Cheesy Black Beans & Potato Quesadillas

Black beans have been my all time favourite since i started loving black beans based Mexican dishes. If i plan to make some Mexican foods at home i cant think more than soaking black beans to cook with. Black beans makes excellent dishes and many Mexican dishes have this beans. If i plan Quesadillas, how can i keep myself away from black beans, obviously my today's post is completely from Mexican cuisine. Potato and black beans combination, works awesome as filling for making some super satisfying quesadillas. Quesadillas have been adapted to many different styles. In many countries like United States, many restaurants serve them as appetiziers. However many variations do exists and now many vegetables like zucchini, spinach or else tofu is also added for filling. Even dessert quesadillas do exists with chocolate, caramel, butterscotch with different fruits in it.

Mantecadas/Mexican Muffins

Mexican cuisine have many fantastic baked treats, and the list goes form yeast breads, puff pastries, cookie like breads and muffins like breads. If you want to give a try to a different muffins, just check this Mantecadas. Mantecadas is a bread-like muffins which gets ready very quick and easy to make to enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea or else for a brunch on weekend or else simply to serve some sudden visits. Do you know, the best part of this muffins is the addition of yeast, yes you heard it rite. This muffins calls for both baking powder and instant yeast, seriously while going through this recipe i was simply surprised to see the addition of yeast. Initially i thought its was typo but then when i checked for the recipe video in Youtube, i came to know that instant yeast is a must to bake these fantastic fluffy and spongy Mexican bread-like muffins.

Cemita Rolls/Mexican Cemita Sandwich Buns

Mexican Cemita Buns are used to make a sandwich which is very popular in the Puebla region of the country. There they make the Cemitas Poblana, which is a sandwich is filled with sliced avocado, meat, panela cheese or sometimes quesillo cheese, onions, a herb called pápalo and red sauce.These buns may look like regular sesame topped burger buns but they’re nothing like it. The Cemita, which is the name given to the bread and the sandwich made with it, is made with a brioche-like enriched dough that has a crunchy outside but is soft inside.Kenji Lopez-Alt whose recipe I adapted for my recipe, describes the Cemita as “sweet and savory flavor with a dense-yet-light crumb that can stand up to stacks and stacks of toppings without disintegrating or losing its tenderness”.

Black Bean Cilantro Lime Rice/Vegan Black Bean Lime Rice

After chinese foods, i have a preference to Mexican foods. Though we dont get the traditional Mexican foods here is Paris, i love to indulge their burrito bowls or their tacos. Actually every cuisine is adapted especially in restaurants to satisfy French people's tastebuds.Hence none follow the traditional recipes,but its better than nothing rite. If we plan to go for restaurants, my first suggestion will always goes for Chinese, then Mexican or Moroccan. Am eagerly waiting to go a trip to Mexico to enjoy their traditional foods, seriously dunno when my better half is going to plan for it. Until i dont have any other option to enjoy the traditional Mexican food. Obviously i prepare myself some easy dishes at home. My today's post goes for a flavourful one pot meal aka cilantro lime rice which is usually used as stuffing in Burritos or tacos. Still they can be enjoyed for lunch with a spicy gravy. Since am running this week's marathon with Black beans as the main ingredient, i couldnt stop myself adding this protein rich beans to this famous rice.

Vegetarian Enchilada Casserole/Black Beans & Sweet Corn Enchilada Casserole

Enchilada Casserole is one of the classic dish which exists in many versions, when i googled for a vegetarian Enchilada casserole i have seen some million versions either with homemade enchilada sauce or else with store bought ones. Some recipes calls for variety of vegetables, meats while some recipes went for a combination of vegetables and beans. Obviously once i prepared some enchilada sauce at home, i couldnt resist to prepare my own version of vegetarian Enchilada casserole. Since i dont want to stick with store bought tortilla wraps, i prepared myself at home as i have already blogged here. Homemade Enchilada sauce, homemade tortillas watelse we need to make some fantastic enchilada casserole as vegetarian version.

Vegetable & Chicken Enchilada Soup

I have many versions of some incredible enchilada soup with chicken, however i couldnt resist to add some vegetables to make this simple soup more nourishing and filling. With sweet corns and cooked black beans add the crunchy texture and protein to this incredible soup. Though some Enchilada soup calls for cheese and cream i opted for a simple version of this soup. If you love spicy soups for your lunch or dinner, am sure this soup will definitely tickle your tastebuds. Trust me, this soup is full of flavors with shredded chicken, black beans, sweet corn kernels and a handful of vegetables, you will thoroughly enjoy this soup. Though many versions of this Enchilada soup calls for crockpot/slow cooker, i opted for an easy breezy cooking. I went for pressure cooking method, however if you have crockpot, this soup calls for less time to prepare, and crockpot will take care of the rest.

