Black Bean & Barley Chili

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Veggie Treat

I love a nice big bowl of vegetarian chili, it picks me up and comforts me. Winter is most definitely on the way out - so I may have to forget about dishes like these until Autumn - hurray! 
Black beans are great for you too, packed full of fiber and are also good at lowering cholesterol. I've been trying to cook with them for the last while, but haven't come up with anything with sharing until now. The colour that comes form the beans lends a really dark and 'meaty' tone to the dish.


Ingredients - Serves 4
1 tin of black beans
I large onion - finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic crushed
1 teaspoon of fresh rosemary - finely chopped
1 teaspoon of fresh thyme - finely chopped
2 carrots - finely cubed
1 cup of pearl barley
1 tin of tomatoes
1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of paprika
Dried or fresh chili to taste
2 tablespoons of olive oil


To serve
Fresh lime juice to taste
Cream Cheese - I used Yeats County Cream Cheese 
Freshly chopped parsley


Method

1. Put the peel form the onion, outer layer and the gratings from the carrots in a pot - cover with a small amount of water and bring to a boil, simmer while you make the rest of the dish.
2. In a large high sided frying pan, gently sweat your onion in the olive oil. After a few minutes add the garlic. Once the onion is translucent, add in the fresh herbs (if you have fresh oregano all the better!) Cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Then add in the paprika and chili and stir briefly. Next stir in the tomatoes, beans, vinegar, carrot and pearl barley. Add in the stock you made with the onion and carrot. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes until the barley is cooked. You might need to add a little more water so check on it every so often.
4. To serve top with a good dollop of yummy cream cheese, add a good squeeze of lime and a healthy sprinkle of parsley. I'm sure that cream cheese and barley aren't traditional ingredients in a chili - but I don't care this was so satisfying.

You can serve with some rice, in Quesadilla, with corn chips - or anything else that is vaguely Mexican. 

Guacamole

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Alex, a regular reader of this blog, asked me to post a recipe for Guacamole a long time ago. I made this ages ago and have only jut gotten around to blogging it...

Hope i can remember the recipe now!

Alex was also asking me where you can buy ripe avocados as she finds they are always too hard when she buys them. In my experience, this is just something you have to live with! Your best bet is to buy them 3 or 4 days before you need them, and then you can store ripe avocadies in the the fridge which will slow down their mushening process. Otherwise you can put the unripe avocados in a paper bag overnight with some ripe bananas and that should speed up the process.

Ingredients:

2 very ripe avocados

1 clove garlic

1 red chilli

2 tbsps sour cream

1 lemon

Cut the avocados in half around the pip and pull the two sides apart. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon, making sure to scrape all the green goo near the skin off, this will make your guacamole a nice bright green colour rather than, say, the colour of an avocado bathroom set!

Mash the avocados in a bowl with the juice of the lemon until it is the consistency you like, not too lumpy Crush the garlic and add to the mixture, chop the chili finely an stir in (depending on how hot you like it, thinly use half and de seed it first!). Finally stir in the sour cream and serve!

I ate my guacamole in a tortilla wrap with some strips of steak that I marinated in lime juice and garlic before flash frying them. Also in there was some rocket leaves and some cherry tomatoes. Super yum!

Huevos Rancheros

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Viva Mexico!

Apparently Mexico are doing pretty well in the World Cup right now... I have managed to not watch a single match so far... oops!

I figure most Irish people are behind Mexico, what with the green strips and beating France 2-0 an all... Also on this blog we seem to have developed a serious liking for Mexican food. So I decided to whip up some Huevos Rancheros this sunny Saturday morning. Perfect for brunch! They went down a treat and made us love Mexico even more, I'm now even contemplating a visit!

Serves 1 hungry person, or two not so hungry people. All quantities can be doubled or tripled depending on how many eggs you want for brekkie!

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1 tin chopped tomatoes

1/2 a red chili

1 small red onion

2 cloves garlic

2 flour tortillas

Start by making the tomato sauce. Chop the onions, garlic and chili (take out the seeds if you don't want it too hot!) and saute in some olive oil in a frying pan until the onions are soft and translucent. Then add the tin of tomatoes and stir everything together. Simmer for about 10 mins or until the sauce 'comes together'.

Push the sauce to one side of the pan and add a bit of olive oil to the exposed pan. break the eggs into this oil and fry them. Meanwhile, in another frying pan, heat a teaspoon of oil and heat up the tortillas, one at a time for 30 seconds on each side. When they are done and browned transfer them to a plate. by this time your eggs should be nearly done. Leave them sunny side up, even if, like me, you usually don't eat them like that. Place them on top of the tortillas and then top the eggs, covering the yolks with the hot sauce. This will cook the tops of the eggs.

