Friday, 17 June 2016

Taco (Tuesdays) Martes!!!

From Mole to Tamale! Lush guacamole to Elote- Mexican food is quite the party in itself! I’ve always loved the big-cheesy-burrito at the local takeaway, it must be an obvious indicator of my addiction when the burly waiter on seeing me would shout out ‘The usual today senorita?’(eh,hm) With a sheepishly big smile, I nod a silly nod and tuck into 10 minutes of heaven!

I must say, I had quite conveniently succumbed to the notion of Mexican cooking being ‘over the top complicated’. I felt certain ,with my amateur (read super basic) cooking skills, that I wouldn’t turn out to be the Mexican cooking gaucho- even in my wildest of dreams –until I had a telly moment on a Saturday morning , As I watch Anna Jones whip up some Black Bean delicacy only to kindle a Mexican inferno in me!

Anna’s recipe is refreshingly easy and with tons of vegetables, it really qualifies to be a super-meal!Black Beans is a power house of proteins and has amazing nutritional value-it’s even said to boost weight loss!

This meal mainly comprises of 4 elements- glazy black beans, rich spicy gravy, guacamole and salsa.

Serves 2

Cooking time:20-30 mins approx

Ingredients

For the beans

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

olive oil, for frying

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chipotle paste or 1 red chilli, finely chopped

2 x 400g tins black beans

sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

½ white Onion

½ cup water

For the salsa

20 cherry tomatoes

½ red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

few sprigs fresh coriander, leaves picked

½ lime, juice only

extra virgin olive oil, to taste

For the guacamole

1 ripe avocado, stone removed and peeled

½ lime, juice only

For the sweet chilli sauce

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

½ carrot, finely chopped

250ml/9fl oz good-quality vegetable stock

1 tbsp ground cumin

3 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp cider vinegar

1 tsp sea salt

1 tbsp chipotle paste, or to taste

½ lemon, juice only

To serve

8 wheat or corn tortillas

4 free-range eggs, fried

handful of grated cheese, such as manchego or queso fresco

bunch breakfast radishes, cleaned and chopped

Chopped Red Cabbage

Cherry tomatoes

Grilled Corn

natural, sheep or coconut milk yoghurt (optional)

a few coriander sprigs

Method

Heat the oil in a pan and add thinly sliced onion and garlic once the oil is warm. Add the cinnamon, cumin, and cook for a few minutes and then in goes the Canned Beans. I drained the juices in the can and just added the beans alone to the pan. Add some fresh water to cook the beans, this would take approx. 5 mins –once the beans are soft and tender add salt to taste and set aside.

The Sweet Chilli Sauce will last you more than a meal and you can easily store in a glass jar and put it in the fridge. In a pan, heat the oil, add the finely chopped onion and carrot, Sauté till the vegetables are soft.Add the stock and other ingredients apart from the lemon and allow it to boil.Once the gravy thickens take it from the flame and allow it cool(***super important***) and then use a blender to blend the gravy to a smooth sauce.

Check for seasoning and finally a good squeeze of lemon to give the gravy a good punch! If chipotle sauce isn’t available in your local super market you can use red chilli and had tiny bit of tamarind as it would give the tangy sour flavour.

For the Salsa finely chop up the tomatoes, the red chilli. Once this is done add the coriander and squeeze some lemon- Tadah that’s job done!

Guacamole is super easy –roughly chop up the avocado, add some salt, pepper, and big squeeze of lemon. I avoided chilli in my guacamole, as there was loads of heat in all the other elements.

Chop up the radishes, red cabbage, cherry tomato and any vegetable you are in the mood for and keep it ready for serving.

Heat some corn tortilla on a griddle pan or alternatively you can use tacos as well. Machengo and Queso Fresco are the most popular Cheeses used in Mexican cuisine.