As easy as it is tasty
Don’t you sometimes yearn for something to eat at the end of the day which sets your taste buds tingling? Yet more often than not you have neither the time or the energy to muster a masterpiece.
My Spicy Bean Quesadillas score very high on taste and don’t entail slaving over a stove – hot or otherwise.
My hardest days of the week are those spent running around after my lovely but ever so demanding wee girl. It is on these days, when I am virtually on my knees by 6 o’clock, that this recipe comes to my rescue. A once-a-week favourite at The Grumbling Tummy HQ.
It started life as ‘Refried Bean Fold Over’ from my well-thumbed copy of Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall’s superb ‘River Cottage Veg Everyday’. Although the original recipe was perfectly lovely, I have tweaked and twisted it a fair bit along the way. Hugh used pinto beans, has no lime juice or coriander in his recipe. I guess most importantly, he does not give his recipe the quesadilla treatment.
Big thanks to Hugh for giving me all the nuts and bolts of this fantastic spicy treat.
So without further ado here is the recipe:
Ingredients
One red onion, 3 good-sized tomatoes halved, a large can of beans – Hugh uses pinto beans but I often opt for Kidney beans – both nice, a good handful of chopped coriander, couple of cloves of garlic, half a red chilli, the juice of half a lime, a pinch of cayenne pepper, soft tortilla wraps (6), cheese ( as much as you like really), sour Cream
Method
Chop and fry the onion until soft
Add the garlic and the chilli
Life is not too short to grate a tomato
After a few minutes take off the heat and grate the flesh of the tomatoes straight into the cooking pot – discarding the skins. Life may be too short to stuff a mushroom but it is not too short to grate a tomato, so don’t be tempted to chop rather than grate. It takes seconds! Return to the heat and cook for a few minutes until the juices thicken a little then add in your drained beans and the juice of half a limeGet a tattie masher and mush it all up – I like to leave it a bit chunky but this is personal tasteAdd a pinch of cayenne and the chopped coriander and stir
Spoon this lovely spicy bean mixture onto the three wraps and smother with grated cheese.
Pop another wrap on top and then shallow fry for a few minutes on each side until browned and crispy.
Serve with salad and sour cream.