Home Made Enchilada Sauce/Enchilada Sauce

We love Mexican foods and whenever time permits we dont hesitate a second to invite ourselves to our favourite Mexican restaurant. Obviously if i get a chance to try my hands with one of my favourite cuisine, how can i say 'no'. When i picked One sauce Two dishes as theme for this week's blogging marathon, i want to give a try to this famous Enchilada sauce. Though we get tortillas and few more Mexican ingredients easily in most of provisional stores, we dont get this enchilada sauce easily. When i googled for this sauce, i found that this sauce was very easy to make simply at home with easily available ingredients. Homemade Enchilada Sauce is amazing and very easy to prepare.

Pico de Gallo / Salsa Fresca - A Mexican Condiment

You might have noticed that am posting condiments from various countries and few more to come as am running this month's Mega marathon. Every week have their own theme and the theme for this week is condiments from countries.After a flavourful green sauce from Argentina and an easy breezy Wafu dressing from Japan, my today's post is going to be a popular, classic and very easy salsa, yes the famous Pico de Gallo/Salsa Fresca or else Salsa Mexicana. This fresh salsa is quickly made with ripen tomatoes, this is the basic ingredient for making this salsa, and other ingredients like white onions, jalapeno peppers, coriander leaves and lime juice are added later. This tomato salsa is a prefect condiment to enjoy with a plate of tortilla chips, burritos, nachos and so on.

 This recipe is easily adjusted to anyone's personal taste. Fresno or Serrano chilis can be used if Jalapenos are unavailable. If you can't handle 'HOT' food simply decrease the amount of jalapenos or use an Anaheim or Poblano chili instead. If you love garlic as I am, use a few more cloves of garlic. So you can make this Pico de gallo with just few ingredients.Adding fresh garlic cloves and lime juice to this salsa definitely makes some difference from usual salsa.

Cheese & Black Beans Quesadillas

Quesadillas, is a sandwich like flour tortillas or corn tortillas filled with any savoury mixture having cheese, vegetables etc, later they are cooked in a hot griddle and folded in half to form a half moon shaped sandwich.Quesadillas have been adapted to many different styles. In the United States, many restaurants serve them as appetizers, after adding their own twist.Some variations are: goat cheese, black beans, spinach, zucchini, or tofu. A Scandinavian treat uses a lefse (thin potato pancake resembling a tortilla) containing brie cheese and lingonberry jam. Even dessert quesadillas are made, using ingredients such as chocolate, butterscotch, caramel, and different fruits.We are great fans of quesadillas. Whenever we go to Mexican restaurant, we never forget to order quesadillas. We love it that much.

Spicy Chickpeas Sandwich Wrap

Wraps are easy to carry and definitely a filling meal one can have happily even if they are in hurry. Simple to make and healthy as well depending upon the filling you goes for. Most of the wraps are prepared with either meat or vegetables, i tried my hands in making a protein loaded nutritious wrap with a spicy chickpeas filling. Actually i was planning for a grilled vegetable wrap but some cooked chickpeas left in my fridge pulled me to make this super healthy and satisfying wrap. As i told in my previous post, this is my second post of tortilla based dishes. After chimichanga, this spicy chickpeas sandwich wrap was a big hit especially with my kids. H liked it but he asked some shredded chicken salad to have along with, he missed the meat part in this wrap, however we cant satisfy everyone at home.

Refried Beans & Cheese Chimichanga

Am gonna share three different tortilla based dishes this week, tortillas are the flatbreads made from either all purpose flour/wheat flour or else with corn.These soft breads are easy to make and they are almost rolled like Indian rotis. I love to make tortillas as at home as they go for simple ingredients. Flour, baking powder,salt and butter or shortening is quite enough to roll out homemade tortillas, this time i prepared mine at home from scratch, i have already posted how to make homemade flour tortillas here. We love Mexican foods very much after Thai and Moroccan. Whenever i feel like making Mexican dishes at home, everyone at home will definitely ask for quesadillas, if you check my space, you may notice that i have already tried couple of quesadillas.

