Review of Mande’s Korean Inspired Tacos, plus Chili Lime Corn Recipe

My lovely friend from grad school, Mande, is one of my biggest blogging inspirations.  She blogs over at Klein Dot Co, and her bubbly personality comes through in every post. She takes amazing pictures and shares family-friendly recipes and crafts on her blog, and she does great themed posts like Taco Tuesday and Thirsty Thursday.  I wish I could be that organized!

I was on Pinterest when her post on Korean Inspired Pork Tacos caught my eye. We are not big meat-eaters, but I can’t resist fusion cooking, so I pinned it on my TO DO: Summer board. I made them recently, and man they were good! They definitely made a quick move to my YUM board!

This recipe does not call for salsa of any kind, which worried me a bit.  I am a sauce person.  But to my delight, salsa was absolutely unnecessary.

There was every flavor happening in this pork taco filling.  Subtly spicy, slightly sweet, a hint of acidity and a whole lot of umami. Much of this flavor was due to the addition of the Korean fermented bean and dried pepper paste, gochujang. This is a key ingredient in many Korean dishes including Kim Chee and Bulgogi.

Gochujang? Yes!

I spent awhile searching my local Asian market for this gochujang. Even the clerk didn’t know what it was. She pointed me toward this after I told her it was a Korean chili paste. Notice it doesn’t say gochujang? I had to consult the interweb to tell me that this was in fact what I was looking for!

Once I located it, the rest of the recipe was a snap. I just put all the sauce ingredients in the crock pot, cut some cabbage and radishes, and we had amazing tacos with very little effort on my part. I love that because it freed me up to make my own corn tortillas and to try out a new side dish, chili lime corn.

Thank you, Mande!

Check out her recipe on Klein Dot Co.  You can pair it with her suggested side dish, creamy herbed corn, or you can check out my quick and easy chili lime corn on the cob recipe below!

CHILI LIME CORN ON THE COB A.K.A. John’s New ObsessionIngredients2 ears of corn, husked and cleaned 1 tbs. butter 1 tsp. ground pasilla chili pepper (or other mild, ground pepper) 1/2 tsp. dried oregano, crumbled 1/4 tsp. garlic powder 1/4 cumin 1/4 smoked paprika 1/4 tsp salt Juice of 1/2 a lime Instructions Set the broiler to high. Place the ears of corn on a broiling pan. Broil on one side for 8 minutes. Meanwhile, mix together the ground pasilla, oregano, garlic powder, cumin, smoked paprika, and salt. Alternatively, you can use 1 tablespoon of chili powder to replace everything but the salt. After 8 minutes, flip the corn over using tongs and allow to cook an additional 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the broiler. Keeping the corn on the pan, slather each ear of corn with ½ a tablespoon of butter rolling it to evenly distribute the butter. Sprinkle half of the spice mixture on each ear of corn, continuing to roll to evenly distribute the spices. Return to the broiler and crisp the spices under the flame, approximately 1 minute per side. Remove from the broiler and squeeze lime juice over each ear.

I hope you try both Mande’s tacos and my corn on the cob.  Both recipes are simple and absolutely delicious.

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