Vegan Birria Tacos (Quesabirria)
These vegan birria tacos (quesabirria) are crisp and spicy, and absolutely luscious when dunked in the savoury consommé! This recipe is a labour of love but it does make a LOT so you can count this as meal prep for the week ;)
Servings: 2 L of consomme (enough for ~32 tacos and consomme for dipping)
Ingredients
Chiles
- 8 guajillo dried chiles destemmed and deseeded
- 4 pasilla dried chiles destemmed and deseeded
- 3 ancho dried chiles destemmed and deseeded
- 750 mL water
For the consommé
- 1/4 cup canola or veg oil
- 1 large white onion peeled and quartered
- 5 garlic cloves
- 2 medium tomatoes destemmed and quartered
- 2 L 8 cups water
- 24 dried shiitake mushrooms
- 6 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 1 inch knob ginger peeled and sliced into rough coins
- 1 tsp coriander seed
- 1 tsp whole black peppercorns
- 4 whole cloves
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp rubbed dried thyme
- 1 tsp rubbed dried oregano
- 3 vegan beef-style bouillon cubes
- 2 tbsp mushroom broth powder or can substitute more bouillon cubes
- 1/8 tsp MSG optional but highly recommended
- 1 lump ~1-2 tbsp rock sugar (can sub brown sugar)
For the birria soy curls
- 1 lb 450 g dried soy curls
- Hot water to rehydrate the soy curls
- 3 cups of the birria consommé
- Salt to taste I added about 1 tbsp of mushroom broth powder to the soy curls
To make the quesabirria tacos
- Oil for the griddle
- 32 corn tortillas whatever colour you prefer
- Consommé to dip the tortillas
- 2 bags of vegan cheese shreds mozza or cheddar flavour, whichever you prefer. Mozza is more like queso blanco though
To serve
- 1 large white onion medium fine dice
- 1 bunch of cilantro chopped
- 2-3 limes 1 wedge per 3-4 tacos
- 1/2 cup of consommé to dip
Instructions
Chiles
- In a medium sized pot, combine your destemmed and deseeded chiles with 750 mL water and bring to a boil.
- Once at a boil, lower to a simmer and cover, simmering for 30 minutes. You may need to gently stir or rotate the chiles so they are fully hydrated.
- Remove from heat and let cool.
For the consommé
- In a large stock pot (that can handle at least 4 L), over medium high heat, sear the quartered white onion, 5 garlic cloves, and 2 medium quartered tomatoes. Some parts will get blackened a bit, that's the goal.
- Lower the heat down to medium, then add water, 24 dried shiitake mushrooms, 6 tbsp apple cider vinegar.
- In a tea bag/tea strainer/fine mesh bag, add in peeled ginger (I slice into coins), 1 tsp each coriander seed and black peppercorns, 4 cloves, and two dried bay leaves. Bring the broth to a boil then lower to a simmer and cover to cook for at least 30 minutes until the mushrooms have fully softened.
- Meanwhile, the chiles should be done boiling and may have cooled enough to go into the blender. In a high powered blender (like a Vitamix or Blendtec), combine the chiles and the boiled chile water, and everything from the pot EXCEPT the mushrooms, the spices from the broth in the tea strainer/tea bag, 3 cubes of vegan beef-style bouillon cubes, 2 tbsp mushroom broth powder, and 1/8 tsp MSG.
- Blend until completely pureed and then add back to the pot. If your blender isn't powerful enough, pour through a fine mesh strainer and then discard what you can't blend.
- I also add the mushrooms back into the pot, plus 1 lump of rock sugar and cover to keep everything simmering for at least another hour, ideally 2 hours.
- Remove mushrooms and gently squeeze out the liquid from the mushrooms. You can thinly slice these to add to your quesabirria tacos but I usually just snack on them because I live with mushroom haters.
- Taste for seasoning (add more salt if necessary), and then set aside.
Birria Soy Curls
- In a large bowl, rehydrate 1 lb of dried soy curls by covering them with hot water until softened. It should take about 10-15 minutes to fully soften. Drain and squeeze out all the excess water and then add to a large pan/wok over medium heat. You can cook this in batches, or if you pan is large enough, do it all at once.
- Add about 3 cups total of the birria consommé (you can add a bit of extra oil for crisping up the soy curls), and salt to taste (I added about 1 tbsp of mushroom broth powder) and cook until they're slightly crisped or caramelized. Remove from heat and set aside.
To make the Quesabirria tacos
- Preheat a griddle over medium heat and brush a thin layer of oil over the griddle for crispy tacos.
- Dip corn tortillas in the birria consommé and then fry on the griddle. With a griddle, you can make 3-4 tacos at a time.
- Add about 1 tbsp of vegan cheese to one half of the tortillas. Then add the birria soy curls, and top with another light sprinkle (1/2 tbsp) of vegan cheese.
- Carefully fold the other half of the tortilla over the filling and flip once the other side is crisp. Cook until both sides are crisped, and then transfer to a plate.
- Top with diced onion, cilantro, and a squeeze of lime. Serve with about 1/2 cup of consommé to dip with every serving of 3-4 tacos.
Notes
I store the birria consommé in the fridge in a huge juice pitcher or mason jars, and I usually make the soy curls 1/2 lb (225 g) at a time because my wok can't fit that much. But I end up cooking the second 1/2 lb a few days later anyway, so you can decide to cook the entire lb at once, or 1/2 lb at a time.
You can also make birria ramen with the leftover consommé from only cooking 1/2 lb of soy curls. Serve the ramen and consommé with lime, onion and cilantro of course, but we just love quesabirria tacos so much we never have enough consommé leftover to do this.