Bea's CHIPOTLE AND TEQUILA BRAISED BEEF SHORT RIBS

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
8-10 pieces of 3-inch long beef short ribs
1 tsp salt
2 tsp black pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp chili powder
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 cup of carrots chopped
6 (I use way more) garlic cloves, chopped
2-3 tbsp tomato paste
2-4 chipotle in Adobo, plus one tbsp of sauce (depending on how smokey/spicy you like it)
1/4 cup of tequila (I prefer gold tequila)
1 14 oz. can low-salt beef broth with 2 cups of water
2 cans diced tomatoes, drained
2 bay leafs
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup or more of fresh chopped cilantro
Lime wedges, to squeeze and garnish

Directions:
1.  Combine spices then divide the mixture in half.  Sprinkle half of the spice mixture all over short ribs. Cover ribs and chill for 1 -24 hours.
2.  Preheat oven to 350.  Heat olive oil in large pot over med-high heat.  In batches brown and sear all sides of ribs and transfer to plate.  Reduce heat to medium and add more olive oil if needed and onion, carrots, garlic and reserved spice mixture to the pot.  Cook until onion and carrots are soft, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes.
3.  Add tomato paste, chipotle and Adobo sauce to pot and stir frequently, allowing the tomato paste to caramelize a bit, roughly 5 minutes.
4.  Deglaze pot with tequila scraping up browned bits from bottom of the pan, let cook for about a minute, then add beef broth/ water and bring to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer, add drained tomatoos and bay leafs, return the ribs to the pot, meat side down.  Cover and cook in the oven until ribs are fork tender, about 3 hours.  Every hour, rotate the ribs in the pot so they cook evenly.
5.  When the ribs are fork tender/falling of the bone, remove pot from oven and remove lid.  Spoon off the fat floating on the surface.  Place pot over medium-low heat and simmer uncovered until sauce coats spoon and has thickened a bit, about 10-15 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste if needed.
6.  Serve over mashed potatoes or alone, spoon sauce on top and sprinkle with cilantro and serve with lime wedges (VERY important to squeeze the lime juice on top of the meat, it makes such a difference!)