Sunday 25 May 2008

Tortilla Chip Casserolle




Before I share the recipe, let me get some things straight:

a) I've never had authentic Mexican food

b) I'm not particularly fond of the Tex Mex and Mexican recipes I have tried. I know, I'm an Asian food girl. I like spice food, but Mexican is sort of... bold spicy, do you know what I mean?

c) On the other hand, I don't know how good American and Irish guys are at Mexican cooking?!
However, Irish omni Dan and US vegan Dan make a wicked chili.

d) I bet every Mexican in the world would cringe at the thought of using Swiss fake cheese, but I don't care.

In an online shopping splurge a couple of weeks ago, I bought a block of No Muh Chäs, a vegan cheese from Switzerland that had been praised on all forums.



As I mentioned before, I never really liked dairy cheese as an omni or veggie, and hence have no cravings for it and not much of a comparison, either.

Talking about No Muh Chäs... it's VERY cheesy, realistic enough for me to feel an urge to throw it out when I first opened the package. It smells like cheese and it has the texture and I'd never ever try it raw.
Unlike Keehse, it doesn't melt properly and it's really expensive. It even comes in three expensive varieties- blue, plain and herb.

Thumbs down for Swiss vegan cheese, though the taste is still a lot better than that of Tofutti or Scheese.

Anway, it worked quite well in the recipe I adapted from the Brunch cooking zine (the original recipe suggests roux-based sauce).



Tortilla Chip Casserolle
(for 4 people)

  • 1 small can sweet corn, drained
  • 1 small can kidney beans, drained
  • 1 huge can chopped tomatoes
  • 1 onion, chopped,
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced
  • 1 red chilli, chopped
  • 1 thin pita bread (can be stale), torn into pieces
  • three cups plain tortilla chips
  • 1 cup grated vegan cheese

1. Grease a casserolle pan and cover with the pita bread, pour in tortilla chips, but set some aside.

2. In a pan, sauté onions, garlic and chili, add whatever spices you think are Mexican (I used a bit of cumin, some cinnamon, salt and pepper obviously), add beans, corn and tomatoes and let simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Pour over the tortilla chips, add a layer of tortilla chips and cover with cheese.

4. Bake for 20 mins at 200°C.



post-bake and pre-bake:

10 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Authentic or not, that Tortilla Chip Casserole dish looks fabulous! Spicy meals are the best.

Alicia said...

I do crave cheese, so maybe I should order some if it is that cheesy...
And I love your casserole idea! I don't know much about Mexican food, so I don't really care if it's authentic...

Tuimeltje said...

I have no clue about what makes most kinds of ethnic-seeming foods authentic, but if it's tasty, I can't really be bothered to care too much. And this dish definitely looks tasty.

I'm not particularly fond of tortilla chips eaten as if they're potato chips but this way looks very good.

ChocolateCoveredVegan said...

I'm an Asian-food girl too, but your casserole does look delish!

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Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

haha, No Muh Chäs sounds so much exactly like "NORMAL CHEESE"

(yummy casserole, too!)

Anonymous said...

your casserolle looks fabulous! i don't like mock things that smell and/or taste like non-veggie food. they scare me...

Anonymous said...

Yum! Your food looks amazing. Thank you for sharing your blog with me.

Anonymous said...

I'm not vegan, but your casserole looks yummy - or would, without the corn! I love corn, but I really don't care for it mixed into things like that! ;-)

And who cares if it's real mex, tex mex, or any other variety of mex? Taste is all that counts as far as I'm concerned!

Happy Blog Love! ;) (katiad)

Erin said...

No excuses, it looks good to me! If the bleu version of your Swiss cheese is any good I'd probably give lots of money for it. Scheese bleu is so good.

urban vegan said...

Your tortilla chip casserole looks and sounds pretty authentic to me. A lot of Mexican food is built ona consistent base of many of hte ingredients you used.

I'm amazed at all the vegan cheese that's out there!