Beef-tongue tostadas

Recipes and food styling by Fiona Smith, photography by Aaron McLean

	1 beef tongue, (about 1kg weight)
	1 onion, quartered
	2 bay leaves
	1 tablespoon peppercorns
	bunch green stalks such as celery leaves, parsley or coriander stalks
	1 cup coriander leaves
	1 red onion, finely chopped
	2 tablespoons mint, finely chopped
	1 tablespoon oregano, finely chopped
	3 jalapeno or other green chillies, deseeded and finely chopped
	juice of one lime plus extra lime to serve
	1 teaspoon sugar
	½ teaspoon salt
	5 tablespoons olive oil
	½ telegraph cucumber
	8 x 10-12cm soft tortillas, corn or flour
	1 avocado, sliced in 8
	sesame seeds to sprinkle

1.	Heat the oven to 150°C.
2.	Scrub the tongue and put in a Dutch oven with the onion, bay, peppercorns and greens, cover with water and season well with salt.
3.	Put in the oven and cook for 6 hours until very tender.
4.	Remove the tongue from the water, cool enough to handle but still warm, and peel off the tough outer skin and discard.
5.	Shred the meat and set aside.
6.	For the cucumber pico de gallo salsa, finely chop half the coriander leaves and put in a bowl with the red onion, mint, oregano, chilli, lime, sugar and salt and finally stir in 3 tablespoons of the olive oil.
7.	Set aside for a few hours for the flavours to develop.
8.	Just before serving, heat the oven to 200°C.
9.	Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise, scrape out the seeds and discard.
10.	Chop the cucumber finely and combine with the onion and herb mixture and the remaining coriander.
11.	Arrange the tortillas on an oven tray, brush with a little of the remaining oil and sprinkle with salt.
12.	Bake for 10 minutes until crunchy.
13.	Heat a large frying pan to hot, heat the remaining oil then add the shredded tongue and fry to heat through and brown.
14.	Pile the tongue onto the tostadas and top with the salsa.