Serve topped with some grated cheese if you like, or some pinto beans, or, like I did, a bit of avocado.

Muchos Yummios (sorry!)

Mexican Chilli Soup with Black Beans & Corn

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Blacker than the Fires of Hell

Look at these - they're pasilla chillies, yes they're black, they're the size of your head, and they're the main ingredient of this soup. I did take the seeds out. As me and Lola learned at the Mexican Embassy in August of last year, in real Mexican cooking they use chillies, like we use tea - everywhere and all the time - oh yes! I found these chillies in Fallon & Byrne, and snapped them up as I've no idea where else to get the in Dublin.

This is a genuine Mexican meal, unlike my interpretations of other Mexican dishes. This soup is amazing, not as hot as you'd think, though it does pack a punch. It's a whole range of taste that is new to me, which is very exciting

Ingredients

4 large pasilla chillies

4 large tomato - quartered

1 large red onion

1 teaspoon of dried garlic (there was no fresh - the shame!)

1 pint of chicken stock

1 can of corn

1 tin of black beans

1 red onion

1/2 teaspoon of paprika

2 flour tortillas - cut into strips

Some vegetable oil

Grated cheddar

Over a flame - hold your chilies, until they become a little bit more pliable, like leather. Break them apart and remove the seeds and stem. Cover them in a bowl with a little boiling water. allow to steep for 10 minutes or so. 

Cook your onion over a medium heat until translucent. Add in the garlic and paprika, cook for another minute or two. Then stir in the stock, tomatoes, chillies and soaking water along with the black beans, retaining a few of these for garnish. Cook for 35-40 minutes at a very gentle simmer.

Remove from the heat and liquidise. Then stir in the corn.

In a frying pan - heat up 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and when hot, fry the tortilla strips until golden brown. Garnish the bowls of soup with a few of these strips and a little grated cheese (none for you vegans). Divine, I do highly recommend trying this soup, also good served with some chopped avocado or fresh coriander. Or spring onions, feic I had them in the fridge and all - oh well, cooks regret ...

Vegan Veggie Burritos

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Yup you heard that right - veganNow that's true until you top it with cheddar - but burritos are a handy option if you ever have to feed a mixture of Vegan/Veggies and Carnivores all at once. Throw lots of stuff into little bowls - give people tortillas and let them build their own.

Lola braved the outside world to get the ingredients for our dinner tonight - so I had these ready when she got back (by ready I mean shouting down the stairs at her to check the rice when she came in wet and cold!) Sorry honey I love you really.

Now I bought some black turtle beans which are super good for you, they were on my list of superfoods back in May. Unfortunately they require soaking for 24 hours and then boiling for 45mins - so I put them on to soak yesterday - super organised me, so super organised I mis-read a 24 hour clock and was an hour early meeting my friends for a gig - how the bouncers laughed. The place wasn't even open!

Ingredients
Tortilla wraps
For the re fried beans
I cup of black turtle beans
I onion
2 cloves of garlic
Big slurp of olive oil
sprig of rosemary
Salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
big pink of chili flakes
1 teaspoon paprika

For the 'slaw
1 big leaf of cabbage finely sliced
1 large carrot grated
2 teaspoons of sesame seeds
1 teaspoon of white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil

Other toppings
beetroot
pickled chillies
Tomatoes with coriander
Grated cheddar (not for the vegans)
Brown rice
Avocado or guacamole
sour cream
Cucumber
anything that tickles you fancy

Soak your beans overnight, then cover with water and bring to the boil with the sprig of rosemary. Simmer for 40 mins. Drain and then add salt after cooking, this helps reduce the unwanted side effects of eating beans, and stops the skin on the beans from hardening - you want to be able to mush your beans up.

In a frying pan - fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil till translucent and fragrant. then add in your three spices (add some ground cumin to if you have it -but I'd run out - damn) Cook for a minute before adding in your beans. Stir it all up and then give the beans a mush with the back of your spoon - break them up as much as you like - you can even use your potato masher.

For the healthy coleslaw - combine all the ingredients in a bowl - and leave to stand for a while if you have the time - it's nice sometimes to toast the sesame seeds under the grill until they're golden and crispy.Serve all your sides in little bowls and get building your burrito

A Taste Of Mexico

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With these burritos ambassador you are really spoiling us
A very sunny Saturday morning, me and Lola cycled through Herbert Park to the Mexican Ambassadors residence. It's Mexican food week, and the Mexican Ambassador has flown in the lovely Margarita Carillo de Salinas, well known Mexican chef, to give lessons and also run the restaurant in the Hilton Hotel for the week.

