Chilaquiles

Chilaquiles is a traditional Mexican dish which serves as a one pot meal with crispy tortilla chips as the base and layered with fresh salsa, shredded chicken or spiced beans and topped with cheese. You can also serve it with fried eggs on top. Traditionally the tortilla chips are deep friedin oil and used as the base of this dish. But just to make it a bit healthy, I have baked the chips in the oven. From a nutritional point of view too, this dish can be termed as healthy, as it is full of proteins from the kidney beans, the goodness of fresh veggies in the salsa, the richness of cheese and high fibre content and  phosphorus, copper and manganese from the corn tortillas.

Few words about the apple salsa, the fresh sweet apple gives a nice tangy taste to the normal red salsa. You can opt to use pineapple or pears too in place of apple. These chilaquiles can be topped with fresh avocado guacamole too. Just be creative and vary the toppings and I am sure, you will enjoy these variations. You can use store bought tortilla sheets or tortilla chips or even use our desi rotis to form the base. If you are using maize flour which is nothing but our “makke ka aata” to make these tortillas, please add some amount of whole wheat flour or all purpose flour and do knead the flour with warm water. Also allow the dough to rest for atleast half an hour. This will help to roll the dough easily.

So, lets get to the recipe… For recipes of other Mexican dishes click Baked nachos and tacos. In this recipe, the cup size doesn’t matter. Just take equal quantities of maize flour and whole wheat flour. The left over baked chips can be stored in airtight containers. These can be enjoyed with a cheesy dip or sour cream or salsa or guacamole.  Please do remember to share your feedback, if you happen to try this at home.

Ingredients:

• Whole wheat flour 1/2 cup
• Maize flour 1/2 cup
• Salt to taste
• Mozzarella cheese 1-2 tbsp
• Cheddar cheese 1-2 tbsp
• Cooked rajma/kidney beans
• Onions 2
• Tomatoes 2
• Green chilies 2-3
• Apple half
• Lemon juice 1-2 tsp
• Coriander leaves 3-4 sprigs
• Capsicum 1
• Turmeric powder a pinch
• Red chili powder 1 tsp
• Coriander powder 2 tsp
• Tomato sauce 2 tbsp
• Oregano 1 tsp
• Red chili flakes 1 tsp
• Pepper powder a pinch

Method:

To make the tortillas:

• Take around half a cup of whole wheat flour and maize flour (makke ka aatta) in a big mixing bowl. Add salt to it.
• Now add warm water slowly and knead to form a soft dough. Apply few drops of oil, cover and allow the dough to rest for around half an hour.

• Make equal sized balls from the dough and roll into thin rotis.

• Cook these tortillas on a hot skillet till it’s almost cooked well on both sides.

• Cut these into wedges or small squares and line them on a baking tray.

• Preheat the oven at 180-200 degree Celsius for atleast 10 minutes.
• Bake these tortilla pieces for 10-12 minutes till they are crisp.

• Cool and store them in airtight containers. It will last for a week.

To make the rajma masala:

• Soak the rajma for 6-8 hours or overnight. Cook it with salt till they are soft and fully cooked.
• Finely chop 1 onion, 2-3 garlic cloves and 1 tomato finely.
• Heat oil in a pan and saute the onion and finely chopped garlic. When they turn translucent, add turmeric, red chili and coriander powder.
• Add the chopped tomato pieces and stir for 3-4 minutes.
• Add the cooked rajma and mix well. Adjust salt. Add a tablespoon of tomato sauce and finally garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.

To make the apple salsa:

• Finely chop a small onion, 2 garlic cloves, 2-3 green chilies, 1 small tomato, half capsicum and half an apple.

• Mix all these in a mixing bowl. Add salt, a tablespoon of tomato sauce. Add a teaspoon of lemon juice and garnish with finely chopped coriander leaves.
• Yummy spicy-tangy salsa is ready. Apple can be replaced with finely chopped pineapple pieces.

To assemble and serve:

• Take an oven proof glass dish or baking pan and lay the tortilla chips at the bottom.

• Spread a layer of the cooked rajma/kidney beans mixture on top of this.

• Now add a layer of the salsa and finely chopped capsicum pieces.
• Sprinkle a generous amount of cheese on top of these.

• Finally sprinkle some red chili flakes and oregano on top.
• Bake this in a preheated oven at 180-200 degree Celsius for 10-12 minutes or till the cheese melts.

• Serve it warm with the salsa.

Notes:

• Generally these tortilla chips are deep fried in oil, but I have baked it to reduce the usage of oil. You can choose to deep fry them.
• You can use shredded chicken or left over chicken curry with pieces over the kidney beans. Basically use any topping of your choice over the crispy chips.