golden all over.
Heat a sandwich press and put in 1 tortilla of 30cm across for about 20 seconds, or warm it in a pan.
Spread whatever sauce you like on the tortilla, then lay on the chicken, the fried potato, the cheese sauce, 2 slices of raclette cheese and 1 slice of cheddar cut in half.
Fold the tortilla into a square or a rectangle, press it crosswise for 2 minutes, then turn it and press lengthwise for another 2 minutes. Without a press, cook it in a pan over medium heat until the shell is golden and crisp.
Tips
Raclette is hard to find in Vietnam, so sliced cheddar or sliced mozzarella takes its place.
Shredded Emmental swaps for shredded mozzarella.
Cooking cream is the right kind of cream for this sauce.
A tortilla of 30cm across is the size this parcel needs.
The fried potato has to drain completely before it goes in, as oily potato softens the shell.
Pressing in a pan works better with a heavy pot set on top, which keeps the surface flat and evenly crisp.
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