Molotes/Xalapan Molotes ~~ Xalapan Street Food

For this month's long marathon, i have cooked couple of dishes from various World cuisine starting with alphabets, today i was supposed to post a recipe from a Country name starts with 'X', since there is no country name starting with X, Srivalli suggested to cook from a city name starts with X from any Country. Immediately i started searching for a city and find out Xalapa which is a capital city of Veracruz state of Mexico. Xalapa is known very much for its large number of art galleries and theaters. Its well known for being home of great number of colleges of the University of Veracruz. This city is a land of mountains, one among the most charming Mexican capitals. Obviously this city is very much visited by tourists.Eating out in Xalapa, you are sure to find something from among the local delicacies to delight your palate. Typical dishes from around the state include chicken chileatole (a hot soup made with chilli, corn dough, and spices); molotes (snacks made from corn dough and mashed potato) and tamal de cazuela (stewed, local-style corn tamales).

There’s literally something for everyone in Xalapa. If you dont like to enjoy the traditional Mexican food in Xalapa, you can try local dishes with a modern twist at the elegant Casa de Mama (Mother’s House). For the spicy food lovers, there are jalapeño chillies stuffed with ground beef or seafood. Sunset brings with the irresistible flavors of traditional Xalapan desserts, usually enjoyed with a coffee. You can choose from jamoncillo, a dessert based on milk, unrefined sugar and pumpkin seeds, and candied fruit with piloncillo (molasses). Locals traditionally end their evenings with torito, a milk and sugar cane-based liquor flavored with cajeta (a toffee sauce made from goat’s milk), caramel, coconut, coffee or nuts.

Eggless Conchas/Eggless Mexican Sweet Bread

Conchas is a Mexican sweet bread, the name conchas comes from their sugar topping which resembles as seashell. Conchas have sugary topping which goes almost like cookie dough, you can add any flavor to this topping either by adding vanilla extract, chocolate or cinnamon. This conchas is one of the most famous Mexican pastries and widely known in United states. Conchas bread are very easy to make when compared to few breads. Usually Conchas are loaded with eggs but for this month's Baking Eggless,a monthly event owned by Gayathri,i tried my hands in making those egg loaded conchas as eggless, trust me they came out simply prefect without eggs.

Kidney Beans & Bellpepper Quesadillas

I had some leftover store bought tortillas sitting since a long in my pantry, also their expiry date was not that much far away. Its quite an obligation for me to finish them as i dont like to trash anything that much easily. When i planned to finish them as quesadillas,the famous mexican savoury sandwich prepared usually with a stuffing and cheese, everyone at home said 'OK'. Since i had some cooked rajma aka kidney beans in my fridge,i simply combined them with green bellpeppers to make a quick and easy breezy filling for making this quesadillas.

I simply mashed the rajma beans and cooked with bellpepper, sauteed onions later i spiced quickly with red chilly flakes,thymn leaves,salt and ketchup. The stuffing tastes simply awesome and when i served as quesadillas, everyone at home simply enjoyed having this nutritious and super cheesy quesadillas with a simple tomato salad for their dinner.

1cup Rajma beans (cooked)
1cup Green bellpepper(chopped)
1no Onion (chopped)
2tbsp Tomato Ketchup
1cup Grated cheddar cheese
1/4tsp Red chilly flakes
1/2tsp Thymn leaves
Salt
Olive oil
8nos Flour or corn tortillas

Heat oil, saute the onions until they turns transculent, add the chopped bellpepper and cooked mashed rajma, cook everything in high flame for few minutes.

Add the red chilly flakes,ketchup and salt,cook for few seconds and put off the stove..

Heat a pan in simmer,drop a flour tortillas to the hot pan, gently spread the cooked bean topped with cheese generously.

Top the another tortilla over the cheese,press it with a spatula and cook for few seconds, flip the tortillas to toast the other side.

Once the quesadillas get well toasted, transfer to a plate and cut as a 4 or 6 wedges..

Serve warm with salads.

Mexican Cilantro Lime Rice

The first time i ate this Mexican cilantro lime rice as a stuffing in burritos, which was quite new and different for me, i was pleasantly surprised that burritos stuffed with cilantro lime rice, i got hooked with this flavourful cilantro lime rice from that day and i already prepared twice at home,its one of the favourite Mexican food,everyone at home love it very much..We enjoyed last weekend this delicious rice with Refried Beans and a simple cucumber salad..This rice with its fabulous hint of lime and cilantro leaves makes a wonderful and flavourful main course food to be enjoy along with burritos and baked beans...I used basmati rice for making this incredible rice, you can also use long grain rice for making this Mexican rice as they both works out wonder..

1cup Basmati rice (washed)

1+1/2cup Vegetable stock water

4nos Garlic cloves (minced)

1/4cup Fresh lime juice

1tsp Lime zest

1/2cup Cilantro (chopped)

Salt

Olive oil

Heat the olive oil, add the garlic and rice,saute for few minutes, add the vegetable stock water,salt,lime juice, bring everything to boil and cover and cook in simmer for 15-20minutes, when the rice is done, add the lime zest and chopped cilantro leaves, give a quick stir and put off the stove..

