Jicama Tacos with Veggies

7-jicama tacos with veggies

By jwalsh (Flickr: IMG_0072.JPG) [CC-BY-2.0], via Wikimedia Commons

Mexican food goes Paleo with jicama tacos!

The flour tortillas must have forced you to turn your face away from wonderful Mexican treats like burritos, tacos ad fajitas. What a torture! But it’s time to perform a happy dance since Jicama will make you revive your Mexican food-chomping days.

When thinly sliced, this root vegetable serves as a great alternative for the tortillas. It’s fresh, crunchy and has a subtle nutty flavor which goes well with the spicy flavors of a Mexican filling. Its Mexican roots further strengthen its chance of being an obvious choice for taco shells.

However, many might argue jicama to be unfit for Paleo diet, owing to its leguminous family traits. But the negative impacts of a leguminous plant lies in its fruits or the legumes and jicama, being its root, hardly poses any threat to our health. So just chill and enjoy your jicama tacos peacefully! But don’t forget to spice things up with a zesty sauce for dipping.

You can go savory with a tangy avocado sauce or tickle your sweet tooth with mango-beet sauce. Can’t decide between the two? Why not give them both a shot!

Ingredients:

Serves: 2

  • 1 large jicama, peeled and thinly sliced
  • Assorted vegetables (carrots, cucumber, bell pepper etc), julienned

For the mango-beat sauce:

  • ½ cup assorted fresh herbs (rosemary, mint and basil)
  • ½ cup fresh beet juice
  • 2 ripe mangoes, peeled, stoned and chopped

For the avocado sauce:

  • 1 avocado, halved, stoned and finely chopped
  • ¼ cup red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
  • Juice of 3 small limes
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves
  • 2 tbsp dried herbs

Method:

  • Use a mandolin to cut the jicama into thin slices and soak them in warm water to make them pliable enough to be folded into tacos.
  • To make the mango-beet sauce, dump all its ingredients in a blender and whiz at high speed until they blend together into a smooth puree.
  • Scrap it out into a small serving bowl and set aside.
  • Make the avocado sauce in a similar fashion in a clean blender and set it aside in another serving bowl.
  • To assemble, toss the julienned veggies together in a bowl and place a heaping tbsp of them along the middle of each jicama slice.
  • Roll up the taco and place it onto a large serving platter.
  • Make rest of the jicama tacos similarly and arrange them, side by side, on the same serving platter.
  • Serve alongside bowls of mango-beet sauce and avocado sauce.
  • Dip, munch and have fun!