Monthly Archives: August 2014

Mexican Burrito Bowl

I do love a bowl – when you lay all your ingredients out in the bowl to look pretty, rather than just mix them all together.  This is a simplified chilli recipe which takes just 30 mins so you can put your rice on, chop the tomatoes for your salsa and mash some avocado whilst it simmers.  Some sweetcorn is also nice on the side if you  have some in the freezer or a can in the cupboard, to add some more colour to the plate.  Have hot sauce on the side so those chilli addicts can add their own, keeping this quite mild for little mouths. Leave the chilli out all together if you like.

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Mexican Burrito Bowl
 
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Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 160g long grain brown rice
  • 2 small/ medium brown onions (180g chopped weight)
  • 1 small green capsicum (180g " " )
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 medium stick celery (80g " " )
  • 1 slightly heaped tsp ground cumin
  • 1 slightly heaped tsp ground coriander
  • 1 tablespoon tomato paste
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes (can reduce to be really mild)
  • 1 tsp beef style stock powder
  • 2 cans chopped tomatoes
  • ½ cup water
  • 1.5 - 2 cans drained kidney beans (depends how thick you like it!)
  • 2 cups frozen corn
  • ½ tablespoon maple syrup
  • To Serve:
  • Salsa:
  • 300 g baby tomatoes
  • ½ bunch coriander
  • ½ a red onion,
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
  • Guacamole:
  • 1 large avocadoes: lime / lemon juice / salt.
  • Sweetcorn: -
  • Allow 75g per person: - defrost frozen corn / or pour boiling water over it or simmer for a minute.
  • Or alternatively, serve with corn on the cob.
Instructions
  1. Put your rice on to cook.
  2. Dice the onion, capsicum, celery and crush or grate the garlic.
  3. Add to a warmed large casserole dish or saucepan and stir for a few minutes until softening, adding a tiny splash of water to stop them sticking if necessary.
  4. Add the garlic and stir in for a minute or two, again to stop it sticking.
  5. Add the cumin and coriander, mix again to thoroughly distribute and toast the spices a little until you can smell them.
  6. Add tomato paste, canned tomatoes, water, stock powder, beans and corn and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to a simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes or until the capsicum and onion are soft.
  7. Meanwhile: Make the salsa: chop the baby tomatoes into quarters, finely slice the red onion, shred the coriander, squeeze the lime juice and mix them all together in a small bowl
  8. Make the guacamole: Mash a large avocado, adding salt, lime and or lemon juice to taste.
  9. To serve: Let each person add each ingredient to their own bowl, or arrange them beautifully yourself!

 

Chinese Savoury Rice

I don’t know why but for years we called this plain old “Savoury Rice”.  No idea where we got that from but it’s not very descriptive so I’ve added “Chinese” so you get the idea.  This is a forgiving recipe in that it can be adapted to whatever veggies you have in the fridge so it’s always a bit different every time you make it.  It’s quite incredible how many veggies you can pack into this.  It used to be a great way of getting them into my kids when they were small and suspicious of new ones as they’re all chopped up quite fine so you don’t really know what they are. 🙂

Do add some toasted nuts if you  have them, they add a lovely crunch.  Other additions which work are some cubed tofu –  marinated preferably; or some toasted pumpkin or sunflower seeds.

Tip: To cut down on the chopping time, if you’re planning on making this during week, dice some of the required vegetable every time you use it, and pop it in to a box in the fridge.  By the end of the week all your veggies will be ready.

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Chinese Savoury Rice
 
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Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Chinese
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 800g cooked brown rice. It works much better if you cook rice much earlier or even the day before and refrigerate so it's cold and dry before you begin.
  • Vegetables you use are completely up to you, you need about 1kg - 1.2kg prepared weight (i.e. diced small) for 4 people. It's really a good idea to include the onions, of any variety. Last time we used:
  • Broccolini - 100g
  • Carrot - 100g
  • Green beans - 100g
  • Cauliflower - 100g
  • Red capsicum - 150g
  • Zucchini - 150g
  • Celery - 100g
  • Mushrooms - 100g
  • Spring onions - 100g
  • Sweetcorn - 100g
  • 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
  • 1 tablespoon grated / chopped fresh garlic
  • 40g toasted nuts - cashews / peanuts etc - optional
  • Peas - 100g
  • Sauce - mix together in a small jug:
  • 40 ml reduced salt soy sauce
  • 40 ml sweet chilli sauce
  • 10 ml chopped chillies
  • 20 ml unhulled (the dark one) tahini - has a roasted sesame flavour
  • 60 ml hot water
Instructions
  1. It's best to cook in 2 batches to not overcrowd the wok. That works out well also if you want to add more chilli or garlic etc for the adult portions.
  2. Heat a large wok, spray very lightly with oil or a dash of stock.
  3. When it's hot add your vegetables (half of them if you're doing this quantity)
  4. Stir around, place on the lid if you have one and steam the veg.
  5. Add the garlic and ginger and stir well and continue to cook for a few more minutes. Once your harder vegetables like carrots are tender add your rice, mix thoroughly, pour over half of the sauce / extra chilli etc if required. Heat through thoroughly then serve, garnished with coriander if liked and your toasted nuts if using.

 

Spicy Mexican Capsicum & Bean Soup with Potatoes

Here’s real winter warmer!  Perfect for a weeknight dinner with some crusty bread.  This is kid friendly with only a teaspoon of chillies, but you can ramp that up for more adult palates.

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Spicy Mexican Capsicum & Bean Soup with Potatoes
 
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Recipe type: Soup
Cuisine: Mexican
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 1 red capsicum, chopped
  • 1 green capsicum, chopped
  • 1 yellow capsicum, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
  • 3 cups (750ml) good-quality vegetable stock
  • 400g can chopped tomatoes
  • ¼ cup (35g) semi sun-dried tomatoes in oil, drained, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon ground coriander
  • ½ teaspoon onion powder
  • 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
  • 1 teaspoon chopped chillies in oil
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 2 x 400g can red kidney beans, rinsed, drained
  • 4 medium potatoes, diced
  • Frozen corn, 1 cup
Instructions
  1. Sauté the capsicum in a large casserole dish with the garlic and a splash of the stock until softening, then add the tomatoes, sun-dried tomatoes, all the spices, herbs, chillies etc, tomato paste and cook on medium whilst stirring for a minute or so. Add beans, potatoes and corn and the rest of the stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked.