My husband and I agree on a few things in life, one being Mexican food and good margaritas! We go into the city often sans kids and we have hit up a lot of Mexican restaurants throughout NYC. And I don’t mean the standard chain places like Rosa Mexicana or Dos Caminos (although I have suffered through many a headache for the amazing pomegranate margaritas at Rosa!) I mean the small places with just a few tables, great drinks and really small menus. I usually order a pork taco just to compare, because they are either really good or really bad! (chewy pork is the worst) My favorite to date is called Barrio Chino on the Lower East side. Totally unassuming small place, but they have the best pork tacos. I love them because they have pineapple on top and that is the first place I ever tried the two flavors together in a taco. They are called Tacos al Pastor which are traditionally made with pineapple and chiles. My recipe does not have the chiles as my daughter does not love any spice but I wanted them to be a little sweet and something the whole family would love. I found the somewhat asian/caribbean flavors to work perfectly. They were even better leftover! And who doesn’t love a great crockpot recipe, so easy!!
Here is the crockpot that I use. It sears the meat right in the crockpot, game changer!
- 5-6 lbs pork roast
- 1 sliced onion
- 1 bay leaf
- 1/2 tsp powdered ginger
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- 1/2 cup fresh lime juice about 5 limes
- 3/4 cup coconut aminos can use soy or tamari sauce
- 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp Truvia (mix of sugar and stevia) *see note
- 1 tsp salt
- Mix the lime juice, coconut aminos, truvia, ginger, garlic and salt together in a bowl. This is where you could add a tsp of some chipotle or cumin seasoning to make it a little more traditional. I just add hot sauce to my taco at the end!
- Put the meat in the crockpot surrounded by sliced onions and bay leaf. I like to sear my meat before cooking, my crockpot does that right in the crockpot (which I love) but is not necessary.
- Pour the sauce over the meat, I like to put some slits in the meat with a knife so the juice gets into the meat but again un-neccesary! Cook on low for 8 hours.
- Shred meat and serve alongside sliced lime, cilantro, chopped onion, fresh pineapple, sliced radish, sour cream, mexican cheese and hot sauce.
- I served in a corn tortilla but flour is fine or even a lettuce leaf! This pork would be good on salad or even over rice.
*1/2-3/4 cup of another sweetener like sugar or honey could be used, or 1/2 tsp liquid stevia
