A shortcut to quick meals from south of the border

Good food memories from childhood offer more than pleasant flavor recall. Vicky Rangel of Mountain View, California, remembers tinga, a classic slow-braised meat dish from her family home in Michoacán, Mexico. She fits that tasty legacy into her faster-paced life here with a versatile chili- and onion-spiked version that starts with cooked chicken. Pile the quick-cooking mixture on lettuce for a main-dish salad, onto crisp tortillas for tostadas, in soft tortillas for tacos or quesadillas, or on bread for sandwiches ― or spoon it onto tortilla chips for a great party appetizer.

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