Indian Chicken Taco #Recipe #Sponsored

I participated in a campaign on behalf of Mom Central Consulting for Hood. I received product samples to facilitate my review and a promotional item as a thank you for participating.

     I have a huge weakness.  That weakness is a good, savory, saucy comfort food.  One of my favorites is the taco.  Taco soup, Taco salad, Taco pizza, and of course the regular crunchy taco that starts to get soft from the sauce half way through eating it... Mmmm!  One of my other favorites is Indian Chicken.  A recipe that I have tailored over time from it's original source to become easier to make and just as yummy.  This week I figured that I would combine my two favorites and make myself the Indian Chicken Taco with bacon, caramelized onions, and mushrooms.
     The very first thing that I did was prepare my ingredients.  This part was pretty easy.  The most time consuming part was to cook the bacon.  While the bacon started cooking, I mixed the sauce, cut the onion and drained the can of mushrooms... I also did pretty much everything else while bacon cooked in the background.

     This sauce is super yummy.  So yummy that when I first started making it, I used it just about every day for the better part of a year.
     You start with a base of sour cream and add in cilantro, lemon pepper seasoning, cumin, chilli powder, oil, garlic juice.  The most important spices in the sauce are the cumin and the chilli powder.  CUMIN, not Curry, I've made this scatterbrained mistake before and it was ugly.  Make sure you read those labels!
     From all the times that I have cooked it I can say for certain that McCormick chilli powder is a must in this particular recipe.  Sometimes I mix just the spices and use it as a rub.  Other brands of chilli powder are fine for that, but in a sauce go with McCormick.  Trust me.

     As far as the sour cream, I like to use Hood Sour Cream for the base.  Why?  Well, I figure that they take so much care into making sure the milk is in LightBlock Bottles and all that to keep in essential vitamins, I figure they must take extra care in all their products, so I feel safe with Hood.  Plus, Hood All Natural Sour Cream in the red container has absolutely no preservatives or artificial ingredients and I like that!  You can find tons of recipes and cooking tips on the Hood Sour Cream website.  We usually use Hood Sour Creams as a base to all of our sauces and we also like to use it to top our tacos or for making dipping sauces.  There is just so much that you can do with it!
     In this recipe, you must use an all natural whole milk sour cream, not a Fat-free or Light sour cream because there is a chance that the heat will curdle the cream during cooking if there is an insufficient fat level in the sauce.

     As soon as the sauce is mixed together, it's time to add the chicken.  Here is where I saved myself the hassle and just bought precooked chicken breast.  I cut myself some slack in these areas :)  So I cooked just until it was warm, but if it's raw chicken then of course cook until it is heated through and safe to eat.

     As the chicken is cooking, I use a little bit of butter and place it in a pan with the mushrooms and the onions and cook until the onions caramelize.  The onions will be caramelized when they are golden brown and taste sweet.

     Then it's the fun part, assembly!  Now I love almost all foods, so mine is easy to assemble, I just add a bit of everything and wrap it up.  Some of my kids preferred just mushrooms, so next time I might cook them separate from the onions, and some kids preferred no vegetables at all *sigh*

     Here is the actual recipe:

Indian Chicken Tacos

12 Soft or hard taco shells
4 chicken breasts, cut into 1" strips
1 C. Hood All Natural Sour Cream
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning
1 Tbsp. McCormick Chilli powder
1 Tbsp. juice from jar of minced garlic
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. cilantro

Extra optional toppings:
1/2 lb bacon
spinach or lettuce
1 small can sliced mushrooms, drained
1 medium onion, chopped into thin slices
shredded cheese
Ranch dressing

Directions:
Cut bacon in half length wise and place on skillet.  Cook bacon on medium heat.

Meanwhile, mix the yogurt, oil, spices, and garlic juices together.  Add to chicken and place over medium heat.  It the chicken is raw, cook until the chicken is thoroughly heated and no longer pink.  If the chicken is precooked, then heating until warm is sufficient.  DO NOT over heat, medium heat is perfect.

While the bacon and chicken cook, start the onions and mushrooms.  Add sliced onion and 1 small drained can of mushrooms to a frying pan with a bit of butter and cook over medium heat until the onions are golden colored and sweet tasting.

To assemble, start with a soft or hard taco shall or wrap, add spinach or lettuce as desired, topped with cooked chicken strips, bacon, mushrooms and onions, and shredded cheese.  Top with Indian sauce or Ranch if you wish and enjoy!