Serve warm with refried beans..

Bean & Corn Quesadillas

Quesadillas,a well known famous mexican food prepared with tortillas filled with a savoury filling and cheese, i have already posted quesadillas with greens and veggies, this time its gonna be with bean,corn and veggies..These quesadillas goes for a quick preparation and its takes truly very less time to get ready...I prepared the filling with rajma beans, fresh sweet corn,bell peppers,onions and tomatoes along with grated cheddar cheese...Its quite a satisfying quesadillas which suits prefectly for lunch as well as for dinner...You can very well carry this cheesy nutritious and filling sandwich for picnic, just pack them in aluminium foil to keep them warm,needless to say they tastes super prefect.

1cup Rajma beans (cooked)
1cup Sweet corn
1no Green bellpepper (chopped)
1no Onion (chopped)
1no Tomatoes (chopped)
1cup Grated cheddar cheese
1tsp All purpose flour
Pepper powder
Salt
Olive oil
2tbsp Coriander leaves
8nos Flour or corn tortillas

Heat oil, saute the onions until they turns transculent, add the sweet corn,chopped bellpepper,chopped tomatoes and cooked rajma, cook everything in high flame for few minutes, add the pepper powder,all purpose flour, salt and chopped coriander leaves,cook for few seconds and put off the stove..

Heat a pan in simmer,drop a flour tortillas to the hot pan, gently spread the cooked bean and corn mixture topped with cheese..Top the another tortilla over the cheese,press it with a spatula and cook for few seconds, flip the tortillas to toast the other side...Once the quesadillas get well toasted, transfer to a plate and cut as a 4 or 6 wedges..

Serve warm with salads ..Do check my other buddies running blogging marathon with me here..

Mexican Refried Beans

If you would have asked me to cook Mexican dishes before two years, definitely i would have replied that i dont know anything about Mexican dishes coz  i never cooked them at home before.. I got an opportunity to taste their wonderful tacos,burritos and quesadillas in a famous Mexican restaurant here in Paris,since that day i have completely fallen in love with those quick and easy foods..I never stopped making myself many wonderful Mexican dishes till now at home, we love their foods thoroughly anytime of the day without any hesitation..Refried beans is one of the most important dish in Mexican cuisine, its very quick and easy to make and they tasted super delicious and nutritious..I prepared this refried beans with red kidney beans well known as rajma beans eventhough this refried beans are prepared usually with pinto beans, i prepared this quick refried beans with onions,garlic, jalapeno peppers along with cumin powder and served them topped with some grated cheese..You can also use pinto beans,white beans or a combination of pinto and rajma beans for making this nutritious refried beans..

2cups Dry rajma (soaked overnite &cooked)
1no Onion (big &chopped)
1no Jalapeno pepper (chopped finely)
2nos Garlic cloves (minced)
1/2tsp Cumin powder
Salt
Pepper powder or red chilly flakes
Olive oil
Grated cheese (for topping)

Heat the olive oil in a pan, add the chopped onions,jalapeno peppers and saute until the onions turns transculent, add the minced garlic cloves, cook for few minutes..Now add the cooked rajma beans with their cooked liquid and mash them with a potato masher, cook everything simmer with pepper powder, salt,cumin powder..Put off the stove once the mixture turns thick..

Serve warm topped with grated cheese or with tortilla chips..

Spinach,Sweetcorn & Mushroom Quesadillas

A quesadilla ,originated from Mexico is a flour or corn tortilla filled with a savory mixture containing cheese and other ingredients, then folded in half to form a half-moon shape,these cheesy veggies stuffed or meat stuffed quesadillas are quite famous in Mexico. The word quesadilla derives from the Spanish word, queso meaning cheese...Quesadillas have been adapted to many different styles. In America, many restaurants serve them as appetizers, after adding their own twist to them.Some interesting filling goes for goat cheese, black beans, spinach, zucchini, tofu, and many other different veggies.Even there are dessert quesadillas. These are made with ingredients like chocolate, butterscotch, caramel with different varieties of fruit.After filling, the quesadillas are folded and then cooked either by boiling or frying. Once the cheese gets melted, the quesadillas are ready to serve..Usually the cooked quesadillas are served as wedges or small slices.

Our yesterday's lunch was this wonderful looking spinach,sweetcorn and mushroom quesadillas, its was quite filling,healthy simply cheesy and marvellous obviously we had a wonderful lunch..Serve this quesadillas with some salads or salsas, kids will definitely love these wonderful Mexican food without any hesitation..Am sending these healthy and delicious quesadillas goes to Ivy's Creative Concoctions - Cooking With Olive oil & to Priya's A Veggie for a month - Spinach guest hosted by Priya.