The group started with an overview of Mexican cooking, chili identification - and a quick run through of the recipes we'd be making later. Then it was across to the gorgeous sun filled kitchen to get stuck in. Though there were quite a few of us there, we all managed to get some hands on experience. Slicing and softening banana leaves over the heat. Cleaning, seeding and soaking chillies. Folding and frying burritos. Tucking marinated chicken legs into their banana leaves and getting them ready for steaming. What struck me most about the day, was Chef Margarita's obvious enthusiasm and joy in preparing food. Her philosophy about food was refreshing and one that I could really relate to. Her emphasis was to get stuck in and 'Just cook, do it' Making the simple statement that if you're to avoid nasty such as additives and sugar and salt - you should just cook from scratch. That it's easy and simple and a great way of showing love for family and friends. I love you - now eat my food!

Two tips that I'll start using today are
1) Add sea salt during the cooking process and keep table salt for the table - seems sensible enough. She made the point that adding table salt during the cooking process can give the food a bitter taste

2) Always cook your onion a little before cooking the garlic to avoid burning your garlic.

The main ingredient in a lot of these recipes was chillies, large dried chillies with seeds removed, cleaned, soaked and then liquidised to make both soup and marinate. I was firstly surprised at the volume of them we used, but then also surprised at the level of spiciness of the food. Don't get me wrong the dishes were pretty hot, but very much edible, or maybe I'd deadened my palette by sampling the various dried chillies earlier in the day.

We left with a greater understanding of Mexican cuisine and a promise that we would never eat in taco bell! The flavours of this food are really different to anything I had ever tasted before and totally different to what you get in most Mexican restaurants I've been to. Huge thanks to the Ambassador and her lovely family who let us into their home and were so welcoming. It really made me want to pay Mexico a visit!

We're hoping to cook these recipes soon, if we can find a place in Ireland that sells those amazing dried chillies that are a staple in Mexico. We may blog them separately then, but included are some pictures of the day and of the finished dishes.

1) Tacos Gobernador
Shrimp and Cheese Tacos

2) Sopa de Tortilla al Chile Pasilla
Tortilla Soup with Pasilla

3) Barboca de Pollo
Steamed cooked chicken in aromatic herbs Me and Lola with our Mexican Cooking Certificates - sweet!

Spicy Bean Quesadilla

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The Happy Mexican

There’s no accounting for cravings now is there? Mushed up kidneys beans, yeah that’s pretty much what I want right now, oh yes. So I decided upon a Mexican quesadilla with a nice spicy bean mixture in. It satisfied my craving nicely - even if it refused to photograph well - so I went photoshop crazy on it - sorry the photos are a state - but I didn't want to do them twice.

Recently I have been using fresh tomatoes in sauces when I can, instead of tinned, which really gives the flavour a nice edge. They cook down faster than you think. Cooking tomatoes actually increases their anti-oxidant levels unlike most veg, which is great news. Lycopene the anti-oxidant found in tomatoes, is specifically known for decreasing the risk of heart-disease, happy Mexicans.

Ingredients
5 fresh tomatoes
4 spring onions
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
Fresh thyme
1 tin of kidney beans drained
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 peppers roasted/grilled and skinned see here for instructions
Grated Cheese
Flour tortillas

Fry up your onion and garlic in a little oil until translucent. Add in your thyme and cayenne pepper, stir for about 1 min before adding in the chopped tomatoes and beans, stir until the tomatoes begin to cook down a little. Season. Turn down, cover and leave to cook for a 10 minutes or so. It’s done when the tomatoes are cooked down nice - it’ll be pretty thick, because you want a nice paste texture. Squish down the beans with the back of the spoon.

In a clean frying pan place one tortilla, add on top a layer of beany mush, a few roasted peppers, spring onions and some grated cheese. Top with another tortilla and give it a bit of a squash down. Place over a medium head - cook for 2/3 minutes, turn over (carefully) and give the next side 2/3 mins. Keep your eye on it or it’ll burn (not looking at anyone in particular here!) Serve with sour cream with chives or guacamole (neither of which I had sadly) but it was still really good.

This would be great to use up some leftover chicken, or chili. Throw in whatever beans you like or have to hand, some courgette and corn would also work well. Fresh chilli's would also be great in the sauce or de-seeded as a topping