Enchiladas Verdes

There are two ways to do this, the cheating shortcut way and the good-'ol-start-start-from-scratch way. Comin up first, the shortcut.

Prep time: 10 min
Cooking time: 10 min
Serves: 4

• 8 corn tortillas
• 1 12oz bottle of tomatillo salsa (Trader Joe's for preference!). This should have tomatillos, onions, chiles and other minor ingredients.
• 1 handful fresh cilantro leaves
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 6 tbs sour cream

For the filling:

• 8 tbs shredded cheese (Trader Joe's Mexican blend for preference)
  OR
• Mixed vegetables (peppers, eggplant, mushrooms, onions, zucchini, etc) cut in long strips and grilled with olive oil and salt
  OR
• Shredded chicken
  OR
• Beans: refried, Cuban style black, Mexican pinto, whatever

Remember that filling goes inside the tortillas and make the filling accordingly.

Preheat the over to 350F.
Toss the cilantro into a blender. Follow with garlic, salsa and lastly, sour cream. Whizz until a coarse puree is formed. If too tart, add more sour cream and a little salt.
Pour some sauce to cover the bottom of a flat baking dish. Toast the tortillas lightly in a pan, with or without oil. Spread them out, spoon in the filling and fold over to form semi-circles. Lay the tortillas in the pan, overlapping. (Put the first one in so that the circular side is up against the wall of the dish and then lay the next one with its circular side over the first one's flat side.) Spoon the rest of the sauce over them so that they're are covered. Bake for 10 minutes. Serve hot!


The sauce from scratch:

• 8 corn tortillas
• 8 tomatillos
• 8 green onions
• 2 serrano chiles, seeded
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 6 tbs sour cream
• 1 handful fresh cilantro leaves
  

Whizz in blender and follow the recipe as above!

The Corn Thing

Okay I was hungry and I found corn in the fridge, so I made

"THE CORN THING"

Corn (frozen or fresh) : 1 cup
Spring Onions : 2
Cajun Pepper Powder : To taste
Salt : To taste
Lemon Juice : 1 tablepoon
Olive Oil : 1 tablepoon

Heat oil in a pan, and add onions, sliced finely. Fry until softened and then add corn. Fry for another two minutes and then add lemon juice, peppers and salt. Continue to push around the stuff in the pan until you are satisfied with their degree of cookedness, and then remove.

Voila!

Midnight snack!

Goat Cheese Pizzettes

So this is a recipe I concocted based on the amount of peppers and goat cheese in my fridge that could go to waste...

You need:

Baby spinach
Goat cheese, crumbled
Onion, sliced fine, can use green onions too
Bell pepper, I used red, you can use any, sliced fine
Olive oil
Garlic cloves
Salt
Bread

Preheat toaster oven to 400F.

Crush two or three cloves of garlic into the olive oil. I used three cloves for 1/3 cup of oil.

Brush the bread with garlic oil. I used about 2 tsps for one slice. Put a handful of baby spinach leaves on the bread. Add sliced onions and peppers. Drizzle another spoonful of garlic oil on the veggies. Pile on as much goat cheese as you would like. Sprinkle salt to taste.

Bake in toaster oven for 10-15 minutes depending on how crispy you'd like the "crust".

Eat up! Preferably with nice red wine.

This is really easy, you can go wild with this. Add mushrooms, whatever. The only thing is that veggies have to be sliced fine otherwise they won't cook in time. You can also use pizza dough to make pizzas, in that case I woudl pre-bake the crust for about five minutes otherwise the spinach will die. I like the bread version because it uses up leftover bread and I don't risk contaminating my cultures the next day with any lurking yeast from the pizza dough (Yes, it happens, despite gloves!).

Quesadillas with Cheese and Vegetables

Quick-fix lunch for all us in Ye Forn Lands.

• Shredded cheese [You can grate if you're enthu enough. Trader Joe's Mexican blend for preference. Cheddar, queso blanco and Monterrey Jack]
• Tortillas [Trader Joe's sundried tomato and basil flour in this case]
• Veggies of choice, chopped long and thin [Onions and peppers are a good staple]

Heat oil in frying pan. Toss veggies in with salt, let them cook about 5-10 min. I hate crunchiness so I let em cook. Lay out a tortilla. Sprinkle cheese across half. Lay out veggies as you wish. Sprinkle more cheese. Fold over. Toast in frying pan till cheese melts. About 1 min each side should do. Eat.

Goes well with orange juice and the Colbert Report.

Chole (with Alu)

YUM!

Serves: 2-3
Preparation time: 10 min
Cooking time: 30 min

1 16 oz can chole/chana/garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1 medium onion, chopped fine
2 medium potatoes, diced to about 1 cm cubes, peeled if you wish
1 tsp ginger paste
1 tsp haldi
1 1/2 tsp dhania
1/2 tsp jeera
1 tsp chana masala
5 tbs tomato paste or 2 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped fine
2 tsp oil
salt to taste

Heat oil in pot. Fry ginger paste for 30 seconds. Add onions and fry till translucent. Add spices and stir. Add tomato paste and fry for about 1 min. Add potatoes. Fry for 1 min. Add chana. Add water to cover the chana and potatoes. Add salt. Cover and cook for 20 min.

Voila!
YUM!

Quesadillas and Tequila salsa

My first recipe here...

In keeping with the green onions and 10 minutes or less meme, here is my quesadilla recipe. Minkie, thou remeberest?

Need

Wholewheat tortillas, burrito size (I recommend Trader Joe's, but I usually do)
Shredded Cheese

Salsa, made according to following recipe,
2 tomatoes, chopped into small pieces
2 green onions
1 clove garlic
A small fistful of coriander/cilantro, chopped well
1 jalapeno chile, seeded and chopped, optional
2-3 tbsps really good olive oil
Dash of tequila
Salt

Combine all ingredients for salsa, ergo you have salsa!
(Would recommend making double the amount of salsa to go with chips and cooking-time margaritas)

Heat a tortilla on a skillet, medium high heat. Once it is warm all the way through put some cheese on one half. Use your discretion about cheese. Remember, quesadillas are generally folded over, so plan accordingly. Add as much or as little salsa as you like. Fold over, heat well on both sides, the cheese should melt.

Comen!

Chicken with Balsamic Vinegar

Alritey then! I 'invented' this dish a few weeks ago, and it really does come out lovely. Its also ridiculously easy and very quick.

Prep time (including chopping) - 10 Mins

• Boneless Chicken Breasts - as many as you want, either dice them or cut them into strips. I usually dice, but whatever shape is cool.
• Green Onions - 2 for every chicken breast, sliced small right upto the ends.
• Garlic - Either fresh or paste. If fresh say about two cloves for each breast, and if paste about half a tsp for each breast.
• Balsamic Vinegar - This depends on how strongly flavoured you want it. I usually keep pouring until the chickens turns a nice dark reddish colour. Id recommend, on average, 3 tbls per breast.
• Salt/Pepper/Chilli powder or flakes - To taste.
• Olive Oil - 1 tbls.

Heat olive oil in a wok. Add onions and garlic and saute untill onions soften. Add chicken, and cook on a high flame until it browns lightly. Switch to low flame and add Balsamic vinegar and salt/pepper/chilli, and stir until the chicken is evenly coloured.

Remove and serve.

*You can also add chopped celery or any other leafy veggie just before the vinegar stage.