2cups Spinach (chopped)
1cup Sweet corn (canned)
1cup Mushrooms (chopped)
2tsp Parsley leaves (chopped)
1no Onion (chopped)
1cup Grated cheese (cheddar or emmental)
Pepper powder
Salt
2tbsp Olive oil
8nos Flour tortillas

Heat olive oil,saute the onions until they get cooked, add immediately the chopped spinach,chopped mushrooms,sweet corns,chopped parsley leaves and cook in medium flame until the veggies gets shrinks,finally add the pepper powder and salt,stir well and put off the stove,keep aside and let them cool completely..

Heat a pan in simmer,drop a flour tortillas to the hot pan, gently spread the cooked spinach,corn and mushroom mixture topped with cheese..Top the another tortilla over the cheese,press it with a spatula and cook for few seconds, flip the tortillas to toast the other side...Once the quesadillas get well toasted, transfer to a plate and cut as a 4 or 6 wedges..

Serve warm with salads or any sort of salsas...

Homemade Tortillas & Indianized Wraps

Its has been a dream for me to make out home made tortillas instead of buying often the store bought tortillas..This time, i brownsed through many sites and finally my choice went for this version..If u r planning to make out tortillas at home definitely u need for simple ingredients like all purpose flour, baking powder,butter,salt and warm water..Whoever roll prefectly their rotis will get a prefect tortillas as this tortillas ressembles quite like our rotis..Its really worth to try and this home made tortillas can be frozen in a ziplock bags for upto several months..These tortillas are tasty,light, soft and fabulous..I have prepared these light tortillas and served along with Capsicum & Tofu Zunka for our dinner, everyone at home enjoyed this capsicum & tofu zunka wraps for our dinner with simple salad, definitely a healthy and complete dinner..

2cups All purpose flour
1tsp Baking powder
3tbsp Butter (room temperature)
Salt
Warm water

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder in a large bowl, add the butter and warm water to the flour and knead as a soft dough..cover the bowl with a towel and leave aside for 15minutes,divide the dough into 12-13 golf sized balls..roll each dough on a floured surface to form a very thin circles..heat a non stick pan, add the rolled tortillas and cook on both sides until the surface starts to bubble ..Turn the torilla and cook both sides until the tortillas turns slightly brown or half cooked...repeat the same process, until the dough get finished..Arrange the cooked tortillas in a ziplock bags and stor them either in fridge or in freezer...

Indianized Wraps:

Heat the already prepared home made tortillas on both side until they get cooked, arrange few spoons of Capsicum & Tofu Zunka in the center of the tortillas and roll them as wrap, pick the edge with a toothpick and serve immediately with salad or with french fries..

Coleslaw(Raw Cabbage Salad) Tortilla Wrap

Coleslaw is a salad prepared mainly with shredded raw cabbage and shredded carrots, its really quite easy ,quick and delicious salad can be prepared within few minutes and prefect salad for a quick lunch or dinner..Many veggies like red cabbage, onions, cheese, pineapple or apples can be added to this raw cabbage salad and the dressing traditionally consists of vegetable oil or vinger ,mayonnaise or yogurt instead of mayonnaise with  salt..Coleslaw is generally eaten as side dish with barbecue, french fries and with fried chicken, its also used as sandwich ingredients , placed on hamburgers, barbecue sandwiches or with hot dog..Our today's lunch menu goes for this simple coleslaw salad which i turned as wrap with yellow corn tortillas and served with sesame chicken strips (stay tuned will be posting soon)..We enjoyed having this crunchy,delicious and filling wraps with simple pineapple salad..Am sending this coleslaw tortilla wrap to RV's & Sudeshna's  Food For 7Stages Of Life-Healthy Fast Foods, Pj's No Cook Event and finally to Divya's Show Me Your Salad...

1cup Shredded cabbage

1/2cup Carrot (shredded)
2tsp Mayonnaise
1tsp Vinegar
Salt
1/2tsp Sugar

Mix the mayonnaise, vinegar, salt and sugar in a small bowl and keep aside..take the shredded cabbage, shredded carrot in a bowl and add the already prepared dressing, add salt if need and arrange in fridge for an hour..

For Tortilla Wrap:
4nos Yellow corn tortillas
Tomato ketchup (as per need)
Pepper powder

Heat the tortillas in microwave oven for 3minutes,arrange enough coleslaw over the tortillas, spread the ketchup and springle the pepper powder over the coleslaw and make a wrap by folding the tortillas gently..serve immediately with french fries..

Super fast food na!!